Directed by STEVE LOOKER
Review by MARTIN BOUCHER


Released by SRS Cinema
Running Time: 70 minutes
Rating: NR (17 and older by IDRB)
Color format: Color
Audio/Subtitles: Dolby Digital Stereo
Region Code: NTSC
Aspect Ratio: Widescreen
16:9 Enhanced: No
Special Features: Two Commentary Tracks
Trailer Online: Yes

This shot on video UK production begins with an all out game of paintball war in which a player actually gets decapitated (shot from the back with oozing blood) while another becomes a human torch (done digitally), all in the name of craziness. Cut to a year later where a desperate and angry dad searches for his missing daughter (Rebecca Scales). A chance meeting with a bloody escapee takes him to a rundown cabin where she is supposed to be captured. In the meantime we’re treated to a long flashback involving three victims, an inside shed, a decomposed mother and a deformed son with a van and a mean temper.

Behind its clean picture quality, proper camera angles and occasionally gory moments exists in SCARRED a little B-grade movie that could. Steve Looker borrows ideas from JEEPERS CREEPERS and FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 2 and delivers a somewhat decent film, enjoyable only when overlooking its obvious flaw: its meager budget. That means substandard acting and production values, though Looker does have a certain flair for building tension whenever the going gets tough which, for our heroes—and us—is enough early on into the film (note the short running time). Neville Millar and Shiv Nagpal try their best as the doomed buddies but their lack of acting ability, not to mention cinematic appeal, barely covers up the implausibility of the script (a shot in the back victim is miraculously bullet free later on, a cell phone is used freely in a signal sensitive hospital room—and in front of a nurse, no less…). Stiv H who plays the inconsolable dad fails to raise the bar level as well. His dinner theater performance weakens whatever substance the dialogue may carry, regardless of Looker’s aptness for the spoken words in general.

As for the director’s talent behind the camera, as stated earlier, the guy knows what he’s doing. He reinvents nothing but is consistent in his ability. And that includes his editing prowess, although his rushed and shoddy end sequence screams for some retouches. Come to think of it so does his sometimes botched up sound mix job. Too loud a background music makes it difficult to catch any verbal exchange between the performers. But that’s life in the low-budget zone where nothing is perfect but the heart is always there despite the uneven facade.

The disc carries two audio commentaries, one by Looker himself who gives an interesting crash course in independent filmmaking (like how to use a wheelchair as a tracking device). The other by three laid back crew members (co-producers and co-writers) who amicably reminisce the shoot and point out—in an occasionally hard to follow dialect (mostly when a giggling fit overtakes them)—some of its mishaps, the most apparent being the different degree of the killer’s body shape during the course of filming (eight persons played the part). The first commentary is really the one to listen to. It even ends up being a notch above the film itself. Not a bad thing really when considering the overall average appreciation of the end product.