Here's a little known 2010 slasher flick that received a tiny theatrical release last year.  IMO, it's something that deserves some discussion for several reasons.

First of all, it's rumored that this was filmed in 2007 and sat on the shelf for 3 years, before getting its micro release.  I've seen the budget stated at both $3 and $5 Million.  It grossed less than $600,000.

Let's take a look...

Pretty solid recognizable B stars, with Nikki Reed (Twilight saga), Keith David (100's of movies we've all seen), Brad Dourif (again, you name it, he's been in it), and Betsy Russell (Jigsaw's wife, among many other flicks).

Written by Deon Taylor (who also directed) and one of the stars, Michael Pagan (who you may recognize from a  few small parts he's had).  Taylor recently teamed up with Jamie Fox in a Production company.

The goods - This film actually looks very good.  Very good production values.  Lots of attention to detail in sets and shots.  Impressive gore FX and kills.  And basically just a good overall look and feel to the film.

The bads - Classic situation of mid 20 something actors playing high school students, which is a HUGE pet peeve of mine.  Not very impressive acting, inclduing an over the top performance by the usually very dependable Keith David.  Lack of parents around when they should be.  High school students acting like adults and living adult-like lives.  Ludicrous plot.  Ludicrous Antag.

The horribles - Seems like in the 3 years that this was shelfed, there must have been a ton of cuts and edits that left the ending as basically, no ending at all.  Things just weren't tied together properly, although if I really reach, I think I can see what the writers were aiming for...but they sure didn't pull it off.

SPOILERS     SPOILERS     SPOILERS     SPOILERS     SPOILERS

The WTFs - The movie opens with a very well conceived (although unrealistic in the real world) set-piece kill - easily the best of the movie...and then ends on the exact same scene, although revealing a little more detail, as well as who the character is that's killed.  So, basically, the movie starts with the end, but doesn't let on that right after the scene, the entire movie is a Flashback of what lead up to this "opening" scene.  As far as I can tell, it wasn't received well at all, based on this (as well as numerous other things).

The title itself is quite stupid, because the movie actually deals with "chain E-Mails", not chain letters.  The technology on display here is a problem, as it's already outdated, since it sat for 3 years, but anytime you base a script or movie on some form of current technology, you know you're going to be dated within a few years any way you look at it.

The Antag is a hulking, disfigured freak known as the "Chain Man", because he dispatches of his victims with numerous chain linked weapons, and goes after innocent tech savy people who don't follow the rules of his chain E-Mails, which again, is just downright stupid.

But here's the deal - somehow, on either $3 or $5 Million, the film makers managed to put together a great looking flick, with lots of different sets, inside and outside, and even included a bunch of EXT scenes in the rain, which seemed to almost play like a theme, or an extra character.  They attracted a talented, recognizable cast (what the fuck Betsy Russell was doing here, I don't know, as her part was minuscule and lame).

If they only could have put together the movie that was most likely on the script, things would have been so much easier to follow, and probably, so much better.  I say this because there are numerous scenes with recognizable characters that are just completely forgotten or glanced over at the very end, and to not tie it all together, just reeks of Producer/Distributor tampering.

The plot itself needed some work - most noticeably, a reason to go after the victims the Antag chooses (like, why go after a bunch of High School kids in the first place?).  And if they wanted to make a tech savy flick, they should have used the very latest technology at the time of filming, which they didn't do.

Until the end, I actually was enjoying the movie.  The kills were good, there was a mystery of who was behind it all, and why, and I looked forward to see how they'd tie it all together.  Of all the possibilities, they chose not to, and that ain't gonna fly.

An interesting movie though with some interesting backstory.