The Crooked Man (2016) Reviews

• SyFy production is SyFy.

  gothic-fiction2017-02-15

  Michael Jai White!! Will barely appear in this movie! Sadly they used him as nothing more than a commercial, and as a huge fan of the man, I was disappointed. So don't watch it for him, you'll just get annoyed. Now the movie itself: I wasn't as disappointed as expected. It had some nice elements to offer, the monster looked good for such a production and the acting was so-so. Was there really any horror? Far from it, no tension either, it's a straight serial killer movie, always knowing who is next to die and how. But as previously said, it was not the worst thing out there. It was an OK way to spend 90 minutes, especially on a very boring night. Therefore if you are a die hard horror fan, The Crooked Man has little to offer, as little as White's presence, so the decision is on you. Cheers!

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• A fun film that rips off Lights Out, Nosferatu, and The Babadook.....

  FlashCallahan2016-12-04

  At a slumber party, twelve-year-old Olivia is blamed for the horrific and mysterious death of her friend after singing a song, created by a recluse called Milo, which summons the titular demonic figure. Returning home six years later, a string of unusual deaths lead Olivia to believe that she's still being haunted by whatever she saw that night. Once the rhyme is sung, everyone in the house is cursed to die by his hands....... For a straight to TV horror movie, particularly one aired on the SyFy channel, this has really good production values, and harks back to the slew of cheap but successful horror films that were released thanks to the success of Scream. It's a simple premise, sing a song and you will eventually die at the hands of the titular demon, who looks like a cross between The Babadook and Nosferatu, on. A jumping video tape. And it's nothing more than your atypical horror film that ticks every box in the correct order, and it's all the better for not trying to be anything else. More or less every friend from her past she bumps into ends up having a visit from The Crooked Man, and thanks to the success of Lights Out, he can only attack you in the dark, and only you can see him. The origin story of The Crooked Man is nothing more than having an excuse to have someone fairly famous appear in the film, and this time it's martial arts star Michael Jai Whit who gets top billing here, but appears for about five minutes in total. It doesn't matter though because the rest of the cast are fine, and it's surprisingly nasty for a TV movie. So all in all, it's nothing special, but because it doesn't try to be anything more than what it is, it's all the better for it.

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• Bad, But Fun

  lord-of-the-lez2018-07-08

  This is a pretty bad movie. Bad acting, bad CG effects and plot holes so big you can stick your head in them. However, the effects on the Crooked Man itself were pretty creepy and there were a few gory death scenes here and there. And I could've looked past the subpar acting if the movie had a creepy atmosphere or brought something new to the monster genre. I still can't rate it lower than a 5 because I can tell the people involved in this film were trying very hard to whip up something genuinely scary. And I have a soft spot for horror flicks that make me laugh more than gasp. So, if you don't mind a laughably bad movie with a decently creepy-looking monster, I'd say give this a watch. And as a horror buff, I'm glad I saw this.

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• You delivered pizzas to a 12 yr olds slumber party six years ago..

  chaosbaron2017-03-11

  And those kids will be some of the only people to attend your funeral services. That and Michael Jai White. Why did the pizza man even exist in this movie? I can talk all day about how silly this movie is. There are so many scenes. Like when the girl sees the earth tear open and asks a pedestrian who is casually jogging "did you see that?" Or when she gives the description of the crooked mans home "two rocks near a tree in the woods" and her friend knows exactly what shes talking about because he saw something like that as a boyscout. If this movie was making an attempt at parody, it was very subtle. I give this movie 4 crooked sixpence out of 10.

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• Fun if slightly flawed effort

  kannibalcorpsegrinder2016-10-02

  After getting released from an asylum, a troubled woman attempting to get her life back in order becomes convinced the entity that framed her for murdering her friend is back finishing the job and races to find a way of stopping it to save her friends. For the most part this one was quite the enjoyable effort. What really works well here is the fact that there's quite an enjoyable and engaging atmosphere present here that makes for quite a fun and engaging time here. That comes along mostly from the titular creature itself, which is quite the impressive and chilling entity that works really well in delivering a solid concept for a horror villain as the static-y look and disjointed appearance go hand-in- hand with the spectacular nursery rhyme that accompanies him as there's an incredibly strong mystery about him and his appearance here which makes for a rather imposing villain. As well as the strong visuals and the great villain, there's a lot to really like here in regards to how much action plays a part of this one as the encounters here are truly top-notch. The opening sleepover backstory that sets up the whole film is highly atmospheric and works with some fine nightmarish images in the blackout and the poem setting everything in motion before showing the actual killer getting in a nice shock, the scene with the creature appearing in the hospital is rather chilling and the rather frenzied and chilling attack in the singer's dressing room is a nice showstopper that spreads itself quite nicely with it's rather stylish setting and brutal actions. That carries along into the other attacks on the friends throughout here, with the friends all getting creepy attacks by the creature as well with their all being done in the darkness forcing along some really atmospheric times here, and that sets up the big scene at the end where he's confronted in the dilapidated house where the brawling makes for quite a fun time while the tactics employed against him is quite an enjoyable and impressive outing overall. Alongside the great kills which are quite brutal and intense throughout here, these manage to make this one fast-paced and enjoyable enough to really enjoy it over the few minor flaws. The main issue with the film here is the fact that it really doesn't make sense why the film's rampage is halted when she leaves the group, as it's given a minor gloss-over yet it doesn't have a definitive answer that really makes any sense. This is a rather big problem and isn't really explained at all which is a rather big issue to have here since that pretty much carries along throughout the movie as a whole. Likewise, the fact that her friends are so hostile following the revelation of the deaths to each other and her stories are given some semblance of reality, yet they still carry on without much change in attitude which really isn't that enjoyable coming off as yet another incarnation of the cliché. Other than these minor issues, this one was quite a bit of fun. Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence and Language.

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