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When Kurt
was only eight years old he brutally beat
his own mother to death with a bat. His father and
younger sister could do nothing but to witness him
get sent to a mental institution. Now, several years
later, Kurt's sister is all grown up... and Kurt has
just escaped from the institution.
Frayed is something as rare as a good low-budget
slasher flick. Right from the get-go you know that
you are in for a good movie as the opening scene
is to die for. It's obvious that these guys wanted
to make a true homage to Halloween and in many ways
they've succeeded - but perhaps they borrowed just
a little bit too much of the story. Nevertheless,
they've managed to capture the dark mood, creepy
atmosphere and adrenaline-filled chase-scenes that
we all remember from the original Halloween and with
some serious editing, Frayed could've been the
perfect slasher movie.
The thing is, slasher flicks didn't have to keep a
great pace back in the late 70's - early 80's but
today they do and there's not enough going on in
Frayed. It really tends to drag in parts and the
characters aren't interesting enough to make up for
it. As far as I know this movie hasn't found US
distribution yet but I'm sure that when it is released
in the US, it will be chopped down heavily due to
its almost 2-hour long running time. Had this only
been 80 minutes long I think it would have been
a much better movie but some people just can't bear
to leave stuff at the cutting table for some reason.
Getting into the story isn't really necessary seeing
as how the escaped-mental-patient-stalks-family-
members isn't very new but I will have to say that
the killer is awesome. His mask is terrific, he is
extremely creepy-looking and he even gives us a
couple of scares. Effective jump-scares are very hard
to come by these days so I always appreciate it when
we do get them. Rookie directors Norbert Caoili and
Rob Portmann are amazing behind the camera and turns
a cheap slasher-flick into something that could be
shown in cinemas (limited release, but still). This
movie looks amazing for its budget. The acting is
a little shaky though but overall I was very pleasantly
surprised by the competence involved in this movie.
Pleasantly surprised - yes, that's exactly what I was,
because no matter how many flaws Frayed might have,
it's one of those slashers that you're actually happy
that you picked up even though you knew nothing about
it. It oozes of suspense and sports some very cool
death scenes. Definitely something all slasher fans
out there should be checking out as soon as possible.
We get one person bludgeoned to death and another one
stabbed to death. Spectacular death scenes but nothing
very gory unfortunately.
This is also very professional-sounding and works
very well together with the movie.
Flawless it's not but Frayed is certainly a very nice
surprise for us slasher fans. It's got some very
cool death scenes, even better chase scenes and it
just oozes of suspense. Definitely worth a rent.
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