Kim Takes On: CHAIN LETTER

It being the beginning of October, I had a sudden urge to go see a new horror movie. It was 10pm and the choices were slim pickings; so there it was, face to face with Chain Letter. I had seen something about it before but didn't really remember if it looked good or not; which made it a safe choice since I could truly go into it with an open mind.

I won't sugar coat it. This was not the best movie, but never-the-less it was entertaining. I walked out quite happy and not regretting spending my money on the tickets. It had the basic cliche horror movie qualifications: non-impressive acting, gore, suspense, and a pretty far-fetched storyline revolving around teens who looked prettier than any people I went to school with.

"Six friends receive a mysterious chain letter via text messaging and in their email accounts from a maniac who's hunting down teenagers who fail to forward his online chain letter. Who knew they should take the threats in the chain letter seriously? Or that chain letters using the teens' favorite technologies to track them can kill? This maniacal game pits friend against friend as they race to beat rules that seem impossible to escape. Break the chain, lose a life. Do you pass it on? Does friendship mean anything?"

Now am I the only one who feels that the first kill is suppose to really set up the mood for the film? Its like foreplay, getting you warmed up for the good stuff to come. The first kill scene was something worthy of a Hostel or Saw film. The killer tortured the poor kid and then implemented a slow and, obviously, painful death. Each death in the movie was as gruesome as it was different, glad it wasn't another hack and stab movie as it can get a bit monotonous to watch.

The cast basically consisted of new faces as well as some veterans, such as Keith David and Brad Dourif. Regardless, all of them gave the best you could expect from any horror movie, above that of soap operas and not award winning in any sense. The main heroine of the story was played by Twilight's own Nikki Reed who plays Rosalie Hale in the popular vampire series. Now I honestly didn't realize who she was while watching the movie as she has darker hair and a tan. (Yes, I've watched the Twilight movies...) She honestly wasn't horrible in this, in fact, she was the most believable out of all the characters. I don't recall once where she came off as cheesy or over the top in any of her scenes. She definitely has potential to rise up the ranks from side character to leading lady.

The ending of the movie was just so lazy but so hilarious at the same time. There was one last intense scene and then it goes to credits. The interpretation I got from it was "we ran out of ideas so we'll just stop here." Don't get me wrong, I thought it was entertaining but there wasn't really any resolution to the film and really leaves you hanging more than watching the Empire Strikes Back for the first time. They could have done better.

Chain Letter is in no ways a great movie. Hell, it barely passes for decent but in all honesty it was very creative and I greatly enjoyed this film. It will be forever a new guilty pleasure I will hold dear in my heart and enjoy again once they release it on DVD. I suggest that if you are to go see this movie, shut off your brain beforehand and just go in and enjoy it, don't over think it because you will be disappointed otherwise.