Let's Not Meet

There were enough good and bad reviews about this film to catch my interest, and going against gut instinct, I decided to watch. I should have gone with my initial instinct. Why is it in these movies, there's always one idiot who singlehandedly makes every bad decision possible in a survival situation, and makes them all in one fell swoop? Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you Brittany, who decides to leave the relative safety of shelter, and numbers, to wander off alone and weaponless in the dark, in the woods, while being stalked by a sinister figure whom she knows has bad intentions. Low budget. Slipshod plot. Below average acting. Typical idiotic behavior by the victims. Do yourself a favor and pass on this flop. The negative reviews were right.

Nice low budget indie slasher style movie. Good lighting to see what was happening as set at night. Nice reveals from the shadows and a few jump scares. The characters were likeable. Go the girl power. Watch past the credits for bonus scene.

Okay, here's the deal. A low budget movie doesn't earn a pass exclusively because it was made with little cash. It deserves whatever review it gets based on how engaging and entertaining it is. Enter the indie demonic horror flick "Let's Not Meet". This dude Ryan Callaway had an idea for a film. Then he wrote and directed the damn thing. Yeah, so it's not gonna be nom'd for an Oscar. However, it is also not a total piece of crap. The no-name acting troupe is not entirely devoid of talent, the subversive plot can't be roundly dismissed and the get-your-kicks quotient is not nearly negligible. Which, let's be real, is a helluva lot more than you can say about FAR too many multi-multiplex mega money mediocre to miserable big budget a-BOMB-inations. So there.

The title is from an internet forum called Reddit where people submit their supposedly true scary stories. This film is definitely inspired by those, but it has a bit of "No Sleep" in there as well toward the end. I used to love listening to the "Let's Not Meet" podcast before it changed, and this movie was basically like having some of those stories brought to life. Isolated settings, eerie vibe, and numerous very sketchy villains.

Bad acting, bad writing, bad timing, and camera work, confusing plot. Other than that it was just ok. I know nothing about making movies, directing, or producing. But I swear 3 high school kids made this movie with 10 grand using the people in their neighborhood.

Fun little gem of a movie. It has a suspenseful and somewhat eerie tone throughout, a lively and diverse cast, and smart writing. Best of all you it's an homage to 80's slashers like Friday the 13th and early 2000's classics like Jeepers Creepers. I would love to see what this team could do with a bigger budget.