I first heard of “Ten”, when I caught the tail end of the film at the 2014 Terror Con Film Festival. The last part of the film got me very interested in wanting to see this film. Thankfully, its now out on DVD courtesy of Brink DVD.
The film is about twelve women who go to a mysterious mansion on an island with each thinking that they’ve gone there on some business. They all agree that something is odd, as they have come from all kinds of life and the house is filled with pictures and statues of pigs. To make matters worse, there is a storm coming to the island and the last boat has left. They try and make the best of it, but something or someone has them lined up for death.
Going into this film, I was expecting to enjoy this film like some average horror films that I’ve been reviewing lately. But I was surprised “Ten” turned to one of those hidden gems, as I like this film a lot.
What makes this film very good was its direction from directors Sophia Cacciola and Michael J. Epstein. Everything in the film looked great. From the way the scenes were shot by their cinematographer to how the frightening images were created, everything had a surreal and dark tone to it. It also helped that they shot this film at a location where it helped with the film’s dark tone. The other thing that the directors do very well is directing their cast. They did a great job making sure that the performances had some personality to them. It contributed to the flow of the film and kept me interested with the material considering all the film’s action takes place in one general area.
Speaking of the performances, I thought they were very good. The actresses did a very good job developing chemistry with each other. It helped make the film move at a good pace and kept me interested in the material. Alongside the chemistry, the film has very good performances from Jade Sylvan as the Renegade, Molly Devon as the real-estate investor and Porcelain Dalya as the coed. The screenplay written by Epstein, Cacciola, Sylvan and Sarah Van Zaranek was different and bold for a horror film of this nature. One of things that the writers did very well was with the way they handled the dialogue. It had a rhythm that keeps the film and story moving while focusing on the characters and situation at hand. It’s very rare to see this thing in this genre but it kept me interested in the characters and the story. The other thing that I liked about this was the way that the characters had personality to them. The writers did a great job making sure each of the characters were different from one another. It helped made the characters interesting as I was into the characters and the story. It’s something like this that a screenplay needs to make you interested in the story. This screenplay does that very well, as I was into this story from start to finish.
It’s very rare that I come across a horror film that is hidden gem like this film is. “Ten” is a different kind of horror that will keep you on edge with its suspense and twists. I highly recommend that you seek this film out on DVD and VOD.
Review Rating: Five Stars.
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