I was often told not to judge a book by its cover, and however I try to apply the rule for movies, I can’t help to be hooked by some posters. That’s the case with Antisocial by Cody Callaham; without ever seeing the trailer or reading the synopsis, all the information I had to go on was that it featured a girl soaked in blood, holding an axe. That alone was enough for me to hold it as one of the most anticipated horror movies of last year.
Antisocial’s plot is nothing new at first sight; All of a sudden, people start to lose their minds and become bloody savages, without any trace of their previous personality. It’s basically The Crazies, but with a very contemporary twist, which I’ve been looking forward to see in the horror genre for a long time, without much success.
One of the most notorious elements of our society is social networking; it has grown to absurd proportions to a point where it can define personalities and influence people’s lives in the most unimaginable ways. Antisocial uses that premise to build an insane nightmare — what if social networks become a source of a signal capable of destroying human minds and turning them into zombie-like creatures [like in The Signal or Pontypool]? How fast would that contaminate people? How large would be the damage caused be?
Aside from the unique premise, Antisocial has most elements of the classic Evil Dead style — a group of friends trapped in a house, watching as the evil slowly possesses them, turning friend against friend in a desperate attempt to survive. For a debut film, it’s not a strange thing that the biggest influences are so clear, but for any hardcore horror fan, it might look like more of the same, especially when it comes to the characters.
The acting varies from solid to terrible without any reasonable cause, as if the cast only pushed their own limits farther when they wanted to.
As I’ve said, Antisocial was sold to me by its poster and a promise of axes and blood. Even though I wouldn’t call this a gory movie, it is quite a bloody one, and gladly, it’s 100% make-up blood. Having absolutely no CGI effects today is an accomplishment. In particular, if you consider that the digital era has overcome not only our lives but also the world of low budget filmmaking.
As far as it concerns production value, I have to highlight the amazing soundtrack and sound score that was put together; it dictates the rhythm of the movie just fine.
Even though the social network criticism and the absence of CGI are remarkable points, the best part of Antisocial is by far, the ending. It is one of the most kick-ass and exciting endings for a horror film in quite some time, an outstanding hook for a sequel that, if I’m not wrong, is being written right now. I’m happy to say that for Antisocial 2, I’ll be into it for more than just a poster.
Sounds very promising, I want to see this!