Late Fee (2009) User Reviews

Pretty trashy piece of clip-recycling

[dschmeding · 3/10 · 8 November 2009]

"Late Fee" roughly categorizes of one of the horror anthology movies. You get 2 horror shorts bundled into a surrounding story. If anything about this movie makes sense its the story that is wrapped around everything...

Its Halloween and a couple decides to spend the evening watching horror movies. They arrive late to their local video store to rent some flicks and the owner is just about to close but agrees for them to pick some DVDs which they do among a strange Halloween party taking place in the store. Its all pretty stupid, yet fun seeing a bunch of masked guys as vampires and werewolves giving underground movie tips to the couple but if a movie mentions trash like "Flesh for the beast" you can expect that something bad is coming up. To make a long story short... they rent two totally brutal movies which the owner only gives them after signing the 100 pages shop rules including the special "late fee agreement" and off they go watching 2 really really lame shorts.

Now if you are into Troma style stuff the Halloween story is kind of fun but the 2 movies everything is wrapped around are just annoying. I am especially shocked to see that the directors recycled two of their old shorts in this movie, so this thing is a kind of cash-off.

First of "Pick up" about a chick meeting a guy, going to a motel and... a come on, you know it. The editing is disgraceful, I haven't seen such an overload of amateurish dissolves for a while. The story is a joke. OK, the chick is pretty hot but the whole thing makes no sense at all.

After a short interlude it dives even deeper into "Damnation" which makes even less sense. A chick drives on a highway, gets pulled over by a ridiculously acted female highway patrol officer and is abducted. Next up comes a even more ridiculous sentencing in some dark room, she is thrown into a cell with some other chick and randomly Chick 2 gets a lame cannibal abortion while Chick 1 is sent off to do some snuff movie which ends with one of the most idiotic "twists" of all time and a car driving into a fake sunset that looks like from some school movie project.

Its all damn random, the gore is thrown in just for the sake of it and is pretty tame and fake anyway. The ending is what gives the movie its name and I guess you can predict if you look at the DVD Cover. The couple from the Halloween story is kind of funny and the movie references and videostore jokes will please the horror nerds (although even here you mainly get auto-referential jokes about the directors previous movies) but all in all its bad, especially when you realize that you have just been served a recycling of 2 incredibly bad shorts which not even deserved to be released once, less being bundled into this excuse for a feature movie. If a director made such a number of movies and still feels the need to release a collection of shorts which are that bad (I have seen better shorts on the incredibly lame Fangoria Compilations) I wonder if its not time to bury the career.

Not much to like here.

[TdSmth5 · 3/10 · 27 July 2013]

A couple goes on Halloween night to a video store to rent some movies. They pick two movies but the owner tries to convince them to rent something else. He gives in and warns them to return the movies the same day no later than 12am.

They go home and watch the movies, and we watch them too. At this point it's 10pm. The first movie is called The Pick Up about a guy who picks up a prostitute and drives to a motel were they are welcomed by some obnoxious attendant. The man has a briefcase with him with all sorts of nasty torture/kill accessories and tools. But the woman has different plans for him.

The second movie is called Damnation, about a woman who gets pulled over by a female cop and taken in. She's put immediately on trial and jailed by some weird judge. There book of the law is some Satanic book. Her cell mate is a pregnant girl who is one day taken away into a lab where a some wild woman is stashed in a cellar. She comes out and rips the baby out. Then our other jailed woman is released into the care of a client, who has certain plans for the woman.

When our couple finishes watching the movies it's just past 12am and they get an unexpected visit.

This is the kind of movie that has you wondering what they were thinking. Even for a low budget independent movie, not a lot makes sense here or has much of a point. The first story is almost too plain and simple. The highlight I guess is supposed to be the sex scene between the customer and the prostitute, who's more than just some woman. But the scene is poorly filmed to be special. The second movie on the other hand is too messy and complicated and senseless.

The couple is alright and likable; the girl is cute, the guy does a good job acting. The main villain though is terrible.

Not worth the time.

[shaun8305 · 2/10 · 5 December 2020]

Late Fee is the kind of movie that could have been good, but just failed on every level. The wrap around story is about a couple renting some scary movies is dull, with no real pay off, and the two takes of Terror are mediocre at best. There really isn't anything too redeeming about this one. Give it a pass.

Worse than I expected

[Mikel3 · 15 November 2009]

I like to support independent films. I watched this one because I'd read it wasn't bad. I was mislead. It stunk big time. The acting was absolutely terrible. Especially the guy that ran the video store. The writing was only slightly better than the acting. The director needs to take some film courses. The cinematography was poor. I would imagine they had little or no budget for this film. I bet most of the background actors were friends of the film makers.

About the only good thing I can say for it was the monster effects in the hotel room episode were okay. Who ever did the FX on that scene was able to do a lot with very little.

Don't waste your time on this garbage, it is an insult to film lovers. Obviously it was made by untalented people hoping to make a fast buck.

If i could give a zero... I would.

[z_nicolle · 1/10 · 18 November 2009]

I am an avid horror fan and love finding a good movie amongst the bad ones and boy, was this a bad one!! If you have read a good review on this they are lying to you. The acting in this was the pits, i am all for giving the characters a chance but they are so wooden it is unbelievable. With a tiny cast the actors are regurgitated throughout the movies anthologies in different roles showing no depth of script or talent.

The stories are weak which is a shame, jumping on the bandwagon of the likes of creepshow and tales from the crypt of being tongue in cheek but there is no plot, no storyline and most of all made no sense.

So don't waste an hour and a half of your life only to be left feeling disappointed and robbed.

Really Bad, Unscary and Unfunny Anthology Horror Film

[alanbobet · 1/10 · 1 October 2009]

I just came from the world premiere at NYC's Kraine Theater of this Anthology Horror Film called LATE FEE produced by video company Media Blasters/Shriek Show, John Sirabella and co-directed and written and co-directed by John Carcietta & Carl Morano. Unfortunately this indie horror film can't hold a candle either acting-wise, production-wise and even direction-wise to similar anthology horror films like the recent TRICK OR TREAT & TRAILER PARK OF TERROR. The film in itself has a basic good premise in which two twenty somethings go to a video store to rent horror films on Halloween night but the seedy & weird owner of the video store warns the couple to return the DVDs before 12 midnight or literally there will be hell to pay since the video store has an unusual way to get payment for late fees. But the two films the couple see which are THE PICK UP & DAMNATION which are the 2 stories of this anthology film, promise more than they really deliver, since the stories are predictable, unfunny and not scary at all! Especially when the acting is so over the top and amateurish & even the gore and makeup effects in the film are not up to par with the kind of films Media Blasters usually releases on DVD. On the production side, the film looks so cheap that it looks like it was virtually filmed in Media Blasters' backyard in New Jersey where the company is located and even the company's video store Rare Flix in NJ doubles for the ominous video store of the film. In my opinion after seeing this tepid film, Media Blasters/Shriek Show should quit making their own movies and keep on releasing Italian , Japanese and Spanish genre films like they were doing in the first place, since LATE FEE, which will be soon released on DVD in October 2009, is not even worth a video rental.

Worst thing to ever come from Media Blasters

[movieman_kev · 1/10 · 25 November 2009]

A couple rent two dvds from their local video-store (which is the 'Rare Flix' store in NJ, but is supposed to be another nameless store in the film I guess) despite the warnings that they return the movies no later then midnight because they have a rather strict late fee. Anyways, the couple returns home to watch said films (which we are, i hesitate to say treated to so I'll just say forced to watch as well) one has to do with a woman luring random guys back to a seedy motel, the other revolves around a girl getting thrown in a weird jail. Both of them are amateurish in the worst possible way.

Apparently both short films were already made and the 'movie' just cobbled a horrible wrap- around segment to showcase them. To make matters worse both shorts are quasi-sequels to two other films. 'The Pick-Up' follows the atrocious "Flesh for the Beast" and 'Damnation' follows the almost equally rancid "Shadow: Dead Riot". Naturally this would be quite confusing for anyone who hasn't seen either of those aforementioned films (and if you didn't, trust me I truly envy you) As an aside, why the couple would rent two films both sequels to films they've never seen before is never explained. But long story short (too late), don't rent this. It's excruciatingly bad.

My Grade: F

Media Blasters DVD Extras: a 6 minute Behind-the-scenes featurette; 'the Cutting Room floor' (15 worthless minutes of 'found' TV footage); photo gallery; TV spot for Rare Flix; and trailers for "The Devil's Hostage", "The Pick Up", "Wicked Lake", "Shadow Dead Riot" & "Flesh of the Beast"

Low grade Tales From the Darkside echo is amusing if you aren't picky

[dbborroughs · 5/10 · 24 November 2009]

On Halloween a couple goes to a video store that rents the scariest videos ever. Unfortunately its closing for a private party. The owner agrees to let them rent if they promise to return the movies before midnight. After watching the movies the couple finds its too late to return the films and finds out how terrible the late fees are. Tales From The Darkside style movie with a wrap around two shorter films. The first concerns a man who picks up a woman and takes her to a motel.(Its good but goes on way too long for what it is) and the second concerns the terrible things that happen to a young woman after a traffic stop (better but a bit unfocused). A clever and somewhat fun movie, the film is a throw back to the horror of yesteryear. Its no great shakes but in the right mood can be fun.

Sucks

[natalielinger · 1/10 · 26 January 2021]

This movies was completely stupid I thought it would be good but it was really stupid don't waste your time watching it I love horror movies but not scary or nothing

Late Fee (2009) AnthologyLover

[johndonny-10710 · 5/10 · 15 December 2023]

If your looking for a high end well made horror anthology film then this most certainly is not that. However, If you like something with smoking hot female characters in segments that have them in outrageous sexually situations while smothered in retro cheesiness, then you may actually enjoy this. A couple rents a pair of horror flicks from a strange video store owner who warns them of the extreme policies he has for late returns. The two stories are from the films they watch. The first story has a sexy blond streetwalker being picked up by a married businessman who is out for a night of tail. They end up in a prearranged motel room where she does her thing which most assuredly was not what he had in mind. The second tale has a beautiful and innocent brunette pulled over in a traffic stop by a over sexed blond hottie who looks like she thinks she"s in a 70's porno flick "not necessarily a bad thing" She takes her into custody where she is taken to a satanic prison that assumes everybody is guilty of something and spins a wheel to choose her fate. In the end we are back to the couple who are not going to make the return time agreed upon. Of course this has grave consequences. The movie is mostly for horror anthology lovers and or collectors. If you wath this in the right frame of mind, Not expecting Tales from the Crypt or Creepshow, and your not to picky then you might just find enough here to enjoy.

Wow!!

[johnnygriner · 1/10 · 30 July 2022]

I know what they were trying to do with this piece of garbage but OMG!! Really!!?? Total incompetence! Bad attempts at comedy, bad acting all around. And the stories were dumb. "Late Fee" tries to make itself like a twisted Twilight Zone movie, but it fell completely flat. All I can say is to stay away! You'll be mad at yourself for watching this stupid movie!!

Worst movie ever.

[aqos-1 · 10/10 · 10 November 2009]

The only people that could have given this movie a rating higher than a 1 had to have been involved in making it. It was about as much fun as popping pimples. The female that thought she was sexy looked like she was out of a bad 70's porno and no one in this movie could act. Nudity, cursing and sexual innuendo are not the things that make a movie worth watching. I bothers me that junk like this can even get a distribution big enough for anyone to waste their time watching it. Neither story within the movie made sense. The ringing doorbell made no sense. The murder at the end made complete sense. It reflected the wishes of the viewers. I get tire of giving movies like this a chance only to spend almost two hour being nothing but disappointed. I was going to turn it off after the first 5 minutes so I could honestly say, please don't waste your time with this piece of crap.

Surprisingly entertaining

[dgonzalez-40797 · 6/10 · 27 September 2020]

I wasn't sure what to expect- but I will honestly say this movie pleasantly surprised me. It was a good mix of humor, macabre, and It had a shock factor that I was not expecting. Please keep in mind that i went into it knowing this would be low budget and campy

Camera and Characters are great! one naked SM scene I like it

[brooklyn-de-106-924826 · 10/10 · 15 December 2014]

I watched this movie some time back in the mid of 2014. The movie begins with good concept, pulling the attention of the viewers. On a sudden, the movie lost its connection to the story. Many characters are entering and leaving puts you in frustration. The characters and camera view is also awesome. The only pain is in understanding what is happening in the movie. The only interesting scene in this movie for SM lovers is the unknown female naked bondage scene in the grind house. I give rating 3 (1+1+1) characters+camera+appearance of 10 seconds female nude bondage scene. Not sure the necessity of this scene but at least this scene could have stretched for some more time to drag attention of SM lovers.