Haunting of Cellblock 11 (2014)

This piece of junk never should have made it past the editing desk. It isn't scary. The premise is lame. The actors act as if they are being paid minimum wage. There is NOTHING original about this movie.The "charming" host, Jefferey SS Johnson, looks like he was picked up by scouts outside an AA meeting. Compared to Johnson, David Caruso in CSI might as well have won an Emmy and a Golden Globe. Poor little Dee Wallace seems to be slumming.Burger Boy looked like he was found inside a dumpster just outside an In & Out. There is nothing positive I can say about John Zderko except maybe he should go back to summer stock theater. The single bright star of the movie (and its only redeeming feature) was Linara Washington. When they decide to do a decent biopic of Whitney Houston, there's your star. The resemblance between the two, especially when W.H. did The Bodyguard, is absolutely stunning. Think Jennifer Hudson doing the vocals and you have a blockbuster. I even think Ms. Washington could do an early Diana Ross, pre-Supremes split. Someone to definitely watch.The script was even more dreadful than the special effects, if that is even possible. If you want to watch this on Amazon Prime for free and feel like wasting 90 minutes of your life - hey, it's your life. Otherwise, throw it straight into the circular file.P.S. There was not a single scary moment in the entire film. In fact I started thinking I should take the dog out to do his business about fifteen minutes into the film.

The film started off promising, giving hints that this could be a surprisingly good low budget film. Unfortunately I was surprised but not in a good way. The film built up as any good horror film would however at the first opportunity to capture the audience the acting failed miserably. I have seen several high school projects and the the students in those projects gave far better performances than this crew. The acting was below terrible. The character shallow with no depth in any way. At no point did I want any of the characters NOT to die. The lines, camera angles, unrealistic reactions (or complete lack of reactions) and absence of a basic plot made me register on IMDb so that I could warn others about this film.

I'm not really into horror films, but I had a chance to watch this film and although it was pretty scary, the story and quality made it easy to watch. I would love to see more from these guys. The cinematography and score were pretty good and the acting was definitely top notch. The story line taking place in a prison was not in itself an original idea, but the way the production team and the writers used current day spins on the story was refreshing. In addition and without spoiling the story, the twist at the end was good as well. I like it when bad people have bad things coming to them and that was the case with this film. I'm not a big film of happy endings. I like films that explore more realistic endings and this film was basically a film that was well rounded and realistic.

***Andrew P. Jones also directed Kings of the Evening*** I'd say this film falls solidly into the independent film category. Except, it isn't some horrible found footage movie. It doesn't have that horrid washed out lighting, and doesn't have overly cheesy special effects.What is does have is a fairly creative mix of film, found/recorded footage, and grainy flashbacks. The photography is well done, the color shifts to suit the mood, and all in all I am impressed with the way this film was crafted.The start was interesting and creative, but bogged down a little. At one point I found myself a little too reminded of the Ghostfacers from Supernatural, but it quickly passed. The locations are good too, and the acting is solid.Another thing I was impressed with was how the special effects weren't big budget, but weren't poorly executed either. The director clearly showed some creative restraint. Even the gore isn't gratuitous, but well-placed.The writing left me with a couple of face-palming why-didn't-you-see-that-coming moments, but not a lot of them...and the film wrapped up nicely at the end. If you are looking for a decent film for a horror night in, this one isn't a bad choice...you could do a lot worse.