Misleading Films

[Archivist]

I was very disappointed with the Ashton Kutcher movie 'The Butterfly Effect'.

I tend to buy DVD's only under two conditions: either I've seen the movie before and I know it is good, or that it is suuuuper cheap and it won't be such a waste if I don't like the movie.  Bargain bins are a great source of cool B-movies, by the way.

I hadn't heard much about it apart from the fact  that Ashton's character can read his journal and go back in time to change the past, but he does so with bad consequences for the future.  The preview looked okay.  It seemed really primed for some near-Mothman type 'Fortean' creeping suspense, or so I thought.  Don't know why I thought that, must have been the butterfly-moth similarity.  Bought the DVD at the going rate.

The immediate kickoff with overtones of child molestation was disturbing.  Then the testing of Ashton's character in a mental home and his homicidal drawing went worse.  Then the psychopathic behaviour of his friend's brother was worse.  Then prison, then amputation, and on and on it went.

The movie seemed to pull out just about every unpleasant and disturbing thing they could think of.  It's not a 'bad' movie, but just really icky and disturbing, and not in a 'cool' way, either.  And the 'happy' ending was just as good as saying, 'Some people should never have been born'.

Total waste of money for me.  I'll never watch the movie again.  I'm thinking of selling it to a secondhand store or giving it to someone I don't like.

When I think of it, I actually mislead myself on that one.  If I'm going to buy a DVD at retail price, I should bloody KNOW what the movie is like!  ALWAYS!!!

God, now I've got that awful feeling again.  Time to go watch Once Upon A Time In China...

~Archivist~

[chris]

I rented the "Butterfly Effect" and watched the director's cut version of the movie. Bad choice! My wife was about eight months pregnant at the time. The director's cut has Ashton's character travel back to the time when he was a baby in his mother's womb. The baby then kills itself in the womb!!!! Needless to say this upset my wife greatly.  Warning - don't show this to anyone who is pregnant, had a miscarriage or lost a child to an early death. :-(

PS - That being said, I must admit that the premise - "The world's a much better place without Ashton Kutcher" is a good idea. :-)

[Archivist]

Wait a minute - that's the version I saw.  I thought it was the standard version???

Weird.  I might have to brave looking at that DVD again to see if there is a theatrical version.  What's the ending in the normal version?

The thing is, it's not a 'bad' movie.  It's quite well done if you like that kind of thing.  It just didn't sit well with me at all, specific expectations or not.

Sorry to hear how upset your wife got - I trust that things went well thereafter?

And a world without Ashton Kutcher would be a nicer place; I concur.  :-)  Now if only we can convince him to go back in time...

[Ozzymandias]

The promotions of Sun Classics crap was priceless. What I remember was the TV ads ended with what town it would be in your area. They mangeled every town in Missouri ( of course, it doesn't help that towns in Missouri are always pronounce a different way than other areas pronounce them or they look).

[odinn7]

I have to agree with Neville about Island of the Dead. The write up on the back says nothing about flies. I fully expected a zombie movie. I also have to throw Wolves of Wallstreet out there. Every indication was that they turned into werewolves. Well, there were lots of pictures of full moons, lots of groaning, but none of them actually turned into a wolf. I hated this movie, hated it. I like bad movies but this wasn't even in that category.

[Wence]

Scott H wrote:

> This movie has in fact nearly nothing to do with zombies. It is
> a low budgeted movie shot in a big budget way, black and white,
> where aliens come from outer space and turn some people into
> what the box describes as zombies

Wasn´t that tiltle an allusion to the movie "I was a Communist for the FBI" (1954)?

I think for the history of american film the substitution of "Aliens" for "Communists"  is interesting...