The Redsin Tower (2006)

Fred Vogel, director of the (mostly) effective faux snuff August Underground trilogy, takes the basic plot of Sam Raimi's The Evil Dead—a group of people travel to a remote abandoned building where, one-by-one, they fall victim to an evil spirit that possesses their bodies—and gives it the ToeTag treatment: the characters are universally loathsome; there is plenty of swearing and female nudity; and, of course, Vogel (with help from make-up FX guy Jerami Cruise) delivers oodles of violence and general nastiness.Unfortunately, despite sounding like a gore-hound's dream-come-true, The Redsin Tower is actually a rather disappointing film that suffers badly from an uneventful beginning (a good 40 minutes pass before anything really interesting happens), some rather confusing moments and an unnecessary sub-plot (featuring a psycho ex-boyfriend of one of the girls), and bloody awful lighting that often makes it impossible to see what is going on.Vogel would have done much better if he'd 'borrowed' more than just the plot from Raimi's 1982 masterpiece for his first stab at a 'real' film. Had he emulated the actual structure and pacing of The Evil Dead, which was a non-stop horror roller-coaster ride, then the result might've been much more successful. Instead, the first half of the film is wasted watching a despicable bunch of losers do nothing but take drugs and talk about sex; the second half is spent watching them stumble around an old building in the dark before being killed. And with absolutely no-one likable in the whole movie, it's hard to give a damn what happens to them anyway.Even those viewers who settle down to watch this film purely for the gore will end up feeling a tad cheated. Although there are some violent deaths (my favourite being when a pretty goth chick gets axed), everything is shot in such poor lighting that it's almost impossible to see any of the bloodletting clearly. It's a shame that the only special effect that really sticks in my mind is a very silly looking bat creature.With his undeniably powerful faux snuff movies, Fred Vogel certainly made a name for himself on the underground horror circuit. However, if he wishes to create such a stir with fans of more 'traditional' horror films, then he really needs to come up with something better than this.

First thing I thought and said after finishing August Underground Mordum was "Well, that was f@ckin stupid." The first thought after watching The Redsin Tower was "Well, that was f@ckin weak." So I guess the difference between the two is one's a really negative remark and the other's a normal negative remark. So I guess, Toe Tag and Vogel did actually make a better film. But that's like me saying that piece of crap doesn't smell as bad as this one. Redsin Tower is just an average film, flat out. The movie is simply about a group of kids looking for a place to party, have sex and do the cliché things teenagers do in a horror film. They end up choosing the supposedly haunted Redsin Tower. There's another weak and pointless side-story about a psycho ex-boyfriend who has unbelievable investigative skills. God knows how the hell he found the Redsin Tower, or why he went there. Did they mention it? I don't know and I don't care. So yeah, that's the story. And guess what? It stunk. Before complaining about the flick let me say what I "liked". I thought the gore/effects were done pretty well. But can someone tell me what the hell was hanging from the ceiling when the fat kid with the lisp looked up? A flying lizard/dinosaur thing? That on the other hand was not a good effect, it looked like crap. Another thing that I liked.....hmmm...okay I enjoyed one performance. The girlfriend of the Burnout character. She seemed to be the best actress of them all, and actually exuded a "nice girl" feel. Besides that I didn't give a damn about any character. I especially disliked the psychotic boyfriend and goth girl. I also thought it was shot pretty well, it was nice and clear.But overall, the movie is just a weak, clichéd filled, amateurish movie that delivers no scares, unless the cheap loud sound effect trick was used. It's a completely average movie that a few people will enjoy, most likely independent horror fans. Only check out this flick if you're bored or if you're a fan of Vogel's previous work.

This has to be one of the DUMBEST piles of DUMB I HAVE EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE I liked Agust Underground and thought Mordum was OK for what is was. Penance was unnecessary, and this it one of the most poorly directed and scripted, acted, edited films I have seen in my life. Everything in it is just a waste of your life. There is absolutely nothing redeeming or interesting about it. Actually I take that back, it's interesting to see how horrible dull and predicable illogical a film can be. Nothing is shocking the entire movie consists of a guy with a lisp that had me rolling on the floor trying to be scary and getting one of your moderate looking girl friends to take her top off and do her best impression of Evil Dead that she can. Throw Zack Morris in there and a dead end useless plot line and you have this pile or brain damage.

If you don't know, the makers of this film made several faux home movies, supposedly taped by serial killer and rapists documenting their exploits. They were certainly different and truly scary. The film makers use some of the same techniques here but its not nearly as effective. The characters are a bunch of losers who decide to drink and get high in a haunted building. A sub plot has a jilted boyfriend pursuing one of the loser girls. The girls and their male friends, played by actors obviously too old for the roles, chatter away, make out, talk trash and do what real losers do....but its not much fun to watch. In fact the goofy boyfriend is a lot more interesting. He is somewhat appealing in a geeky way and even though he flips out and turns into a stalker, you feel a bit sorry for him. The others have no real life apart from getting stoned and drunk and aren't even likable, just boring losers.The set is apparently a basement with utility tunnels, one of which appears to be a cave. At least it doesn't have straight walls like a building would. Why they call it a tower is odd. There are no stairs. All the action seems to take place in the basement. And its a small set. We see the same window over and over even though the people comment about the "maze" they get lost in. The gore effects are quite good but they don't start until we have been put to sleep by the endless chatter from the dopey girls. The camera work is pretty good too. The lighting is so low key and dark that lots of the good gore stuff is really hard to see. I know its supposed to be a dark old haunted place and all but a bit more light would have made the effects much more entertaining. Its also rather sad to read comments from persons obviously involved in making the film trumpeting this film as a "10" in press release language. Nobody talks like that. It doesn't fool anybody.This movie will be liked best by fans of the makers earlier work. For other viewers its average at best.