Scare Campaign

“Careful who you prank.”

I found Scare Campaign on a list of ‘hidden horror’ gems and the concept was pretty cool. It was described with a fairly simple plot: a horror prank television show pranks the wrong guy and people end up really dead. It sounded like an easy-to-watch, mindlessly violent film that would be fun to watch without having to pay much attention. I was wrong.

Scare Campaign had more plot twists than any other story I’ve ever seen or read. Every single time I thought I knew what was going on, there would be another plot twist, throwing the film into an entirely different storyline. This sounds like it might be entertaining, and it was, but by the third time I started thinking, “Okay…this is a little too much.” The writers did a good job of convincing the audience that they were on the right track, however. I was sure I had figured out the mystery five or six times, only to be thwarted by another sharp turn in the opposite direction. I am not able to watch a horror film without trying to figure out what the catch is. Because of this, Scare Campaign was a tiring movie to watch. I rewatched several scenes when I felt I had skipped a detail. Things happened quickly, so if I took my eyes off the tv there was a good chance I would miss something.

In the midst of confusion, I did notice the locations and resources were really nice. It seemed to be shot in real places such as an old hospital or an abandoned asylum. If they weren’t real locations, then they had a really good budget for sets! Most props in the movie were just that – props used on the scare show. I liked this because the expectation for the different weapons and creepy accessories (dolls, demonic relics, etc.) wasn’t as high. They weren’t supposed to be convincing, but they were decently realistic. It was neat to see the characters setting up the locations and using their knowledge of the contestants’ fears in order to set up an appropriately scary location for their show. It was a bit like watching someone set up a haunted house. Much of the film showed the actors executing their scripts within the environments they had designed, and I really enjoyed this aspect as well.

The main characters were easy enough to recognize, and each one had a purpose and was likable enough. When bad things happened to them, I cared. They also reacted in a realistic way by calling the police when things went wrong and not falling into the ‘let’s split up’ horror movie cliché. One thing I didn’t like were the ‘villains’ of the story. At the start of the film, they are introduced very briefly as a motivation for the main characters to ‘up the ante’ on their show…but they are never mentioned again. Until they show up an hour later with no warning. They are never explained, their true intentions and identities are never revealed.

The ending of Scare Campaign was frustrating. After all my detective work, figuring out twists and turns, and trying to determine the point of the seemingly forced ‘baddies’ that remained mostly unmentioned, the ending had a twist in the last ten minutes, another twist two minutes after that, and yet another twist in the last four seconds which, instead of answering questions and providing closure, only left me confused and unsatisfied. Afterward, I called my dad and demanded to know what he thought about the ending. He didn’t know what to make of it, so I took to the internet to see what others said. There were a few guesses, but nothing concrete enough to solidify the ending. I was left with more questions that I started with: Who was Abby allied with? Who was Emma allied with? Who were the ‘Masked Freaks’? Who was really dead?

Rating:

Fool on the Hill:

I give this movie three popcorns. The plot started really strong. Although it took a little while to pick up, the almost documentary-like beginning section of the movie was really entertaining for a different reason. I think I lost interest in the film when they started to add all the unnecessary twists and turns and changed the direction of the plot entirely. I wish they had provided more of an explanation for the baddies’ and the last few scenes. Otherwise, I thought it was a good film. I was glad I watched it once, but probably won’t watch it again. I recommend if you are looking for a horror movie with a unique plot and fun characters.

Trailer:

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