Hardcore Poisoned Eyes (2000) User Reviews

Actually quite good

[FrighT MasteR · 6/10 · 11 March 2002]

I was sent a screener of this film from the director and I wasn't expecting much from the movie, but it was actually pretty good. It had an interesting premise and there was a lot of interesting topics brought up about religion in this film.

It's pretty slow through most of it to set the character and mood, then really picks up towards the end. It's not necessarily scary, but it's a horror film on its own. The director has great potential and I'm looking forward to more of his work.

Cheap, but mildly effective and robust

[CuriosityKilledShawn · 6/10 · 7 August 2004]

I first heard about this film a long time ago. I can't remember how but I remember it had glowing reviews and that it was in the style of the Blair Witch Project.

Well, it's NOT in the style of BWP. Yes, there are 3 youths out in the woods being stalked by an unseen psycho but they never acknowledge the presence of the camera because it's not that kind of movie.

Three girls Sarah, Ellie and Angelique go to Angelique's grandfather's cabin out in the wilderness for a weekend of boozing it up. But Angelique has a hidden motive. She's there to go through her grandfather's notes and find out who murdered him and why. It turns out he may have been murdered by a group of hardcore satanists. And when one of the girls makes a prank call to the leader (one Aleister Crowley the man who apparently did zillions of black magic rituals in Boleskin House up at Loch Ness) all hell literally breaks loose.

Their car vanishes, a man in a cloak is seen standing before the trees in the distance and sinister notes are shoved under the door. Sal Ciavarello does create a good amount of tension and mystery but the cheapness almost kills some of the big scares. Some of the chase scenes and especially the ending are just plain confusing because it's cut too fast and shot too darkly. He does however make up for it in sheer brazenness.

It's one of those films where what you don't see is scarier than giving us a full-blown monster (like BWP). However, I personally wanted to see more of the villain.

Most cheap horror films force the characters to do stupid things and foolishly walk into obviously dangerous situations on their own in order to get slashed. HPE does not do this. The girls are forced to spew out hate for religion and their nerves send them almost crazy.

Sal Ciavarello is guilty of cramming way too many ideas into a 90-minute film though. I would like to see this remade with a bigger budget and stronger technical skill. Much like El Cheapo El Mariachi became the much bigger and livelier Desperado.

The DVD of this film is IMPOSSIBLE to find. I managed to hunt down a copy and while it's not a film I would watch again it does make a change from junk like I Forgot What You Did 7 Summers Ago 50, 000, 000.

Well done

[theduckofdeath-2 · 8/10 · 24 May 2005]

This film shows what can be done by independent filmmakers with just a bit of effort. Hardcore Poisoned Eyes is an intelligent psycho thriller with more brain work than gore. The three ladies in the cast show a lot of potential, the director made a tight little film with no waste scenes, and the technical folks did a great job with sound and camera--excepting that the outdoor night scenes were too dark to allow the viewer to fully follow the action.

The movie also gives us a nice discussion of religion and moral values in the modern world, although I would suspect that some of the born again and hardline, hardcore Catholics might be offended by some of what is being said.

Looking forward to seeing more product from both the filmmakers and the cast.

Surprisingly Good

[collectivebonfire523 · 7/10 · 5 February 2006]

I found this film hidden in a 12-disc collection of low budget horror films. I usually watch these things for humor value and expect no form of decent acting or storyline. This one was however rather complete and devoid of the usual trappings of the typical B (or C) movie. The three characters are well developed and believable. The storyline actually makes sense and the religious comments throughout are thought-provoking at times. If you have about 90 minutes to kill and have this flick handy, it's definitely worth the time to watch. I liked it well enough to watch it again. I hope to see more from this crew in the future. Good job.

Mr. Crowley, Not just a song...

[Indyrod · 7/10 · 9 February 2005]

This is an ultra low budget shot-on-digital-video movie about three women who spend pretty much the whole movie in a cabin, in the middle of a woods during a snow storm. The reason, one of the girls Grandfather was murdered recently, and she has found proof that a hardcore satanic cult was maybe behind it. So, she gathers up her two friends and they go to his cabin to try and find further evidence. She discovers her late Grandfather has been dealing with an in between guy who has been furnishing him with details concerning this gruesome cult. The movie is basically a talk fest with almost no action until the end, but a rather interesting continuous run of exposition that tells us everything anybody would ever want to know about religion and satanism from their viewpoint. Even though the camera work is shoddy, the video feel is very cheap, the movie is saved by some outstanding acting by the three women as they get drunk talking and talking and talking, and very good direction. Believe it or not, but the whole story is tied to the Ozzy Osbourne song "Mr. Crowley", which is about a man who deals with the devil and talks to the dead. One of the women gets overly drunk and actually calls the leader of this satanic cult as a joke. Of course the other girls are going nutzoid at this stupid idea, and as can be expected this brings the wrath of Mr. Crowley down on their dumb asses. The ladies start flipping out as the man on phone identifies himself as Mr. Crowley and off we go with the predictable grand finale. Yep, he shows up in a devilish outfit and starts terrorizing the girls in the cabin, and finally we have some action. The girls finally get forced out of the cabin and begin running through the forest after the snow storm has passed. Now get this, a fresh snow storm just blew through, and there are footprints everywhere. I mean all over the place. Where did they come from? Oh yea, we shouldn't worry about such matters when playing in the ballpark of ultra low budget film-making. The shaky camera work is enough to make you dizzy, but somehow this quirky movie has just enough solid footing to be interesting and provide some pretty good entertainment in the horror genre. As I said, the performances are so good, you kind of forget about the overall cheapness of the production. So anyway, at about six bucks for the Brentwood collection, with three other movies, you can't really go wrong with "Hardcore Poisoned Eyes". It's a chance to see a pretty decent job of student film-making by a director who has good ideas. Compared to "The Blair Witch Project, a movie that I did not like on any level, HPE is pretty good. It also has an excellent heavy rock soundtrack with other cool sound effects, which sounds very much like "Black Sabbath". It's not everyday you get to see a film adaptation of an Ozzy Osbourne song.

Hardcore Poisoned Eyes

[marleneann · 6/10 · 3 December 2011]

I actually got this movie by accident somehow and had never even heard of it before. When I first watch it I thought it was going to be a dull cheap movie. But as a matter of fact it was actually quite impressive for a little independent horror flick. Three careless girls seek a house in the woods to spend their long weekend. One night they begin to experience a terrifying encounter who is known as Mr Crowly as the three girls not realize that the house they are staying in belongs to a satanic cult plotting to cause mayhem around the world. Overall there are great performances from both characters and actors. It was a cast of four people. And a great plot all filmed by a hand-held camera under the direction of Sal Ciavarelo. I wouldn't say that Hardcore is a scary movie but it is creepy as Hell. I give it 7 out of 10.

Very Amateurish

[Mr__Underhill · 25 October 2004]

This could have been a passable Blair Witch clone if it had taken more of a reality TV approach. Instead the contrived dialogue (sub-porno quality) made this film seem like something thrown together by some first year film students. None of them resembled anyone I remember in the 70's when this film supposedly took place....no one had hair treatments like that back then. I think the film maker and actors have a great future in amateur sex education video....you know - the kind where they try to portray kids that are supposed to be cool, but in reality nobody would ever say things like that.

The plot also flops on originality. It seems to play off the teens get drunk and goof off in a secluded house with maniac on the loose theme....sorry that went out in the 80's.