cricket crockett Now that the 1900s are over and done with, everyone seems to be on the bandwagon to come up with the newest past-ploitation idea covering that era. THE SCENESTERS does this quite consciously with its voice-overs (for instance, it mentions the "Black Dahlia" murder; however, it does not single out or show this victim's residential hotel by name, which is unfortunate, since that site was in the news this week due to the female-corpse-in-the-rooftop-water-tank\black water scandal). It also gets quite complicated, with so many sets of different videographers implausibly crowding serial killer crime scenes that it's not too hard to lose track of who's filming who. But the idea of someone competing with Night Stalker killer Richard Ramirez for the title of L.A.'s most prolific human snuffer also echoes several headlines in this month's news, with citizens being arrested left and right for threatening to make this or that mass murder or serial killing look like "child's play" (and Ramirez also performed some of his deadly handiwork in the rooftop-tank-corpse-water hotel). Just as GONE WITH THE WIND tried to recall the exciting times of the 1800s, THE SCENESTERS tries to echo the mayhem of the 1900s (only in a contemporary setting).

horacep Very few people have reviewed this movie probably because it's not very good (no offense to those who liked it). I saw the movie on one of the premium TV channels and almost stopped after the first 15 minutes. I decided to keep watching to see if it could possibly get better, but unfortunately I wasted my time. I won't try to describe the movie, look at other reviews for that, but essentially, this looks like an attempt by film class students at making a movie. Most of it is shot with the appearance of amateur home movies. It's rated R because of language, adult content and some violence. The IMDb has placed it in the following Genre: Comedy, Crime, Mystery, and I agree. It is humorous at times, but really is more a pathetic attempt at humor most of the time. I really tried to give it the benefit of the doubt so I watched the entire film. In the end I was debating whether to give it a rating of 2, 3, or 4 on a scale of 10. I decided to be generous and give it a 3/10. It isn't the worst film I've ever seen but is certainly in the bottom 5% of the thousands of films I've seen. I would not recommend it and if you are interested in an in offbeat film to pass the time, I'd suggest the movie "11:14" which is 100 times better.

barbthomp150 I loved this film. I saw it first at the Austin Film Festival and then saw it again when it hit the Chicago Film Festival. The second time I saw it, I got even more out of it. It has gotten some critical acclaim including Best Comedy at the Hollywood Film Festival, Best Director at the Edmunton Film Festival, and, I think it got Most Interesting Film at the SlamDance Film Festival. I know it got other awards, too, but I'm not sure of all of them. The deliberate change from black & white to color and back again has significance, and it it fun to see it all played out. The film has been cast well and includes some very funny lines and scenes. If you like mystery and spoofs, you would find this film quite entertaining. I definitely recommend this film.

raraviv The phrase "first time film-makers" is usually associated with messy, amateurish affairs. Not so for this movie. A masterwork of "found footage", this film contains a broad range of styles, expert editing, sharp writing, terrific performances, and a killer soundtrack (literally). Hard to believe this is a low-budget, and even harder to believe that it is a feature film debut for this group. And unlike most "comedy troupes" (for example, Twisted Lizard) who make movies, these guys did not just put a comedy sketch writ large or a series of disconnected jokes loosely tied together onto the screen: they made a complete and complex story with various layers intertwined together to form a very satisfying whole.It's a great movie for seasoned pros. It's an amazing accomplishment for first timers (and I say first implying there will be a second and third and...).I can see why it has done so well on the film festival circuit and I wish these guys luck with distribution!