Play Hooky (2012) User Reviews

Worth watching if there's nothing else to watch

[capelladewdrop · 4/10 · 25 October 2015]

Another snuff movie in the 'found footage' category. We see a group of school kids bunking off school to hangout in an old abandoned hospital. I would have given this movie a higher rating if the first 40 minutes hadn't entirely consisted of kids just goofing around.

A mentally insane, possibly once a patient at the hospital, security guard starts picking them off one by one starting with Clare, and asthmatic who thinks she is Miss PC Brigade and is only invited to come along because one of the hot girls wouldn't come along without her.

As for the sex in this movie, moderate at best. One of the girls Megan lifts up her skirt to reveal panties with 'Play Hooky' written on them and then kisses another girl. The cover image of this movie is what encouraged me to watch it, but there wasn't any real torture porn as I was lead to believe.

So bad, I couldn't even finish watching it

[manuelasaez · 1/10 · 24 February 2015]

Oh, man, where do I begin with this abomination...? First, the premise; three school girls ditch school with two losers and end up at an abandoned asylum where they are picked off one by one. Simple enough.

The acting; decent to poor. The main cast was competent, the males more than the females, but the older gentlemen who played the guard and the grounds keeper were absolutely dreadful. Seriously, they were awful. They have absolutely no talent, and "delivered" each line as if they were reading from a children's book. It was embarrassing to watch them attempt to be scary, and by the end of my viewing session I cared less about them than when I started.

The special effects; non-existent or poorly implemented. Everything looked fake, haphazard and sophomoric. The quality was amateurish at best and abysmal at worst, and would not even pass as a student project. I actually rolled my eyes after the first kill, and after a considerable amount of time, I was just shaking my head at how atrocious everything was.

Seriously, one of the worst attempts at found-footage I have ever seen, and I have seen plenty. This is one of those movies that you had wished you had never bothered seeing, and ask for a refund when it is over. It was so bad, I had to watch something I have seen hundreds of times before to erase thoughts of this garbage. Honestly, if you aren't going to make something right, with good actors, great special effects and an original story, do not bother. This was so bad, I got to within 20 minutes of the end and I still turned it off. Hopefully, this review can save anyone the trouble of wasting their time or money on this garbage. Do not support this crap. It does not deserve any form of attention.

Cool found footage slasher opus

[Woodyanders · 8/10 · 21 October 2014]

Five high school friends decide to skip school and find a perfect place to party. Things go terribly awry when the old abandoned mental hospital they are crashing at turns out to be occupied by something lethal and unfriendly.

Director Frank S. Petrilli, who also co-wrote the compact script with Jason Chester and Vincent Kulish, keeps the involving story moving along at a snappy pace, grounds the plot in a plausible everyday reality, takes time to carefully develop the characters, and generates plenty of nerve-rattling claustrophobic tension (the rundown asylum location is a genuinely spooky place). Moreover, the filmmakers deserve extra praise for depicting the killer with surprisingly poignant compassion and humanity at the very end. The convincing naturalistic acting from the sturdy non-star cast holds the picture together: Kim Kleemichen as the tough as nails Rosie, Becky Byers as perky and sexy redhead Megan, Theresa Davis as gawky nerdette Claire, J. Wright Chester as the hip Brad, and Kulsh as the easygoing Lance. Tom Petrone delivers a frightening and impressive portrayal of the unstable and dangerous, yet still pitiable Buddy. Cinematographer Chester's adroit use of a shaky camera and long takes provides a bracing you-are-there immediacy. The total absence of a score adds to the overall persuasive verisimilitude. A neat little body count horror winner.

CT underground ff shlock

[TuesdayThe17th · 7/10 · 3 July 2020]

Shot close to my home in CT, this movie emulates what it is to be a thirsty low budget filmmaker, and with a filmmaker coming from CT it makes me smile a little bit. I guess the crew attempted to locate an abandoned asylum in CT for a location but we're turned down from every one, including the abandoned mental asylum in Meriden, CT that u have effortlessly snuck into as a teen with all my boys. We knee then that the security was tight and we would ve screwed if we were caught. That would have been a supreme location but the city officials were clearly stubborn. Eventually settling with locations in Bridgeport CT and Stamford CT, this little ff nobudgeter came to life. This movie feels passionate since its beyond most of us why someone would ever waste their money on something so utterly tripe but actually that's what its all about to some of us. We just want to see something, created by us, put on screen. That's just what was done here. But just... "Play Hooky" is a very low budget film with little to offer other than the found footage layout that many of us drool over. I passionately love found footage movies and admittedly this is no exception. Even if I disliked the final 10 or 15 minutes, I enjoyed the story and build up in the first 65 minutes. Let this movie be a reminder that things are never out of reach as this is an extremely cheaply made film yet here it is, in my hand on dvd.( I bought this movie back in 2014 but am only now reviewing it) Though its definitely not what id put out, at least the guy put something out there to chew on. Meh, but again, decent set up.