Almost Mercy (2015)

What started out as an intelligent movie that might have had something to say about the deterioration of exurban America ended up being a juvenile rant. In order to have some sympathy for the actions of the protagonist her victims are portrayed as depraved hypocrites, but none of their actions forgive the infantile response of Emily. In fact, the only person who deserves more than humiliation is the pedophile priest.The two girls with the jerky jock kids are just innocent bystanders. What was their sin? Bad taste in dudes? Killing the relatively sweet but dumb coach was the act that lowered Emily to a level far below her victims. His "evil" was so banal as to be immaterial. There is no message here, only a childish temper tantrum.

I've seen more than my fair share of films, and I can honestly say this is one of those few sleepers that left an impression. In my opinion I would not have classified this as a horror film, but rather a dark comedy/drama. From the beginning of the film, to the end, it moves at exactly the right pace. It draws you in with a well written story and still delivers the shocks. It develops the characters so well that you can imagine (to a degree) yourself in their shoes.The story involves two small town teens who are labeled as "outcasts", and from there they develop a unique friendship over the years. Both being raised in their own version of hell, they are shaped by the small minded people living around them. Being pushed to their limits, and having an everlasting loyal friendship, they set out to take revenge and have each other's back. This film has so many great and memorable scenes, and was edited perfectly (in my opinion). I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND this film for anyone who enjoys something a little over the top, with some outlandish scenes to drive it home. I can safely say I will be seeing this film again in the near future. Hope you enjoy!!

This is one of the most hateful movies I have ever seen, and exemplifies why people can't ever seem to meet in the middle on issues anymore. It is yet another 'artistic' movie in an overdone genre.."angry liberal kids hate everyone around them, and display their heroism by murdering everyone they disagree with". If there is a cliché about people with a conservative mindset, expect to see it here, amplified by 100. Any character that is of a conservative inclination, or what would otherwise be considered to be "successful", or "cool", should be expected to be portrayed in the most base, straw-man-argument-friendly caricature possible. The priest is the leader of a child porn ring and stealing money (of course *eye roll*..haven't seen THAT hateful portrayal before), another character they hate is of course a lover of boy porn, another is a grown man that can't wait for the chance to sleep with underage teens (one of which he's "been working on since she was 6" *another eye roll*). The teens they have deemed deserve to die, of course are all attractive (attractive people should all die!!) and spend their Saturday nights having orgies in a trailer. Oh yeah, and don't forget the guy who is wearing lady makeup and being smacked by a dominatrix when the "hero" comes in to serve justice to him. Have we covered every possible cliché of a character being depraved yet?I just want to know if film makers like this genuinely think they're being "deep". Must be easy to get your point across when you can propagandize those you disagree with in the most disgusting manners possible. This is yet another movie for "We hate what America is about. We don't fit in. We hate the idea of anyone succeeding over someone else. We hate religious people also. Why can't all of those things just roll over and die a bloody death, so we who smoke pot and want to be layabouts can go on being layabouts?" I don't imagine a movie heroizing someone who hates pot smokers/lazy people/outcasts and decides the only solution is to MURDER them / plot a school shooting would make it out of the cutting room. So how does such hateful, irresponsibly biased nonsense like THIS make it out?"We should burn this church down." That's nice. Don't agree with religion? Ah, let's burn them down, and put an ax in the priest later. "I'm having trouble in school." Well, guess a school shooting is a sympathetic choice then. Coach actually want you to participate in gym class? Ehhh, shoot him to death, he deserves to die. Oh no, we shouldn't see that as extreme at all, because remember, that coach is ALSO a sleezebag underage-kid-sleeper- with'er. See how we got you to sympathize with murdering that person now? (clever wink)In a time when school shootings are a frequent occurrence, let's make a movie that says "You know what? If life is tough, you are fully entitled to take everyone down with you in a hail of bullets." Why not? Don't bother trying to lift yourself up, just kill 'em. Don't even bother accepting "Eh, I'm a lil' weird, it is what it is" (something which personally I have done. I wasn't the cool kid, a lil quiet. I accepted it, and learned to embrace it)...no, don't do that. Kill the 'different ones'!This movie might as well have been written by a violently angry child with a pen. If you have political views, subtlety is an art...of which there was none in this movie. Crass, violent, and hateful of those of differing viewpoints / lifestyles, can sum up this irresponsible garbage. I'm so tired of "artists", spending more time building biased misrepresentative straw-men of the people they disagree with, than creating valid discussions that acknowledge there *gasp!*, might be an actual reason other people think differently.

Almost Mercy was much better than I expected for a lower budget Indy Horror flick. There was your traditional slasher stuff and also with an overlying message that that is very timely. Almost Mercy is not afraid to take on a variety of meaty issues that are all too common for adolescents in this day and age...some of the horror veterans (Bill Moseley and Kane Hodder!!) are nice surprises as well. The lead actress - Danielle Guldin - keeps the beat during the entire movie. I have seen other films form the director Tom DeNucci & Woodhaven and this is a real step up from their previous work as this company matures so does their work. I enjoyed it very much...