SIDE SHO wins Best Feature at Terror Film Festival 2007

****SPOILERS?****

It's a shame this movie didn't turn out better. The premise and story were good. The cinematography was good. The art direction was good. The directing also seemed competent though I don't know how much he was responsible for the problems listed below. And everyone seemed to be having a good time (based on the BTS extra).

But many things went wrong. First, how did it win Best Original Score? Though the score may have been fine technically, it rarely fit in with what was happening on screen which in turn really hurt the mood and suspense the film could have had.

Then there is the classic body double breast shot just thrown in so they could put "nudity" to drum up business. I'm all for nudity but it should not be a body double. You should get an actress daring enough to do it if you want it in there.

The inbred freaks do not look at all like products of inbreeding but rather they all look like burn victims. And most of them seem to be too highly functioning mentally (they can all read, write, speak in complete sentences, plan, scheme, etc.).

What's the deal with the lady in bed? From the story, she's supposed to be the kid's mother which would mean she's been locked up and abused by these people for over 10 years... yet her teeth were perfect, her face looked like she had been lost maybe a day in the woods, she looks well-fed, she's wearing hardly worn clothes and even bright white panties.

The editing is pretty painful. Count how many "match on actions" are not matches. Like the father running up to the family and stopping, cut to different angle of father still running up to family and stopping. You can see several of these instances as well as huge coninuity errors often with the blood. The pacing could have been better many times. You should have taken some of the CG money and paid an experienced editor.

The acting can mostly be forgiven because it was everyone's first real project but here's a tip, work on acting scared. It is the biggest downfall of most horror films. Sure you can scream and run and act tough when fighting back but when you're supposed to fear for your lives it looks more like you're afraid you'll be called on in math class.

Also, the blatent Bruce Campbell "homage" or ripoff. He looks like Bruce Campbell, tries to act like him, and at one point even says "Groovy."

Lastly, the use of CGI. Just because you have a competent CG person, doesn't mean you should use much of it. The CG snake was horrible and too much CG in the climax with the dangling wire.

If you don't mind me asking, could you please explain a bit more what happened? My friend and I stopped the movie the minute it started the credits.