[yasr_overall_rating]
If you’re guilty, beware The Laughing Mask. Jake Johnson lost his wife and child to a psychotic killer known as Laughing Mask and goes to extreme measures to exact his revenge.
Jake Johnson (John Hardy)’s wife and daughter are murdered and kidnapped by a masked vigilante; a freakish and crazed killer known as The Laughing Mask. While the police hunt for clues and connections to lead them to the killer, Jake is already deep into his own investigation and is determined to get revenge. With the possibility that his daughter might still be alive, Jake must work closely with Detective Kate O’Malley (Sheyenne Rivers) — a fierce female investigator with a daughter of her own, who will (by the end of the film) realize what a dangerous game poor Jake Johnson has been playing.
Being a micro-budget horror film and possibly Michael Aguiar’s first, there are definitely some good things to be said about the movie and the story in general, but there were way too many technical issues and acting fails for me to actually call this a good movie. Aguiar screwed up on the script in terms of dialogue…some parts were so ridiculous; laughable and often hard to take seriously. It was like unintentional comic relief every 30 seconds or every time someone spoke. It was an overdose of cheese. I wanted less talk and more shock. Most of the sexual innuendoes came out awkwardly and really just sounded silly. There were, however, a few sexy moments of T&A which I wouldn’t have minded to see more of. Less puns, more buns. The bad acting made the script seem even worse than it might have actually been. Some performances were better than others, but overall, it was hit or miss throughout. Mostly miss. Although, Jake Johnson did have some interesting moments. He was peculiar & mysterious from the start, which I liked. At the end of the film, we see him go from this passive and mournful man to a psycho killer in a matter of seconds…he transitions so smoothly with naturalistic ease — there’s a definite creep factor.
Technically speaking, there were a lot of production points and editing issues that were just too hard to ignore. The audio was done almost entirely ADR, but it was done poorly and the dialogue was noticeably off sync for much of the time. ADR is painstaking work for sure, but it makes me curious about what happened to all the production sounds. The cinematography was okay, buy some scenes were blindingly oversaturated — just totally bleached. It was mostly noticeable due to the fact that a lot of the other scenes were styled in that low-lit noir fashion, so typical and appropriate for the horror genre. I realize that this was probably an aesthetic choice from director and cinematographer — to contrast between the light vs. the dark…but in my opinion, the differences were just too stark.
Aguiar’s style was clearly influenced by old school horror flicks, and in some aspects, he did a good job imitating the look and feel – but, in terms of tone, it lacked consistency. I did love the old school vibe that he conveyed in most of the killing scenes. The 1940s music that played in accompaniment with the killer during these dark moments was ON POINT, in my opinion. The opening song (and again played at the end) is a Billy Holiday song called “It’s a Sin to Tell a Lie” (1942). It’s amazing. It’s so vintage. I loved it. Another one that stuck out to me was a song called, “I Don’t Want to Set the World on Fire” (1949), originally written by The Ink Spots, but sung by a woman in the film. It is also amazing. It was a perfectly placed piece of music, with lyrics so fitting and so eerily melodic. Superb. Another thing I liked about the film was the production design. Being a low-budget film, it’s hard to make elaborate and complex sets, but “The Laughing Mask” does a lot of cool and creative things to make certain scenes super interesting and super creepy.
This borderlines the genres between horror and thriller/crime/mystery. There is not as much blood, guts and gore as so many other slasher films contain…which was a relief to me, but probably a disappointment to others.
For more information about the movie visit the Official Website
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4m4fRafr2m0