Are You Scared? (2006)

Director: Andy Hurst

Starring: Alethea Kutscher, Charlee Avers

Run Time: 79 mins

Certificate: 18

 

Plot Outline: After waking up in an abandoned factory, six kidnapped teenagers think that they're taking part in a reality game show called "Are You Scared?" in which each of them must face their worst fear by taking part in games. The only catch is that the games are deadly and if they do not overcome their fears, they will die.

The Review: The first thing that crossed my mind upon watching the opening scene of the film was "I guess this director has seen Saw." So derivate and blatant is the plagiarism that the film should be re-titled Are You Being Sued? From the grungy setting, to the stupid victim not realising they have to inflict pain upon themselves to survive to the sinister deep voice giving them instructions and a time limit over the public announce system, this is Saw, only the most lame, pointless version you're going to see. I'm all for people borrowing ideas from other films if they're going to make their own film and not just copy the hell out of someone else's hard work. So it pains me to see how badly this film wants to be Saw. It's not like anyone tries to hide the fact - it's so blatantly obvious. How many films previously had mysterious strangers abducting people and telling them they have a few minutes to solve some puzzle before it kills them? I tried to so hard to write this review without comparing it to Saw but since the filmmakers clearly put so much effort into making you think of Saw, then I have no alternative.

There are a few mildly entertaining moments, specifically centring around the crazy games that this guy has created. You ever wondered how Jigsaw could put together those crazy, stupendously difficult puzzles in the original? Well this guy can top that and more. There's people with entrails hanging out, a row of shotguns ready to blow off someone's head at the touch of a tripwire and a nifty two-way drilling machine. There's some decent gore thrown at the camera here including a face melted by acid and someone blown up in a bad CGI explosion. But the idea of these puzzles is to simply kill their participant. Jigsaw at least gave his victims a chance to escape if they put themselves through hell. Here they are simply no-win situations, designed to kill the victim. Given the killer actually does the dirty deed himself a few times, you wonder why he bothered putting together all of this crap together in the first place and especially why he roped so many innocent people into getting killed. Jigsaw's victims were all characters with a dark side. Here they seem to be innocent victims, caught up in a simple revenge plot. Message to future killers who want to copy Jigsaw - save ourselves 79 minutes of agony and just killed your victims with a shotgun or knife. It's quicker, less messy and saves you forking out a loud of your own cash to make the elaborate puzzles and power them for hours upon end.

Despite the fact that there's a reasonable amount of people waiting to be killed and that it only runs for 79 minutes, you'd expect the film to pick up the pace. But it is so slow and drawn out, having characters clash with each other numerous times about what to do, etc. There's also a secondary plot here about a detective's attempt to track down the madman. This takes a hell of a lot of time away from the gruesome proceedings in the factory and given the short running time including credits, it's a criminal waste of time......in fact it is a criminal waste of time because I don't recall the plot going anywhere other than a moment towards the end of the film. All of the build up for that (I don't want to spoil anything but those who have seen the film will know). Of course the film can't end with the killer being finished off so we get a false ending followed by a brief sequel-setting scene. I hope they don't go through with it, for our sake!