Don't believe the hype. This movie is crap. It tries desperately to be "gritty and realistic" but it just isn't. From the opening sequence, we are disappointed: the acting isn't believable at all, the torture scenes aren't believable (is that how a person would REALLY react to being tortured? come on), the "violence" is seriously lame and the overall affect is flat and 2 dimensional. I felt like I was watching a high school film class project reject. It is really, really bad. As one of the previous reviewers said, I too found myself fast-forwarding through a lot of it and it was still too long. It fails to make a point or a statement. It is simply badly-executed, badly-acted pseudo-violence for it's own sake. And unlike many of the "positive reviewers" (who have apparently posted identical reviews on other sites, such as Amazon), I wasn't shocked by the "violence" or offended by it's depiction or worried I'd "burn in hell just for watching it." I found it utterly unrealistic and totally lame. At times it was laughable and pathetic.
Scrapbook is one of those movies whose fans will claim the naysayers just don't "get" when the truth is, it's not that hard to understand or "get". It just isn't very good. In fact, it's terrible. A complete waste of time.
*And by the way, this is not an original idea for a movie. The concept has been utilized in many other areas first, including an episode of Law & Order and most notably, the 1963 novel The Collector by John Fowles. The Collector was a source of inspiration for real-life serial killers Leonard Lake and Charles Ng, who dubbed their master plan "The Miranda Project" (after the main character in The Collector) and also videotaped most of what they did. After having seen some of these particular tapes and also being a devout (and long-time) crime scene photo, video- and audio recording aficionado, I can tell you that Scrapbook is simply an embarrassingly-amateurish attempt at something the director/writer apparently thinks he understands but clearly does not. The "serial killer's" pathology in this "movie" is wrong to the point of ridiculousness.
This "film's" true target audience, people who appreciate the true crime genre like myself, will walk away laughing and seriously disappointed. Horror movie fans will be even more disappointed. This "movie" is a waste of time. Don't bother.
Scrapbook is one of those movies whose fans will claim the naysayers just don't "get" when the truth is, it's not that hard to understand or "get". It just isn't very good. In fact, it's terrible. A complete waste of time.
*And by the way, this is not an original idea for a movie. The concept has been utilized in many other areas first, including an episode of Law & Order and most notably, the 1963 novel The Collector by John Fowles. The Collector was a source of inspiration for real-life serial killers Leonard Lake and Charles Ng, who dubbed their master plan "The Miranda Project" (after the main character in The Collector) and also videotaped most of what they did. After having seen some of these particular tapes and also being a devout (and long-time) crime scene photo, video- and audio recording aficionado, I can tell you that Scrapbook is simply an embarrassingly-amateurish attempt at something the director/writer apparently thinks he understands but clearly does not. The "serial killer's" pathology in this "movie" is wrong to the point of ridiculousness.
This "film's" true target audience, people who appreciate the true crime genre like myself, will walk away laughing and seriously disappointed. Horror movie fans will be even more disappointed. This "movie" is a waste of time. Don't bother.