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Shockwave Darkside 3D

Posted: Fri Aug 22, 2014 4:00 pm
by bounce08
Wow. Probably one of the worst films I've ever tried to watch. I lasted 20 minutes, couldn't handle the GCSE level computer graphics, the amateur wooden acting and the ridiculous childish plot. I had a laugh with Vue staff on the way out about how shit it was (well those first 20 minutes). Have no idea why it was chosen unless the remaining portion of the film was amazing which I doubt. Pure trash.

1/10

Re: Shockwave Darkside 3D

Posted: Fri Aug 22, 2014 11:26 pm
by leytonrocks
i concur and the only film I've ever walked out of

Re: Shockwave Darkside 3D

Posted: Fri Aug 22, 2014 11:43 pm
by hingethunder
Just terrible. I sat through the whole thing, didn't get any better.

Why on earth was this chosen at all, let alone for the main screen. Two main problems:

1. It isn't a horror film
2. It's shit

Only positive thing about it is that it's a great way of starting conversations with total strangers - just ask if they saw Shockwave Darkside and you'll have a great fun chat!

This evening I saw The Forgotten and The Canal on the discovery screen, both great films, genuinely unsettling and classy productions, which were much more deserving of a main screen showing than this piece of garbage.

Re: Shockwave Darkside 3D

Posted: Fri Aug 22, 2014 11:48 pm
by Stephen with ph
I stayed for the duration, but only because I couldn't believe what I was watching.

Hyperbole is fairly common on Internet forums, but I can honestly say that this was the worst movie I've ever seen.

I genuinely cannot imagine the circumstances in which something this crass, infantile, ill-conceived, empty-headed and poorly executed should end up on any screen, let alone on the Frightfest main bill.

This piece of nonsense cannot even raise itself to the level of "so bad, it's good". It angers me, even thinking about it now.

Everybody involved should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves.

I think I need to lie down now...

Re: Shockwave Darkside 3D

Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2014 12:02 am
by bounce08
START OF RANT....

Right - I'd be interested to know how this got selected and also why it was on the main screen - I have really thought hard about it and the only reason I can think is that it was a "World" Premiere.

Ofcourse it was a World Premiere - no other festival with any ounce of self respect would even consider selecting it. It's not even for publicity, there are no known actors and the director has done nothing of note.

Technically, the film is pathetic. The 3D is pointless and poorly done (apparently filmed in "native" 3D). The film hasn't been properly colour corrected. The sound design was shocking. The special effects looked like they were done by a Year 10 student for their GCSE ICT course. The actors were dull and poor at their jobs. The story was plain ridiculous. The only thing felt like it was done by a bunch of kids.

Not only is this the worst film in the history of FrightFest (imo), it's probably one of the worst films ever made.

I hate to say it, but I've lost a bit of respect for the FrightFest boys - I always put my confidence in the films selected, and didnt put much thought into what I walked into unless there was something I particularly wanted to see. From now I will have to really take a look at what I'm picking to see, as I almost feel like asking for a partial refund.

I would really like to know why it was picked. There was hundreds of others that could have taken it's place...films that the FF lads have praised themselves previously.

This wasn't even "b movie bad", it was just BAD. I really think the director/producers need to seriously take a look at their next projects as no doubt the distributors/backers will lose a ton of money on this and rightly so.

Sorry to be harsh, actually no I'm not - I'll never get those 20 minutes back.

Rant over.

Re: Shockwave Darkside 3D

Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2014 12:03 am
by hingethunder
The 3D was so bad I had no idea what was going on in any of the "action" sequences. In particular I didn't notice that
Spoiler:
one of the main characters had been killed until I realised she'd disappeared from the narrative.
(I felt I needed to spoiler protect that, although the real spoiling was done by the filmmakers :) )

It really is the sort of thing you expect the SyFy channel to puke out late at night, not something for the main (or any!) screen at FrightFest

Did anyone stay for the director's Q&A?

Re: Shockwave Darkside 3D

Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2014 12:15 am
by bounce08
hingethunder wrote: Did anyone stay for the director's Q&A?
I was thinking of returning after I'd walked out after 20 minutes just to ask him these questions...

1. How does it feel knowing you've made one of the worst films in history?
2. How much did you pay the FrightFest organisers to select your film?
3. Where did you go to film school - so I can avoid it?
4. How do you sleep at night?
5. Why did you employ children to produce the special effects?
6. Will you change your name and start again so that this isn't on your C.V?
7. How does it feel seeing all the other films at FrightFest are far superior to yours?

Re: Shockwave Darkside 3D

Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2014 1:52 am
by DJBenz
I had a problem with my watch that meant I missed the start of the film. Then I forgot it was in 3D and had to go get some glasses. After 15 minutes I walked out, not being able to fathom what the hell was going on, what those flying gunship things were, where they were in relationship to the actors and why on earth this had been chosen to be on at Frightfest.

Same producers as last year's Banshee Chapter, so there's your link. I can only imagine no-one on the FF team saw the film in advance and took it on the word of the producers that "Yeah, it's as good as Banshee Chapter, just stick it on".

Re: Shockwave Darkside 3D

Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2014 2:49 am
by frightfester020714
I agree with everyone's comments and dozed off quite a few times.

When I woke the last time the credits were rolling.

Re: Shockwave Darkside 3D

Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2014 2:52 am
by sherbetbizarre
hingethunder wrote:Did anyone stay for the director's Q&A?
Yes, and the first question was "Why did the 3D hurt my eyes?"

He was also asked which camera the film shot with, but all he could remember was "it was a Sony".

Re: Shockwave Darkside 3D

Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2014 2:56 am
by ChrisReynolds
This was one of the worst films I've ever seen and certainly the worst film I've ever seen at Frightfest. I barely know where to start with this one. First of all, the major technical problems: the colour grading was different for the two lenses so that the picture frequently looks strange. I thought there was something some sort of gunk smeared over my glasses for a while and I took them off to try and rub them clean until I noticed the person next to me doing the same. In fact I ended up watching large portions of the film with the glasses off as it made for a significantly less painful experience and also revealed just how unnecessary the 3D was. Next the sound was all too loud with little variation, whether it was people having conversations or robots attacking, unfortunately meaning that when I eventually nodded off for a few minutes from boredom the film woke me right back up again. The sound and picture combined ended up giving me a headache that lasted for an hour after the movie finished.

After those problems there is the terrible film which fails in every conceivable way: a nonsensical, dull and confusing story that doesn't seem to have a beginning or end, an endlessly tiresome and irrelevant script which is both banal and pretentious filled with sci-fi concepts that have no explanation, bad actors, incompetent direction that renders it difficult to understand what is happening, horrible cinematography of almost nothing but ugly monochrome CGI moonscapes, special effects in general that look like something from the dawn of CGI, horrible ear-splitting sound effects. There really was nothing to redeem this film. 1/10

I thought enough people were angry about Hammer of the Gods last year that the Frightfest guys would be more reticent about scheduling something on the main screen which is both awful and not a horror film, but obviously not, because Shockwave Darkside was exponentially worse. It's particularly galling that it gets to play the main screen while so many better films and the short film showcases have been relegated to the Discovery screens.

Re: Shockwave Darkside 3D

Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2014 11:41 am
by bernal316
Lets not sugar coat it, ABSOLUTE SHIT!!!!! -10/10

How the fuck can this crap get onto the main screen at such a prestigious festival. I would love to hear the organisers thoughts?

Re: Shockwave Darkside 3D

Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2014 11:29 am
by The Soapmaker
It's all been said already so I won't add much.

I suspect some of the crappy films we've had in the past were due to deals with distributors - "if you want that you've gotta take this" - but that surely wasn't the case here, I doubt it even has a distributor.

I really would love to hear from the Frightfest team why they chose this for the main screen.

Re: Shockwave Darkside 3D

Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2014 3:51 pm
by sevcham
The Soapmaker wrote: I really would love to hear from the Frightfest team why they chose this for the main screen.
Me too.

I feel sorry for those absolutely new to FrightFest and purchased a single ticket to watch this movie. Movies like this take the shine off the event.

I sincerely hope the director/writer never makes a movie again.

Re: Shockwave Darkside 3D

Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2014 4:58 pm
by DavieT
Boy was this trash - I stayed in vain hoping it would get better - but it didnt. Kept thinking my eyes were going funny or there was something smeared on the glasses