Maskerade (A.K.A. Mask Maker 2010)

As horror movies go, this film starts off with the usual evil person doing something evil in the past that is going to affect people in the future. Once the scene ends, cut to mediocre rock band tune as we are introduced to our protagonists who are good looking young adults hanging out on a (surprise, surprise) college campus.

                This follows the formulaic script for all lousy horror films. One scene that didn't fit however happens about twenty minutes in. Upon renovating an old house, the campus couple come across a severed pigs head left in the old fridge. Not at all phased by the fact that there is a severed pigs head, the two kid each other about it and are concerned that it has flies on it. Few minutes later the couple is shopping for paint at a nearby shop and over hear some of the local crazies mention that nobody has lived in that house for over 50 years.  The severed pig head didn't look 50 years old. And it is never mentioned again as if finding a severed pigs head in a fridge, in an abandon house, is normal.

                The acting is not terrible but it soon starts to feel like there is too much acting. Most of the first half of the film is our young protagonists joking and chatting about nothing as they renovate the old house. Not to mention too much cliché horror movie dialogue. "I mean, just look at this place. All the land, all the wine… I mean, how could anything go wrong?" Followed by the protagonist reading an old diary by herself out loud.  "What is this? Why is the rest of this written in French? Is this voodoo?" (that comment sounded a little racist for my liking but whatever). Who talks or reads like that, besides horror movie characters?

                After a long 50 minutes, the killing of these 2 dimensional character begins. Only to stop for another ten minutes for more chatting, giggling and some investigation about the house that the characters who are asking questions don't really have any motivation yet to be investigating (they didn't see the killings or the results). The old man who talks about the house's past, actually tells the main character about how he killed the past residents of the house because they were witches. She gets nervous about the man getting louder as he talks and grips tightly a knife as his voice raises. She leaves saying that the people in the town are assholes. I suppose if she's ok with a severed pigs head in her fridge, she's not going to be all that affected by  a murder who's just admitted he's murdered her houses last residents. If you have murdered someone because they might be a witch, then you are not a murderer but just an asshole. Good to know.

                Did I forget to mention that the villain is deformed and cuts off (more like slips off) people's faces and wears them as masks? Yeah, well that's happening here too.

Avoid it.