CommentsXp Best movie ever!

Megamind To all those who have watched it: I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do.

Taraparain Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

Dana An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

fedor8 Damn stupid Aussie slasher that predictably tries to throw blame on the protagonist's brother, and this is done shamelessly, using the usual absurd plot-devices that make no sense in hindsight. For example, he is made to smirk like a sociopath and appears precisely where and when a killer would. The film-goers are desperate to make us think it's him, so much so that they achieve the opposite. He just happens to visit after two years, just before the murders. He just happens to shoot murder victims for a living. Far too many coincidences for the movie to get away with. Too manipulative in the dumb sense.Why do you think the killer wore gloves? Does one operate a machine with frigging gloves? Obviously, because she's a woman. She did that to fool the viewer into thinking the killer's a man: a classic example of a CHARACTER willfully helping the writer achieve his goal - which is of course dumb/absurd beyond words. Anyone could see that coming a mile ahead. The motive is absurd and so were the lengths she took: the old man's daughter actually PRETENDED to be a lesbian as part of her mega-conspiracy! And what roundabout and NEEDLEssly complicated revenge that is: she proceeds to kill just about anyone connected with the main protagonist - rather than just get on with it, bump 'em off one by one in one sitting. Stupidly - and very predictably - she doesn't get to kill either of the brothers or the girlfriend, the people she really wanted to kill the most. OK, so the killer is a dumb blonde! A dumb blonde for a dumb movie: I can't really complain, in a sense.I won't even go into how dumb those scenes look in which a hot young blonde starts acting all tough and serial-killery in that extraordinarily unconvincing finale - which plays out predictably and of course stupidly.A very repetitive plot in a sense: friend gets killed, brother takes pics, brothers discuss case and the whole thing gets repeated. A typical dumb slasher. We watch the protagonists piece the puzzle together, which half the time is a complete waste of screen time: it's a mystery that makes the detective work obsolete and uninteresting because the viewers are a few steps ahead. The viewer simply gets to hear a bunch of things he already knows. What a dumb script.

Billy_Crash Part of what makes us indulge in horror movies is to see death presented to us in a different manner, through a story that compels us. NEEDLE had a wonderful premise with a wonderful little mystery that screenwriters Anthony Egan and John V. Soto (who also directed) could not bring to light.And that really bothers the heck out of me.If the pair had really invested in a riveting narrative, this could have comprised the mystery element of the United States based version of THE RING with Clive Barkers HELLRAISER for one potent and unforgettable horror. Instead, after coming up with a wild idea, Egan and Soto clearly didn't know what to do with it. Instead, it became hack-and-slice cinema that offered little stimulation to the senses. By movie's end, the tale had become so old and lame, the climax was abysmal and unsatisfactory. In fact, it cheats the audience and sets up a sequel, though I doubt they'll ever have the chance – unless an intelligent producer with deep pockets comes along and shows them how to do it the right way.At first, when the lame commercial-hard rock commenced as Ben (Michael Dorman) ran across a college campus, I thought this was going to be typical teen fair. Then the premise was revealed and intrigue set in – only to collapse into typical teen fair. Worst still, Travis Fimmel, who played Ben's older brother, came off as being creepy in one scene, and a determined guy out to solve the mystery in another. Now, this did not leave the audience with an enigmatic character (such as Stellan Skarsgård in INSOMNIA or Ji-tae Yu in NATURAL CITY) but a confusing one. However, seeing how the story imploded into mediocrity, I have little doubt the director had told me to act in this manner. Think of George Lucas directing kids (unless they're stuffed into ewok costumes) and you'll get the idea.Revenge horrors have become a "give me a break" kind of subgenre, that is a simple and clichéd plot device for writers and directors to use as an excuse to slaughter. NEEDLE reminds us filmmakers need to deliver so much more. And this movie is only worth watching to see how a couple of writers came up with a great idea and didn't know how to make it work.

roberty43 My advice can only be please read as many reviews as possible before deciding to watch this movie. I had just recently rented 'The Resident' (Hilary Swank) but returned it without watching it on the basis of a few IMDb negative reviews. I then rented the Needle on the basis of a series of positive reviews (IMDB). This was a mistake. In my opinion at least, the film appeared to go to lengths to give the impression it was a quality production, whilst there were just too many flaws to bear this out / sustain interest. The acting seemed a little wooden, the actors themselves appearing a little inhibited / self conscious...conscious that they were indeed acting, the scenes having a kind of 'reality show' feel about them. As mentioned earlier, the array of accents was confusing. I watched it for about 15 minutes. Seemingly out of context, an isolated 'f' word made it's debut. It really seemed incongruous, as though its use was requested to substantiate the young, student centred horror genre the film was appealing to. (watched 'Devil' recently - apart from how one may judge the film, so refreshing to get away from this word, even temporarily).In any case, there seemed to be no sense of build up of suspense or expectation. The scenes didn't seem to build on one another through a common thread of direction or focus - seemed a little like a concoction of events (student defiance of teachers - ie in lecture hall, parties / relationships,etc) were thrown in to convince us that these were indeed compulsory elements of any teen based horror movie. However, these, as again mentioned earlier, seemed only to detract from any developing theme.After a while, I could say, well this has happened, and that just happened and that guy just suffered a horrible death etc etc ...so why aren't I interested in what's coming up next? Perhaps I could have given the movie more time, but the movie just wasn't working, for me at least.

poisoncupcake74 I seriously thought this was going to be a B movie and I would hate it when I read that this movie was about college kids getting murdered by a supernatural device. Yawn. I was totally wrong.This Australian Horror/Gore movie is very well made. The story and back story is fresh. I really liked it, the characters are all likable, even the killer was a joy to watch.I found two things way too clichéd which is why I gave it 8 out of 10 stars. When they go visit a woman in the hospital, that was terribly clichéd, and whats more is that she doesn't say anything to help the story out in any way.The second downer is that even though it had nice Gore moments that make us Gore fans quite happy, I wasn't scared at all during this movie and I really wanted to be.Overall, it is a good film. The acting was well done. It wasn't too cheesy and it could have been. Very entertaining.