Community (2012)

For a low budget British horror film, COMMUNITY has potential, it's true. It's a grittily realistic little movie in which the budget fits the storyline, chronicling the adventures of a couple of student film-makers who decide to do a segment on a local run-down council estate. Unfortunately for them, their college project soon brings them into contact with some very unsavoury individuals indeed.COMMUNITY boasts an absolutely wonderful location in its depiction of British at its worst: grubby, run-down streets, overrun by feral youths and occupied by adults who have more in common with some of our simian cousins than the human race. There are some truly icky ideas behind this, and some bizarre characterisations (like the transvestite) which stick in your mind.A shame that it all falls apart in the second half. The first half boasts an effective atmospheric set-up, with lots of foreboding, but the second half reverts to type: a couple of people trying to escape their captors, and nothing else besides. It's typical 'torture porn' territory, with slim characterisation, although not as gory as it could have been, which is at least something. The acting is only acceptable and the silly twist ending drags things down still further.

Don't know why so many people have given this bad reviews, maybe they like the typical Hollywood schlock.I just found this very refreshing.I'm not really a fan of writing wordy reviews so I won't say too much here but it's definitely worth a watch for the uniqueness of it.There's suspense, gore, intensity and fun. It's not a costly blockbuster so don't expect loads of flashy sets and explosions but because it's low budget the whole look and feel of it is just perfect. Raw.It's low key but in your face and keeps it more 'real' than some glossy movie on the cover of Empire mag. If you like something a little bit different then I say it's worth taking a chance on. A cheeky little number.

To be honest with you, this film is so awful that I really can't be bothered going into too much details as to why; other reviews here sum that up very nicely. I simply wanted to comment on the main underlying plot: that all of this violence, depravity etc is caused by the bad guys all smoking this special "weed" that they grow using corpses as fertilizer. This is rammed down your throat at every turn, even to the point where the arrival of any of the psychos etc will be heralded by a cloud of white smoke. The way weed is talked about & used here comes straight out of a government anti-drug handbook (& is therefore scientifically inaccurate & dangerous propaganda): it makes you aggressive (er, no it doesn't), it's addictive (nope), lack of it makes you have cold turkey type withdrawal (huh?) to the point where characters like "Auntie" (probably the only sympathetic character in the whole movie...I liked him/her far more than the protagonists) can use it to control the feral kids (all 3 or 4 of them...wow, that's scary!). Look, I cannot say this more clearly: this is the dumbest, most ridiculous excuse for a horror movie I have seen since Cherry Tree Lane (2010); just like that movie, this relies on tired, worn-out clichés about "urban youth", moral decay in the inner cities, drugs etc etc. And just like that film the acting is appalling save for one person: Asley Chin in CTL & Paul McNeilly as Auntie in this one. Interestingly, both play one of the main bad guys in each film, but both bring the only sense of humanity to their respective films & are the only ones in each that could actually exist outside of their contrived environments. I don't know, maybe the director, now he's got his personal feelings on the devil's weed out of the way, could go on and create something worth watching, but on this evidence, he's a long way to go. All in all, if you are a Daily Mail reader or just generally believe everything your government tells you about everything & believe that the poor & disenfranchised are all scum who should be put together & left to their own devices then you'll probably like this film. It will justify your prejudices & beliefs. If however you are a free thinker, have the first idea about cannabis, the plight of the poor in awful concrete urban monstrosities, or just know a little about real life then you'll simply want your time back.On a final note, this movie has probably the dumbest "movie journalists" (or whatever they are) since the four morons broke into the "Forbidden Zone" in Lamberto Bava's Demons 2 (1986). In fact, if they had just watched that film first, they'd have realized that nothing good ever comes of wandering into the area "talked about only in hushed tones" that is renowned for some horror or other. Then they'd have given the Drayman Estate a wide berth, Isabelle could have gone to Amsterdam if she wanted some killer weed & everyone would be alive and happy. Including this reviewer, who wouldn't then have had to sit through this crap in the hope that "surely it gets better, there must be some twist that'll make it all worthwhile..." It doesn't and there's not. 'Nuff said.

Let me first say that the reviews currently on IMDb are both negative. So I'm very happy to write the first positive review for Community. I'd like to side note that one of the users titled their review as "stupid people doing stupid things." And my first thought was, has this person ever seen a horror film? That's usually the characters job in a horror film is to make stupid choices. But in Community, I completely disagree because the 2 main characters are journalists. Uh, yeah… news flash, journalists take major risks when going after a story… Duh. Anyways, Right off the bat, the first minute starts with an excruciating scream that pulls you right in to the story. I don't want to give too much away, because this is one of those disturbingly entertaining horror thrillers that are better when you go in not knowing what to expect. I apologize if you don't enjoy this one as much as I did, but I loved it. Writer/Director, Jason Ford, did an excellent job with this film. From the beautifully eerie camera shots to the incredibly creepy characters and mad props on the editing! Mr. Ford did an awesome job freaking me out. I literally had my jaw to the floor the whole movie. And the dude in the red sweatshirt is going to be giving me nightmares tonight! Awesome movie! Please like me on Facebook! You can read more of my reviews and get info on the latest movies in horror: http://www.facebook.com/pages/I-Heart-Horror/338327476286206