Stickman (2017)

This was actually a rather surprisingly nice movie for a SyFy production. Yeah, they usually put out some rather questionable movies. But every now and again they do strike gold, and they happened to do so with "Stickman".Sure while the storyline was generic as in terms of horror movies go, but it was still an entertaining movie.They had some nicely talented acting performers to fill out the various roles and characters. I will say that the performance level was quite adequate all-round.There was a good continuous flow to the storyline, which made for better enjoyment of the movie, for sure.And the creature itself was actually rather nicely made. And this being a horror movie, you of course need to have a proper scary creature or special effects. SyFy did manage to deliver here.So you might want to sit down and watch "Stickman" if you enjoy a good old fashioned creature feature.

Saw 'Stickman', being fond of horror regardless of budget (even if not my favourite genre) and being intrigued somewhat by the idea. Being behind on my film watching and reviewing, with a long to watch and review list that keeps getting longer, it took me a while to get round to watching and reviewing it.Giving 'Stickman' a fair chance with being interest and apprehension, it turned out to be far better than expected. Won't say that 'Stickman' is a great film because it isn't and the potential, while not wasted, is not fully lived up to. Considering the large number of films seen recently being mediocre and less and wasting potential, was expecting worse and was relieved that while wanting in a fair few areas it was actually one of my better recent low-budget viewings.'Stickman' started off quite well, the first twenty minutes or so starting the film off on a promising, unsettling and atmospheric note that really does intrigue. Production values did have some eeriness and nowhere near as cheap as expected, and the music, which not the most memorable in the world, didn't detract from the atmosphere. The setting is effectively spooky and some of the lead acting at times was not bad. There are spooky and suspenseful moments and it isn't dull. The direction doesn't feel phoned in and the storytelling in the first half does intrigue.However, the story was severely wanting in the second half after starting off promisingly. It is very disjointed and after the promising start the final third especially loses atmosphere, one loses interest and things start to not make sense. Too much of the film is vague and doesn't explore some elements and story strands enough, some dropped soon after being introduced, go nowhere or serve much point.Ending is unsatisfying, on top of feeling hasty there are too many loose ends hanging in the air. Got the sense that the writers didn't know how to end the film. Would have liked much more tension and suspense, scares could have been more consistent and some weren't surprising enough. Found too the script to lack natural flow and with a fair bit of cheese going on, and the characters bland with some adopting some annoying and not always logical decision making. The support acting is even more problematic than the second half's storytelling, at best it was poor and too often terrible.Overall, better than expected but not great still. 5/10 Bethany Cox

I honestly enjoyed this movie,which is saying a lot when SYFY movies (and Canadian),are usually so bad.The acting was excellent and convincing,special effects were way above SYFY standard effects,as was the cinematography. Yes the story line was cliche'd as was the ending,but lets face it,you didn't watch it thinking this was going to be a masterpiece.I'm not going to sit here and over analylise it as one reviewer has,it's not that sort of movie,seriously dude,get a life.Take this movie for what it is,a pretty good horror movie worth a watch,enjoy.

Suffering from a series of strange dreams, a woman with a history involving a strange figure that forces her into bizarre behavioral patterns finds the creature is loose and stalking her friends forcing them to band together to find a way to stop it once and for all.This ended up being quite the decent and enjoyable effort. What really makes this one seem enjoyable is the fact that there's a reasonably enjoyable and sensible backstory for the creature at the core of this one. Taking into account the main poem at the heart of the creatures' origins, this setup is quite fun and manages to bring out a rather enjoyable time here when giving all the different guidelines for his resurrection as well as the rather complex rules that are featured here for his emergence makes for a generally effective creature. The amount of time he has here isn't that bad, either, giving this one a really strong overall setup which generates some solid stalking scenes, from the opening dream sequence on the bus to the first encounter in the sanitarium and the incredibly chillings attacks at the foster home that sets the whole plot in motion. Other big scenes include the creature attacking the couple in their car driving along the freeway which offers all the usual fun of trying to keep the creature from breaking through and leading into the stellar crash while the second half has some fun with the group in the asylum looking for answers to the creature as it begins knocking the group off throughout the hallways which give this a kind of rather exciting kick during this section of the film. With some fine encounters surrounding this with some fun in the convenience store and the group out in the woods as there are some decent enough times here with the creature resulting in some solid gory kills throughout here. These hold the film up over its rather blatant flaws along the way. The most apparent issue here is the fact that there's just no reason here for the connection to the poem and the creatures' release, as this is severely underwhelming and really seems quite unlikely. This is the easiest problem to fix and doesn't really deserve to be as big an issue as it is due to the central premise being it as the notion works, but the whole concept is a big enough issue. As well, there are some big issues with how long it takes for the creature to become known to the group as this has some pretty lame reasons to keep them from believing her even after witnessing an attack that she couldn't be responsible so this one does have an issue there. Along with some spotty CGI for the creature, these here hold this one down.Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence and Language.