The woes of being a Film Studies student

Anyone who knows me will probably tell you that I like to spend a lot of time in the gym and take great pride over my physique. Problem is, that my dieting (Or lack of) is such, that all the time I spend in the gym means little in the long run and as a result tend to look exactly the same as when I started going 3 years ago. With this being said, I've actually managed to get into good shape recently, managing both my diet and putting extra effort into my gym sessions. However, with the recent influx of student loans I've been drinking like Nicholas Cage in Leaving Las Vegas and as a result the guts come creeping back.






So, last night I decided to have a film night with my friends (Yeah, It surprises me too sometimes), specifically a horror film night. Now I love Film Studies and it will hopefully give me the education I need to make it in the film buisness in later life, but MY GOD, does it make the casual film going experience a pain in the ass and boy does it ever make you unpopular with those around you as you sit there dissecting their favorite films. Take for example the time my mother and little brother decided to watch Transformers. Even though I was playing Halo 3 on a neighboring TV, I felt it was my duty to lean over and explain to them what a wretched film it was that they were watching. Even though my little brother was blatantly ignoring me as I ranted about how the camera inexplicably wouldn't stop moving and even though my mother had abandoned the living room when I started to complain about how there were far too many characters and the dialogue was stupid, I was satisfied. I was doing them a service.

Anyways

It was decided, against my will, that we should watch this piece of shit.




Here is the synopsis for the film. Taken from bloody-disgusting.com

Ten years ago, a tragedy changed the town of Harmony forever. Tom Hanniger, an inexperienced coal miner, caused an accident in the tunnels that trapped and killed five men and sent the only survivor, Harry Warden, into a permanent coma. But Harry Warden wanted revenge. Exactly one year later, on Valentine's Day, he woke up...and brutally murdered twenty-two people with a pickaxe before being killed.

Ten years later, Tom Hanniger returns to Harmony on Valentine's Day, still haunted by the deaths he caused. Struggling to make amends with his past, he grapples with unresolved feelings for his ex-girlfriend, Sarah, who is now married to his best friend, Axel, the town sheriff. But tonight, after years of peace, something from Harmony's dark past has returned. Wearing a miner's mask and armed with a pickaxe, an unstoppable killer is on the loose. And as his footsteps come ever closer, Tom, Sarah and Axel realize in terror that it just might be Harry Warden who's come back to claim them...


No points for originality, still I decided to give it a fair shot and by fair I mean keeping my mouth shut for as long as possible.

I lasted 5 minutes.

Truth be told, it wasn't until Jensen Ackles started 'acting' that I found myself biting my tongue, sure the film was already 500 different kinds of stupid but I could take it. But then he kept talking and 'emoting' and it became harder and harder to restrain myself. The opening sequence stupidity was starting to eat away at me, why were these people partying down a mine? Why were the film producers checking off every horror cli shay as fast as possible? Why was I watching this film? The words were coming, I couldn't hold them in any longer. The room had to know my opinion of this film, I was being pushed over the edge. Then the words came forth 'This film is fucking shit'. I felt better for it, but the relief would only be tempoary. There were still 90 minutes left!


And what a 90 minutes they were, Ackles moved his eyes into different positions to suggest a change of emotion, characters inexplicably looked exactly the same ten years on from the scene at the start of the film and people died in ridiculous fashion. I was in luck however, the group of people I was watching it with shared my emotion and did not take offense to my random outbursts. Next time I may not be so lucky.