It’s always a gamble going into an indie horror flick that you don’t know too much about; It’s either going to be a major waste of your time or something that can really impress you and it’s rarely ever in the middle of those two. Luckily for me, Sean J. Vincent’s The Addicted falls closer to the impressive side of the spectrum.
A journalist and her three friends lock themselves in an abandoned drug rehab center for the night in hopes of catching some real supernatural occurrences on camera. This premise may not sound very original, but it’s all in the execution, my friends…
Instead of going the ‘popular kid’ route of making another found footage ‘locked in a scary building all night’ movie, Vincent decided to shoot the traditional way. That’s not to say there aren’t some scenes that are shown through the camera lens, but thankfully the entire film isn’t this way.
Sean J. Vincent acts not only as The Addicted’s director, but also the writer. While I feel his script doesn’t allow for very much depth, I still think the actors are able to perform very well with what they were given. Additionally, the killer, although dressed in some rather simple slasher garb, is actually pretty cool looking. His black clown-like mask was menacing enough to pass for a memorable new face in horror cinema.
The Addicted has some pretty great kills and I think the practical make-up effects are done very well, but the use of inferior CG really killed a lot of the mood for me. I’d rather have no computer generated imagery at all than to have very poorly executed computer generated imagery.
I think the fact that this film is not just another Grave Encounters (or countless other films like it), is a huge plus and I commend the crew for making it this way. I also enjoyed that it isn’t your typical haunted hospital film; There is motive to it all and the slasher elements really bring it to the next level.
If you’re looking for another independent horror film to add to your collection, be sure to pick up a copy of The Addicted. It is available now and can be purchased from Revolver Entertainment’s official webstore.
I give it 2.5 nailguns out of 5.
