doubtitall However, the protagonist, Emily, expresses deep disgust at the idea of mass murdering people whose 'crime' was simply having failed to protect her and Jackson. The movie does the opposite of glorifying that kind of self-indulgent, egotistical viciousness.The second time the movie flashes back to the when Emily and Jackson first met as children shows an additional bit that brings the nature of the basis of their relationship into sharp focus while also showing the cold reality about Emily. Watch for it. If you understand that, you'll get the movie.The ending was also good.I agree with those who say Almost Mercy is a dark comedy, but don't expect any laughs.

jozh90 From the opening narration to the twee overacting, it was hard to take any message on board from this film. It felt like the film betrayed itself and went out of its way to provide gratuitous violence. I'm not personally against violence in films but it seemed badly used.The characters became annoying caricatures as the film progressed and the protagonist was impossible to sympathise with far too early on. It seemed almost cartoon-ish in the worst possible way at the end.I understood the idea and thought it had genuine promise. It was let down by the fact that the film neither subscribed to being a horror, a comedy or a character study. Almost Mercy was stuck in a no man's land. It was attempting to be a dark comedy but achieving none of the depth and execution of a dark comedy. It was incredibly hard to like the main characters in any way despite being the 'weird' kid once upon a time.I felt almost insulted at times by the constant tropes, it seemed lazy and unoriginal. Which completely took away its value as a 'quirky' indie movie.The music was often clashing with the film itself. It annoyed me multiple times. Whether it was supposed to be jarringly juxtaposed, I don't know, but I felt that many songs were poor choices.As a positive, the female lead put in a decent performance and I could definitely see her advancing. The camera work was great and I liked a lot of the shots. I would not recommend this film, unfortunately.

vj083 If you are expecting this to be your typical horror film, then turn away because you will be greatly disappointed. Without spoiling anything, this movie is simply a revenge movie. The movie is narrated through the view point of the main character Emily. Starting from her childhood to her adult years telling the story of her and her best friend Jackson.The best way to describe this movie is imagine if director Quentin Tarantino rebooted the movie Clueless and turned it into a revenge movie you get this film. There is a lot of blood in this movie and a lot of narration.Netflix listed this film in their Horror genre, but this movie was far from it. Despite this fact I did enjoy it. If you like movies like Trainspotting, you will probably enjoy this movie.

Benjamin Fortier There are two types of horror movies we see being scrounged up these days. There are the over the top flicks that make you "jump" with spontaneous startles or over the top gore. Then there are flicks that have something to say about modern society and cultural values, strewn in with over the top murder and other risqué elements. "Almost Mercy" sits comfortably in the latter category, bringing elements of social commentary in with over the top gore, sex, and violence.The story starts off by introducing Jackson (Jesse Dufault) and Emily (Danielle Guldin) as two outcasts in a small town in Rhode Island riddled with corrupt leaders, parents with addictions to pills and infidelity, and all kinds of terrible mentors that haunt Jackson and Emily's childhood. For a while, you feel a lot of sympathy for the two troubled youths. Dufault and Guldin have terrific chemistry and truly bring their characters to life. There are no awkward lines. Even their first on scene kiss doesn't feel or look terribly awkward. Sometimes it can be difficult for two actors to portray a life-long friendship, but Guldin and Dufault pull it off quite well!As with many horror films, there is no moderation. All of the characters are terrible, terrible people on a moralistic stand point. Jackson and Emily are made out to be the victims, until the last 20 or so minutes of the film where Emily finally snaps and ends up violently butchering almost all of the "bullies" that are introduced in the film. If you found yourself cheering for Emily, the film makers did their job properly. This is truly where the social commentary value lies. At some point you say to yourself "Wow, I'm cheering for the mass murderer right now." Emily's character does show a bit of humanity when her mother overdoses, but that seems to only add fuel to the young girl's rage.Overall, I was impressed by this indie flick. There are some scenes that drag a bit, audio quirks that caught my ear, and some make up / FX that seemed off, but thanks to the enthralling story, none of that really bothered me enough to turn it off in displeasure. Composition was fantastic throughout the story. Lighting was on point and there weren't any scenes where I was struggling to make out what was happening, which is a common flaw in a lot of low budget films. As mentioned earlier, the movie does drag at some points. There are sequences with many fast cuts to show long lapses in time which help push the story along fantastically. However, these are often followed by slow, droning scenes that creep along, not allowing the rebuilding of tension, just sluggishly moving the story to the next major plot point. I think the editor's could have shaved a good 6 - 8 minutes off the film and still came out with a fantastic final product. Oh, Rhode Islanders will love this movie, as it takes place in RI and you will recognize some of the locations if you're from the state.