Cookers (2001)

Three junkies enter a derelict house in order to cook crystal meth. Soon they start sampling their own product and paranoia takes over. Or is there something spooky going on? Director (and DOP) Dan Mintz makes great use of the old boarded up house with its creaky floors and doors and where nary a ray of sunlight can enter. He also offers some effective jump scares, but it's the oppressive, claustrophobic atmosphere which makes this surprisingly strong horror film stand out for me. I also love that it offers only a hint of the paranormal and remains ambiguous until the end.Also worth mentioning is lead Brad Hunt who can act all kinds of nervous and paranoid and really gets under your skin.

"Cookers" sure was a nice surprise, as I expected very little from it. A good tagline for this one could possibly be "Tweeker Hell", or something. Because I've seen quite a few people act a bit "weird" while "under the influence", but those were a far cry from the way freak-junky Hector behaved in this flick. Man, that guy was messed up. Totally. The whole time. It might have been an accurate portrayal when it comes to "speedy" behaviour. It might have been exaggerated. But I do not want to even know how much dope it takes to make a guy act like him. Anyway, so the drug-part was pretty fascinating in this one, but the 'ghostly/haunted'-part was, well, pretty good (with the creepy stuff interacting with possible drug-induced hallucinations and all), but near the end it seemed like the movie went a little too "Blair Witch" for my tastes. Well, at least that's how it seemed, because unfortunately my DVD started messing-up near the end (pause-continue-pauze-etc), so I couldn't quite make out all that was happening there... Still, I'll gladly give this one another watch, just to see what's up with the ending.

I wasn't much of a horror/gore fan, but late one night, this movie converted me. Rescued from a $1.99 bin at a video store on Halloween, we fully expected this to be a standard, low-budget haunted house flick. It turned out to be so much more. Creepy and compelling, the film builds in tension with every frame and surrounds you with a constant feeling of dread. You just know something bad is going to happen, you just don't know when. Helped along by decent acting and some very clever audio design, there are a couple of scenes that should make your flesh crawl, a few that will surprise you, and some that will make you say "wait...was that reality or a hallucination?" Good movie for a late night fright or two.

I wanted to like this movie, but many elements ruined it for me. The use of a fisheye lens throughout and choppy editing did not give me a sense of being in the world of the meth head, but it did make me think I was watching MTV for a few short moments. The movie never did seem to go anywhere and the acting was truly an excellent example of over acting. I love movies that give us a glimpse into the seedy underworld, but this film couldn't decide if it was a bad horror film or an even worse serious commentary on the horrors of addiction.