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Pool, The |
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The final exams are over and this night, Sarah has been
invited to a special private party by her boyfriend. The
party takes place in a big pool house and it really seems
as if this is going to be one party they're never going
to forget... but it soon turns out that it's for all the
wrong reasons as a masked killer shows up and starts to
slaughter the friends one by one in the most gruesome ways.
"Schrei!" was the German title for Scream and since it was
a huge success in Germany as well, lots of slasher flicks
had to suffer through similar titles like "Schrei wenn Du
Kanst (Valentine)" and "Schrei, denn ich werde dich töten
(School's Out)". But even though they tried to make similar
titles for other slasher flicks, they just didn't became
very popular in Germany so director Boris von Sychowski
decided to slap a new title onto a movie with a cast we've
never heard of and a script we know all too well.
The Pool was originally titled Swimming Pool - Der Tod
feiert mit, which roughly translates into Swimming Pool -
Death also parties (yeah, stupid title) and came out just
after the slasher hysteria had ended and therefore flopped
disastrously in the German box-office chart. The story
really didn't bring anything new to the genre and there
are many things going against this movie but The Pool
still managed to entertain me on many levels as the slasher
fan that I am.
The movie is very fast-paced with a high body count and a
very entertaining slasher story, and for all it matters,
the concept of having a slasher in a pool house has never
been used before. Boris von Sychowski makes a terrific
debut with this slasher flick and it's really a shame that
it never got the credit that it deserved as this could
easily have been just as successful as the other slasher
flicks of this time if it had only been made a couple of
years earlier. However, the movie does sometimes struggle
and there are many things that I'm sure that the mainstream
audience wouldn't like too much like the unnecessary subplot
with the cop who doesn't seem to serve any purpose at all
in the movie.
Either way, this was luckily pretty successful when it
headed for DVD and video since a sequel just finished
production, which is the main reason to why I decided to
check this one out again even though I've all ready seen
it like 6 times. I consider The Pool to be a very good
slasher flick, even though some of the actors sound like
they're part of the Schwarzeneger family (many of the
actors in this are German and have a very strong accent).
But as you all probably know by now, I'm a big Kristen
Miller "fan" and since she's starring in this slasher flick,
it was obvious that I was going to love it in the first
place. If you're a fan of modern teen slasher flicks, this
is definitely not one that you will want to miss.
The killer does use a machete and there is a lot of blood
splatter but there's nothing really graphical except for
a pretty cool impalement. However, there is a scene which
I think will stay with you for a long time (if you've seen
it, you'll know which scene I'm talking about).
The rock music is pretty good but I felt as if the suspense
score could have been a whole lot better. The violins should
keep one constant tone and not play a melody in the suspense
scenes, it kind of takes the edge of it all.
A German slasher flick shot in English which has a lot of
issues but ends up being a very entertaining slasher flick
if you don't mind some obvious plot holes every here and
there. I'm sure many people hate this and it doesn't really
work on the mainstream level, but if you're a slasher fan,
you can't afford to miss this one.
Review By: AnthroFred
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