Review of Chain Letter (2010) by Courtney S — 18 Feb 2011

Coming up with an interesting and original concept is definitely half the battle when it comes to making a horror film, particularly a slasher. Writer/Director Deon Taylor has won that half of the battle but unfortunately loses the other half with terrible execution of a potentially excellent premise.

The main plotline is simple but rife for bloody horror fun; a manic with a penchant for chains has created a chain letter that has one simple rule, pass it letter onto five different people or you will die. Needless to say most of our teenage cast fails to do so and end being killed with a chain being used somehow in the killing. It's up to the few remaining teenagers and a detective to figure out how to stop the killer before it's too late.

There are two good things about this film; they are the premise and some good gore effects. Everything else is just bad. The problem mostly lies with the direction and the screenplay, Deon Taylor has somehow managed to make a film about a manic killing teens with a chain be a boring watch. It has a solid opening with an inventive scene involving someone being dragged by two cars and the setup is executed well but there is zero characterisation, far too many filler scenes and a serious lack of decent actors. The ending is quite good even if it is a little predictable but by that point you will have lost all interest as you will mostly likely be bored to tears. Chain Letter is proof that an interesting premise is only half the battle, being a good enough filmmaker to put that premise to good use is the much more important part.

Bar some interesting gore and a solid enough opening, there is very little to recommend about Deon Taylor's Chain Letter. It's a poor effort and you're better off avoiding.