User Reviews

After twenty years apart, six friends rejoin to mourn the death of their childhood friend. At the estate settlement, they find a map that leads them to an old time capsule they buried long ago. Through their journey, they're lead to an abandoned home with hidden secrets. . . that maybe out to kill them.

Of all the Horrorfest films of 2007, this was (for some reason) the only one that I was actually looking forward to. I never got around to watching it, probably due to it always being on the bottom of everyone's ranking for the fest, but I finally forced myself to pick it up. Needless to say. . . I was disappointed. The story tries to play out like Stephen King's It with the group of once-best friends brought together from their separation of time & distance and their attempt to answer mysteries of their past. It's not a bad-looking film as the direction worked well in the settings. The cast (excluding Frank Whaley) was pretty bad, however, and definitely brought down the film a big notch. The script was very muddled and didn't do well to keep our interest for even the short 80 minutes the film ran, which is sad because the story isn't uninteresting. . . it's just the execution of the story in a wider sense that ruined it. Personally, I think, had the script been polished, the ending been changed, and it been stretched beyond a minimal 80 minutes to a length that could've properly held the more complicated story, it might've done better as a good psychological thriller. Unfortunately, being contained to barely feature length made even the 80 minutes nearly unbearable and ruined any chance at any real explanation or intelligence to the film. Pass this one up for the superior films it tries to be, like Session 9.

Final verdict: 3/10. Not worth the time.

Don't read this unless you've already seen the film or don't care, because I will be discussing parts at the end of the film.

A few days after a group of friends each begin having nightmares, they are alerted to the death of a friend they hadn't really seen in twenty years. At the funeral, they are given a map to a time capsule. The capsule contains a shocking part of their past: a dead girl. The rest of the day involves unraveling their combined pasts that had gone long forgotten and trying to survive when their guilt comes back to haunt them.

What was the selling point for this film? I think for me it was the interesting plot synopsis (one of the few to not include zombies or cannibals or inbred family members) and Traci Lords (who played Gina Conte). Lords, as I'm sure you know, is known for her underage pornographic work... I also happen to really enjoy her musical career, which runs in the techno-industrial vein.

What works for this film: I thought the film was very well done. The scenery was great, the characters were enjoyable and the plot and dialog seemed to flow nicely. Some parts were going a bit slower than I'd like, but the general pacing was good and we were given hints and clues along the way to solve the puzzle (although whether or not the puzzle can be solved remains to be seen).

What doesn't work: Although I liked the characters, I found them not easily distinguishable. Keeping names and faces straight took a little work, and due to the fact their backgrounds were secret we couldn't know much about them: which really begs the question of what they actually recall about their pasts and how they grew up to be a respectable part of society. The big problem with this film, which actually really upset me, was how abrupt the ending was. I was enjoying the movie, I thought a good ending would make this one something worth recommending, and then it just dies leaving me with the feeling that I had just wasted the last 90 minutes of my life. If there was a point to the film, the ending ruined it. This is why I must rate it low, and have to hold myself back from rating it lower.

How to understand this film: I will try to defend the horrible ending, although it won't be easy. We are told by the priest that "guilt leads to compassion", and we know that when the group was younger they were being taught guilt. At the very end we see a flashback of the dead girl getting ready to enter the box. This leaves me with the impression that the hospital crew planted her there rather than the kids coming up with the idea, as they recall it. What happens in the present day is the conclusion of the experiment from 20 years ago -- this was a way of teaching everyone guilt (20 years later). In order to go from guilt (thinking they killed the girl) to compassion, they must go through what the girl did to truly feel for her. Hence, the guilt is relieved through their own deaths.

If that's the correct interpretation, or something similar, it still seems lacking -- did we really need the girl to come back as a ghost? The supernatural element seems like it wasn't really crucial if the point was to have them feel guilty rather than hunted. Either way, the ending is just too sudden. It's good to leave a viewer with questions so they view it again, but this one just left me hollow and quite upset. If you can get money back, I'd want it back on this one. So, as you can probably tell, I'm not recommending this film despite the potential it clearly has. When it gets released on DVD, I have compassion for those who rent it (but I won't let myself be feel guilty by suggesting it).

What a great combinations of House on Haunted Hill, Session 9 and Death Tunnel. This movie had some great acting, great set design and cinematography, a very confusing yet disturbing plot and some scary moments that make you cringe. The movie is about eight people who know each other who are led to an eerie house were they find a time capsule containing all of their childhood toys. They soon find out that this house was once an old hospital that was home to cruel and inhumane experiments that somehow connects to them. What was good about this movie was that there where some pretty seeable scares they that still surprise you. This movie plays with your mind as it does with those eight people who are trapped.

I'll start off first with the acting. There were great performances by Traci Lords, Frank Whaley (Vacancy), George Newbern and Gabrielle Anwar. I want to especially say that some of the best acting in this movie comes from Anwar and Dina Meyer. I could not rate George Newbern since his role and character calls for a very seldom and calm performance, mainly because he plays a Father. Frank Whaley does a superb acting job as a very angry, skeptical man but take in mind he played in Vacancy and World Trade Center so he had a experience. Gabby Anawr does a splendid job getting into her character and really puts effort and feel into that persona, which is tormented by horrible memories. Dina Meyer does a very okay job in the beginning but near the end her acting level raises and shows what she is truly capable of doing. Traci Lords does a spectacular job but when acting in movies like Blade, The Tommyknockers and Tales from the Crypt, who wouldn't be? The set, which is a very old decaying hospital, was very well formatted. Unlike hospitals from insane asylums or general hospitals, this one was very "kid friendly." This aspect added to uncomfortable and disturbing feel that the hospital had. Like many other haunted hospital movies before it, there were cryptic pictures and data files; there were corridors that led to nowhere and corridors that led in circles. There were three rooms that gave me the chills simply by the way that they looked: the children's playroom, the bathroom and the bedroom. It reminded me deeply of the movie Session 9, but it had the psychotic feel of House on Haunted Hill. There was one set piece that had me pretty freaked out and that was on room with all the plastic over the furniture, than the furniture started to move.

The scares were very heightened in this movie and came out at some of the most random and quiet moments. There were a lot of psychological scares and some unique scares that I cannot place into any category. A great example of fear with a sense of helplessness would be when the group finds the time capsule in the attic of an old barn and inside is all there precious childhood memories, not knowing how they got there. Something about this scene, something deep, gave me chills, and the corpse inside of it didn't help at all. Some of the scarier moments are when the "ghost kids," who remain faceless throughout, kill the group members and then the after effect of the murder. The random "popping-out-of-no-where" scares and the jump out scars. The physiological horror like running down a corridor and finding out that you have been running around in circles down the same corridor and not finding a way out. The horror of not knowing were something is going to grab you, the suspense of knowing something is coming but you can't do anything about it. All of these great horror aspects made me really enjoy this movie, and my theater audience would agree strongly.

All in all, I, as well as my theater buddies, loved this movie despite some minor faults and clichés. It added a new twist and structure of a plot line that had been reworked over and over again; it added some unclassified horror aspects and developed its characters very well. I would recommend this movie to horror fans throughout the world especially for those who love horror movies with mind games and inopportune, in a good way, scares.

I basically agree with the reviewers here who panned this low-budget horror flick. It showed promise at the beginning, the setting is creepy (a subset of the haunted house genre, in this case the haunted hospital) and the effects are used with some skill. That's why I'm giving it 2 stars rather than one. But just don't see it, it's awful. There really isn't much of a plot... some friends get together; they have a shared past, though it's not clear how much they remember. The movie tells us they were taken from their parents as children, the parents were paid, and the kids were basically used as lab animals in some unexplained, and apparently hideous, psychological experiments, by unknown mad scientists. Now they're lured to an abandoned house which somehow connects by a tunnel to the very facility where they were abused as children.

They appear to be imprisoned in the crumbling building, unable to get out (though they don't try very hard), and at the mercy of some person or demon who is killing them one by one. Whenever any character wanders off from the group he or she turns up dead. The purpose of the experiments that were performed on them as children, and the reason someone wants to kill them, are never revealed. This would be a spoiler if there were anything to spoil. But there isn't. What I described is all there is. You would expect that even the most low budget horror flick would at least offer some explanation of what it was all about, no matter how unbelievable. This movie offers none.

This movie is depressing. The small group of survivors is now targeted again for unknown reasons. They appear to be totally innocent. There is no subliminal satisfaction in seeing them suffer and die, no reason or justice.

I notice that in horror movies there's fun-horror and depressing-horror. Fun-horror is where you have a bunch of annoying boobs who, because of their clumsiness and cluelessness appear to be perfect victims of dark forces. The "Dead Teenager" genre exploits the fact that most people, even teenagers, find teenagers to be highly annoying and the fun is enhanced by having them die in interesting ways with interesting special effects. The people in this movie are often annoying but we can only see them as innocent people who were unjustly abused as children and are having to suffer again for no obvious reason. And how they die isn't interesting at all. Horrible, yes, but no fun.

Crazy Eights starts as six childhood friends who called themselves the Crazy Eights attend the funeral of a seventh mutual friend Brax, afterwards the six friends learn that Brax left them a map to an old barn & a note saying to find an old wooden chest there. The six travel to the isolated barn & find the chest & along with various childhood trinkets find the rotten skeletal remains of a young girl inside. Shocked they all decide to just go but end up driving round in circles, then they see a large house & decide to ask for directions. One of the friends hurts his leg & the other's take him inside the house which suddenly turns into a hospital where the vengeful spirit of the dead girl stalks the corridors seeking revenge on those who killed her & left her body in the chest...

One of the entries in that annual 8 Films to Die For After Dark Horrorfest festival thing Crazy Eights was co-edited, co-executive produced, co-produced, co-written & directed by James K. Jones & I have to say it's one of the most poorly written horror films I have seen in a while. For a start the title Crazy Eights is terrible from a marketing point of view, it doesn't tell you anything about the film & the words Crazy Eights will mean nothing to the majority of people. The film itself is no better, there are plot holes galore & a story which is just all over the place. The pace is pretty slow to begin with & the first forty odd minutes is sleep inducing stuff, then there's the almost total lack of exposition or explanation for anything that happens. There's no explanation as to why the six friends can remember each other but not the fact that they were orphans or the fact that they spent time in the hospital, we never really find out anything about the dead girl except that she was killed somehow & she blames the Crazy Eights, despite being trapped inside the hospital there are plenty of glass windows that the character's surely could have broke & climbed out of & there's no reason as to why the house suddenly turns into a hospital or why it's abandoned or where all the pictures & clues scattered throughout came from. The script is a mess, either that or the makers didn't shoot enough footage & merely had to use what they had whether it made sense or not which it most certainly doesn't. The ending is terrible too & doesn't make any sense, I was waiting for some sort of twist but it never comes & the whole film ends in a very blunt, abrupt & unsatisfying way. The set-up during the second half of the film feels very much like Saw II (2005) as a group of character's are trapped in a single location unaware of what's going on or why they are there & they begin to get killed off one by one, unfortunately Crazy Eights has nothing that made Saw II so good like the twist's & turns, the gore, the clever traps, the surprise ending & quick pacing. Throw in some nonsense about nightmares, some pointless flashbacks, the ghost of a young girl straight out of any Asain horror & you have a confusing mess that leaves the viewer with many unanswered questions as the end credits roll. Crazy Eights just doesn't feel like one coherent film, it's very bitty with a poor plot that is badly written & explained. Even the character's are standard stereotypes & the dialogue is forgettable, overall Crazy Eights is a bit of a mess from start to finish.

I must admit that Crazy Eights looks quite nice with one or two nicely lit & shot scenes, unfortunately it's not worth sitting through the rest of the film to see them & in isolation on their own don't add up to much anyway. I don't know if it's just me but this looks cut, whenever there's an opportunity to show some gore the makers either shied away from it or it was cut. This sometimes makes it difficult to understand what is going on in certain scenes, the bit when Gina suddenly clutches her face with blood streaking down her cheeks is a good example as we never see what has happened to her. I assume something has happened to her eyes but we never find out for sure. The only reason this would get an adult rating is because of the profanity rather than the violence or gore of which there is virtually zero. The ghost of the dead girls pops up occasionally but seemingly at random & we never really get a good look at her or even find out who she is or indeed was. The special effects are alright but there's hardly any anyway.

Probably shot on a pretty low budget somewhere in Maryland this actually has good production values & looks like a proper film. The experienced cast is pretty good here, to reinforce the Saw connections Dina Meyer who was in Saw (2003), Saw II, Saw III (2006) & Saw IV (2007) stars here while ex teenage porn star Traci Lords continues to try & make a career as a proper actress.

Crazy Eights is a mess of a film that feels like a cross between Saw II & a Asain ghost film but without any of the merits of either of them. No gore, no twist's, a mess of a plot & a slow pace makes Crazy Eights yet another one of the 8 Films to Die For that is quite frankly pants.

Spoiler/Cliffnotes:

Note: The real spoiler is enduring this film for 90 minutes.

For some reason, a group of friends are summoned via friend's will to a chest in a barn in the middle of nowhere. In the chest is a kid's skeleton, presumably from a hospital where they all were as kids where some funky experiments took place.

They leave to call the cops (no cell reception) and miraculously get lost. They pass a house a few times, which turns out to be the hospital...yet no one can remember it for some unknown reason. Though it looks like a large house on top, there is really 100 miles of underground spooky tunnels with no escape underneath...where of course they get trapped after "exploring"...though why they would do that after it was found to be abandoned is anybody's guess, since they were trying to find directions/phone.

Now trapped in the basement, they splinter off into groups where they are picked off one by one by the girl's (trunk skeleton) ghost. Why? It makes no sense. And not until 90% of his movie is through do they realize that it's THE hospital. Amazingly, the hospital, though abandoned, still has power and a full library of medical records untouched...as well as valuable equipment and the like.

There are so many holes and idiocies in this film to even address completely. I watched this for free "on demand", and ended up fast-forwarding to the scary parts, just so I could be done with it. I can't not finish a movie (double-negative disclaimer), though this movie would've been a great point to start.

Senseless plot leaves you wondering "why" more than anything. If you find yourself waiting for this movie to get better, it won't. Avoid this movie at all costs...even if you can watch it for free.

I've never known a movie to physically hurt me before. That was then. This is now.

I feel a part of me was destroyed last night. I haven't been the same since. Something's hurting and no amount of shrugging or reviewing will ever heal the part of me i lost when i watched this movie.

I could say so many things, but one thing for sure is that the music set the mood...the mood for an uplifting children's adventure. I also really enjoyed how whenever something horrifying occurred in the film, we were watching someone sit, or read, or even sleep. All we heard was a delayed scream with no other sound effect.

Sometimes I exaggerate. I now, more than ever, regret that because no one will truly understand the weight of what I am about to say: that was the worst film I have ever endured.

I'm lost, still not found. If anyone knows how to help me, please contact me.

This movie is the most stupid movie I have ever seen. Why would 6 white collar workers break into an abandoned house looking for a girl that ran past their car? Then add that they break into the basement looking for this girl? Then the door to the basement slams shut and they are stuck. Why did they throw the chest out the barn window? They intentionally smashed the chest why? Nothing makes sense in this movie.

I am warning you that this movie is a waste of time. Why do they feel guilt? I think they feel guilt for making this movie and they now feel compassion for the people that paid money to rent it or worse those who bought this movie.

Being named to the After Dark Horrorfest must be a mixed bag. On the one hand, your independent horror flick gets great distribution and promotion. On the other, it gets saddled with unrealistic expectations, the result of the festival's hype about releasing films that are too scary and subversive for Hollywood. I've yet to see one of these films that lived up to these inflated expectations. Most are just variations on a theme, with CRAZY EIGHTS proving no exception.

This picture offers us a combination of THE BIG CHILL and CUBE (or any number of Twilight Zone episodes about people being stuck in strange environments). A group of childhood friends regroup after the death of one of their own and find themselves stuck in the basement of an abandoned research hospital. Of course, they share a horrific secret: they were all test subjects in a psychological experiment that went awry. They hallucinate. They scream and cry. And then they run off by themselves, character after character, so they can be conveniently picked off by an evil entity.

CRAZY EIGHTS is competently directed. It features a great location (who can fault an abandoned, creepy hospital?). And the actors, including former porn star Tracy Lords, do a nice job.

But I was again struck by what the film didn't have: any kind of plausible explanation about the spirit infestation. Instead, we get lame J-horror borrowings. *BIG SPOILER* All this carnage was due to the spirit of one angry little girl. It's an angry little girl we hardly ever glimpse, which is a good thing in a film like this, but it's still a lame excuse for 90 minutes of supposed "terror." It's as nonsensical as its big-budget cousin, SILENT HILL, which used the same premise.

Don't get me wrong, this isn't a horrible movie. But neither is it a thinking person's horror film. I'm actually confused by who its target audience was. There's so little blood that it isn't pandering to gorehounds. CRAZY EIGHTS actually goes out of its way to hide the aftermath of the ghost attacks. And even if it did want to linger on the carnage, the effect would have been nullified by the muted color palette of the film. The entire picture looks like it was de-saturated. It's an odd and pointless approach…a perfect compliment to the plot.

Why do they keep making this cr*p?!

Some reasonable actors a bit of atmosphere...but that's it! And that's not enough!

I seem to have watched too many of these completely unoriginal B-grade turds of movies that they keep churning out recently. They're all the same! Loathsome characters, idiotic dialog, plots that you can pencil down before the film even starts and then check off as the film unfolds, complete absence of either gore or genuine scares (instead you get clichéd soundtracks and some jump edits)...and to make things worse, utter tedium. "Crazy Eights" had a little something extra: a premise that is so full of holes you spend half of the film asking "Now, hang on, how could they...?". The gaping chasm of this flick even extends to the title which, as others have pointed out, makes no sense once you give it a bare moment's thought. Are there 8 or 9 of them? Surely the girl in the box is the 9th! But, no, only 8. How can that be? It BE because the writers didn't rub enough brain cells together to get a spark and figure out what should have been glaringly obvious. And, what's more, the film takes itself seriously! Ugh!!!

There are too many of these sloppy, lazy, cookie-cutter horrors. Bring back the 70s and 80s! I know there's PLENTY of crap there too, but at least we got Tom Savini head explosions, Lucio Fulci outrageousness, John Carpenter suspense, Dario Argento cinematography and over-the-top set pieces, Jason Vorhees axes scythes spears and Terminator-esque unstoppableness...SOMETHING! Instead, we get "Crazy Eights"! Look, After Dark people, just stop. Or at least get rid of the 8 films requirement. There aren't 8 films good enough. Just release one kick-a** film whenever a good director/story/writer comes along. No more "Crazy Eights"!