Playing Dead - 2000

So, at first glance on IMDB, I thought: "Oh Cool. This title is soo student-indy that it dosen't even have a listing." But alas it was just lost in poor title-choice limbo. It's there. Along with like, 6 other pieces of shit. But I like shit. The obscurity of the find, at the used VHS store is usually proportionate to the professional level of the actors and their performance. But oddly, here, it works. Viewing Playing Dead, the film somehow feels like it could be your kid cousin who made this. The acting is scarcely beliavable and the footage always looks like the equipment was cheap (sort of PBS/porno-esque), but the people are real. They're squeeky voiced anti-heroes, who aren't 6 ft. tall, with broad shoulders. I dug the Hallmark-like score for it's quirk, and I noticed that the outdoors shot of the cabin looked like the Evil Dead cabin, hoping that was intentional homage, but realizing it proabably isn't. Storywise, I thought it was a good effort, for a student film, but not something worth shopping around, which sometimes seems like the intention of this floppy noodle. The major fault of this little yarn, unique as it is, is the revelation at the end which makes you back track and ask questions that can't be answered reliably, and not in that cool, Quentin Tarentino - "it's up to you, the viewer" kind of way. Watch it, if it's available and convenient, especially if you're in the middle of a horror marathon, just to say you did. If not, no need to come back from the grave for this one.