Film

Movie theaters, reviews and showtimes in New York, plus articles, trailers and more
 

Reeker (2005)

Director: Dave Payne

Average user rating
No reviews

Movie review

From Time Out London

A curate’s egg of a horror movie, in which a car-load of teens on their way to a rave are terrorised at a remote, deserted diner by a hazy, stinky driller-killer. Writer-director Dave Payne’s obvious debt to ‘Jeepers Creepers’ and ‘Dead End’ notwithstanding, his approach is more indie ironic than fanboy indulgent. Leavening the face-ripping, arm-severing, stomach-skewering gore with some nicely judged humour – including a priceless sight gag featuring a blind guy and a warning flare – he also confidently eschews the sketch-and-slash approach to characterisation.

The salty dialogue and fleshing out of the potentially disposable characters – tough cookie Gretchen, naive ‘babe’ Cookie, fugitive stoner Trip and his pal Nelson, sightless stand-up guy Jack – are Payne’s strongest suits. Lazy clichés – a defaced Bible, spooky phone calls and Cookie wandering about at dead of night in only her micro-undies – are his weakest. A cameo by Michael Ironside, as an edgy guy searching for his missing wife, increases the stench of fear; but there is a whiff of desperation about the contrived, predictable ending.

Author: Nigel Floyd 2006-06-27 10:43:23

Time Out London Issue 1871: June 28-July 5 2006

  • Print this page
  • Send to a friend

What do you think?
Post your review now

clear rating
Min 1 star. Zero stars will be treated as unrated.

*mandatory fields


Reeker

Cast & crew

Director: Dave Payne

Producer: Dave Payne

Cast: Derek Richardson, Arielle Kebbel, Michael Ironside, Eric Mabius, Devon Gummersall, Tina payne, Tina Illman, Scott Whyte full cast

Genre(s): Horror

Duration: 91 mins


Features

Making a name for himself

Making a name for himself

Sin Nombre's Cary Joji Fukunaga learned his lessons well.

To the letter

Forty years later, Costa-Gavras's Z still brims with fury.

Mind over matter

David Cronenberg reflects on a most bizarre body: his own corpus of work.

Fool's gold

Can an Oscar win lead to a cursed career? Here are five stories of postaward professional meltdowns.

We are the championed

Terrorists and teens abound in this year's "Film Comment Selects."

A history of violence

Matteo Garrone's kaleidoscopic Gomorrah wallops you with Italy's crime crisis.

True romantic

James Gray exchanges urban amorality for amour in Two Lovers.

Playing in the dark

MoMA salutes pianist Stuart Oderman's 50 years as the one-man sound of silents.

Junk bonds

Cast and crew recall the making of the classic NYC drug drama The Panic in Needle Park.