Hack!

2007

Reviewed by D.R. Hesse
1/7/2012

Who will make the final cut?

Hack Poster

Language: English
Original Aspect Ratio: 1.85 : 1
Directed by Matt Flynn
Cast: Danica McKellar, Jay Kenneth Johnson and William Forsythe

Synopsis

When a group of college kids go on a field trip in hopes of raising their grades, they end up in the twisted hands of two horror movie filmmakers.

DVD Release

Hack! was released by American World Pictures and distributed by Allumination Filmworks in 2007. They must be relatively unknown because browsing through their catalog comes up with nothing but low budget independent style movies. Hack is presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen and looks pretty good. There are parts of the film where the exposure seems to be either too dark or too light but I chalk that up to a bunch of newcomers. Audio is in stereo and sounds average. Some scenes sound good while others are just rougher to listen to. Overall, not that bad.

Extras

Trailers - The trailers are for other Allumination Filmworks titles.

Thoughts

Every now and again a horror movie comes across my plate that I've never heard of before. I was inside a Best Buy one day browsing through their five dollar bin when I stumbled across a .99 cent horror flick called Hack!. It looked like a slasher movie and it was only a buck? Sold. Hack! follows a bunch of college kids out on a biology field trip to an island. Their hosts are Vincent King(Sean Kanan) and Mary Shelley(Juliet Landau) who might just be into horror movies a little too much. The kids find themselves being the main stars in the couple's twisted film.

The acting was pretty good overall and the kids seemed to be very comfortable around each other. This movie is filled with a bunch of actors/actresses that you've probably seen before but had no idea what their name was. We have the girl from the Wonder Years(Danica McKellar) who plays the mousey girl. The main male hero (Jay Kenneth Johnson) was in Scrubs and Days of Our Lives. Veteran actor William Forsythe has a cameo as the scottish groundskeeper Willy. Juliet Landau plays the female villian role and genre fans will probably remember her from her stint on Buffy. Justin Chon plays the flamboyantly gay guy who would go on to play the asian kid in the Twilight films. There's also Paulie(Burt Young) and Appolo's Trainer(Tony Burton) from Rocky. So there's plenty of acting chops in the film. While some of the dialog comes off rather lame, you'll excuse it after awhile.

This movie lives off of all the inside horror homages. Most of the characters names are derived from famous horror movie actors and directors and it gets kind of old after awhile. Various deaths reflect other horror movies that the actors were in. For instance, the african american cop (Tony Burton) was also in the Shining so his death is similar to the death of Dick Hallorann. Juliet Landau dies from being bitten in the neck, yep she was a vampire in Buffy. There's a ton of other scenes like IT and The Ring which seemed very fun. I personally loved all these types of scenes and I found the movie a lot of fun.

The plot picks up rather fast but after awhile you stopped caring what was actually happening. Plenty of twists will keep you going but I can't say all of them weren't expected. Some of the cinematography was excellent but there's a few scenes that seemed overexposed but what can you expect for a low budget flick.

Conclusions

The slasher/parody genre gets a nice little entry here with Hack!. While it's not at all scary, fans of horror films will find something to like in the endless homages and setups. If you're looking for a slasher, it's probably best if you pass on it.

Rating

6/10


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