thinker1691 Insane asylums are places where the most violent people from society are housed. Now, writer/director Scott Reynolds has selected one such character for a dramatic feature called " The Ugly. " The story centers on a very troubled young man named Simon Cartwright (Paolo Rotondo) who has spent years in a maximum psychiatric prison. Convicted by the courts as a serial murderer, his horrendous crimes have earned him great publicity and notoriety. So much so, that a strict and harsh prison warden Dr. Marlowe (Roy Ward) believes Cartright, to be violently and incurably insane and not to be trusted. However, a court medical order has granted, permission for a noted and re-known Phychirtrist Dr. Karen Schumaker to interview the dangerous killer. Inside the harsh environment, brutality is a by-word as the killer/inmate hopes to convince the visiting doctor, that after years of imprisonment, he is cured. He seeks to explain that ever since he was a child, both his abusive mother and a series of bullies and violent co-workers have created his dark side which haunts him with 'visiting' demons which cause him to act out. For the audience, we watch to see which story is the one which will emerge. Good dramatic acting from the cast and an excellent shadowy setting will offer us a chance to see for ourselves. Convinced, I recommend we all take a good look at who is the better lier, before we trust anyone. ****

As_Cold_As_Ice I had been seriously looking forwards to this movie for the longest time, after seeing it on the otherwise bad horror clip compilation Boogeymen. And boy did it fulfill my expectations.The plot involves a controversial psychologist attempting to cure a serial killer, who claims that entities called "the Ugly" drove him to murder.First of all, this is a low budget serial killer movie from New Zealand. So right off the bat, their accents annoyed me no end. However, the acting was pretty good as a whole, but kudos to Simon's mother, I really wanted to kill her.The gore was inky black for a radical change, and I loved it. It was weird and strange, and added something stylistically to the film. Also, the suspense in some scenes is tense, and when you do get a glimpse of the Ugly, they are quite freaky.What I also loved is how the film can be taken in many ways, and isn't explained fully.Overall, this was a great serial killer movie, totally different from anything else I have seen.8/10

EVOL666 I found THE UGLY to be pretty enjoyable overall. The problem is that no one seems to have any REAL idea what the hell happened in the film. Now, I don't mind a film that makes you think - but I don't like it when so many things are left vague that you can never truly make heads-or-tails of where the storyline is going.Simon is a serial-killer (who claims he's not a serial killer) who seems to have a dual-personality that her refers to as "The Ugly". Simon claims that The Ugly is responsible for the murders and that "The Visitors" tell him to kill. A famous female psychologist comes in to analyze Simon and try to get a look inside his head. There's a lot of hard to decipher stuff going on, including the tumultuous relationship with his mother and his boyhood friend Julie, allusions to the fact that Simon is somehow psychic, that all of this may just be a dream, all the blood shown is tar-black, the name Karen (the psychiatrists name) showing backwards in many scenes, shopping carts all over the place, etc...that I just couldn't wrap my head around...THE UGLY is definitely interesting and keeps you guessing - the problem is, it never provides the answers. Playing out like some sort of SILENCE OF THE LAMBS meets THE USUAL SUSPECTS, but with no real resolution (at least none that I could figure out). In many scenes it seems that Simon may be a master-manipulator, other times he seems completely sincere. Some things that happen later in the film negate things that happened before. Basically, I couldn't explain what really happened at all - but it's still an entertaining watch. The other main problem I had that while some of the performances were decent, others were sub-par. The two "thug" security guards at the mental hospital were COMPLETELY unbelievable - as though ANY mental hospital would employ such degenerates. Either way - I'd recommend THE UGLY for horror/thriller fans - just understand that unless you find something that I didn't in the narrative - you WILL NOT walk away from this one with any solid answers...7.5/10

Kristine I'm not a fan of "Silence of the Lambs". In fact I think it's a little over rated. But I was impressed with this thriller. It's an interesting tale about an interesting fellow. Going through his gruesome life of murders. Great performances, and a great story line.8/10