Are You Scared (2005)

I would love to punch in the face whoever was responsible for editing this film. The video editing was BY FAR the worst I have ever seen. I would've loved to edit it myself.

Fading in/out to black is okay to use as a transition. One scene fades to black, then another scene slowly fades in. It's a rather nice touch when done properly. However, this movie used it for all of the wrong purposes. In one scene, they tried to use it to create suspense. It may have worked, if they hadn't overused it. In the scene, someone was about to die, so they focused in on one of the actor's facial expressions, then faded to black. Then they focused in on another actor's face and faded to black. They did this repeatedly. It would've been okay, except they used the effect 30 times, thus destroying any suspense that might have been created. It was really frustrating, seeing the same effect over and over and over again. They used it at least 50 times throughout the movie. The lighting was also really off. In some scenes, I couldn't see anything. I got lost and didn't understand what was happening because...well...I couldn't see! At least adjust the lighting so the audience can see SOMETHING happen, otherwise it's a boring piece of shit. Scary sounds mean nothing to me, when I'm staring at a pitch black screen. The slow motion effect was also not used properly at all! If you can't use effects right, then don't use them!! In one scene, one of the characters is standing outside of the door listening to another character scream from inside the room. As the character is standing outside the door, she starts crying and screaming (but they block the sound out so you can't hear the screaming which is stupid IMO). So what does this fabulous movie do? It focuses on the girl screaming and slow mos the shit out of her face. It shows her crying/screaming in slow motion......why? I have no idea. Why does it deserve to be slow moed? It doesn't add any emotion to the film. I surely didn't feel anything while watching it. The silent screams are also another biggie. They silence screams so many times. I guess for dramatic effect? I don't know. It was stupid, but I appreciate the silence. The character's voices were so annoying, I needed that little break.

The pacing was also really off. The movie kind of just....started. It's almost like the movie already expected the audience to know what was going on....when actually we had no clue. No background information was given on any of the characters, and I'm pretty sure some of the character's names weren't even established in the film. The people in the film were complete strangers to each other, and they barely got acquainted......yet they knew each other by name, and when someone screamed they knew exactly who that person was (even though they couldn't see them). Like really?

The story line was probably the biggest thing. It was like watching a cheap Saw knock-off. There were a bunch of plot holes too. I can't even list them all. The plot was filled with irrelevant material. It was just awful.