Film Review: Unnoticed (2013)

SYNOPSIS:

A mysterious killer is going around knocking off high school students in a small town.

REVIEW:

By now most of you out there know that I enjoy low budget horror flicks and actually prefer them over their major Hollywood counterparts. Unnoticed was shot on what looks to be a very low budget and while it wasn’t the best movie I’ve ever seen I still enjoyed it for what it was. Having shot a couple of films myself with a handful of friends and limited resources (and locations) I know how difficult (and downright frustrating for a number of reasons) it can be to attempt to make your own movie. Unnoticed reminded me of something that I would make and I applaud director and co-writer Chad Zuver and his cast and crew for giving it a shot.

Even though it isn’t exactly original I still dug the premise. It’s basically just your typical slasher flick (hey, nothing wrong with that if you ask me since I love these types of movies) about a masked killer going around slicing and dicing a bunch of unsuspecting victims while they keep doing stupid things despite the obvious danger that they’re in that make them all easy targets.

I also liked the costume that the killer wore too as it was simple but effective. It was nothing major as it was just a black mask combined with a black hooded outfit but I thought that it worked and was a lot less silly-looking than other costumes that were utilized in other horror films (Valentine comes to mind immediately. Come on guys, a Cupid mask? Really?).

I also thought that the killer’s motive was pretty awesome as well. He/she (it’s a mystery as to who is behind the mask so I don’t want to spoil it for you) has a definite and legit reason for doing what he/she does and I dug it as I thought that it was particularly relevant considering all the horrible things that take place in high schools across the country every single day. I thought that the person’s motive made a lot of sense and was just a cool concept in general.

On the downside Unnoticed has its share of issues. For one, the acting is pretty bad all around for the most part (with the exception of Vanessa Leonard who does a decent job in the role of Jamie) which was really not that surprising to me as it is obvious that most of the cast members are not professional actors. The death scenes also left a lot to be desired and felt really phoned in as well as being redundant as hell (most involve people being stabbed with a very fake-looking retractable knife that can be bought at most Halloween stores and costume shops).

I know that the people behind the film had very little money to work with when it came to effects and other areas, but I think that they should have put a little more effort into making the death scenes look better and more realistic (there are tricks that can be used to make this happen even if you don’t have a huge budget). There were also some sound issues throughout the film that made some of the dialogue very hard to hear (the gusting wind is so loud at times that it drowns everything else out) and I think that a lot of the scenes should have been shot indoors as opposed to outside as to alleviate this problem.

I liked Unnoticed and even though it suffered from a number of problems I was able to overlook them and enjoy the film. I have a feeling that some viewers out there who watch it are going to bitch and moan about it for a number of reasons but I don’t think that the filmmakers behind it have anything to be ashamed of. I am proud of them for having the balls to make their own movie and I think that with practice they are only going to get better at their craft and their future films are going to be quite excellent if they are willing to put a little more effort into them. With that said I thought that Unnoticed had several things going for it and in a lot of ways it reminded me of a Speed Freak Productions film (which is a huge compliment as I love those guys and their movies). If you are in the mood for a nice low budget horror flick then check this movie out.

Unnoticed (2013)