If I Die Before I Wake - A disturbing and entertaining classic!!!

[Mike]

One day last week after getting back from working out my buddy and I decided to go to the video store and rent a movie. We went and we had already seen pretty much everything. And then I saw this movie and I had wanted to see it but always put it off, so I suggested we rent it and he said fine so we did... And WOW am I glad we did. This movie sucked me in, I was so engrossed in it. It was very interesting and wasn't boring for even a second. Some of it was kind of disturbing:

SPOILERS****SPOILERS****SPOILERS****SPOILERS****

Ok, this movie has two scenes that I considered pretty disturbing, they aren't graphically shown but are still very powerful. One is when the intruders/bad guys tie the moms hands to the shower head and rape her. I thought this was very disturbing. And another scene was when the scene changes to in the bedroom and then we learn that the teenage boy was fucked by one of the guys and then when the guy was done he slit the boys' throat. Holy shit was that disturbing, I was left thinking about it all day and I still do every once in awhile. It's really fucking disturbing.
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I couldn't believe it. Man did this make me hate the bad guys and root for the films main character LaurieBeth, played very well by Stephanie Jones. She was strong and gives one hell of a performance in this movie, everything is pretty dead on. She
did an excellent job! Plus, well, she's kind of hot. Anyway, great job from her!!! This movie took me by surprise, I didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I did. Very intense and I was into it the whole time. The movie is only 70 something minutes long but moves along at a fast pace and never leaves you bored. You really feel for this movies characters... This has to be one of the best if not the best straight to video horror movies I've ever seen. It's too bad that this movie won't
get the recognition it deserves since it went straight to video. I think they should have released it in theaters, at least in a limited release. This is one of the most disturbing movies I've seen, I haven't seen I Spit On Your Grave so it's not including that, which I'm sure is more disturbing. Anyway, this is an excellent movie and I think it's a classic... If you haven't seen it you must GO RENT IT NOW!!! If you have seen it what did you think of it?

My Grade: I can't decide what I want to give it, I thought it was excellent but I don't think I'll give it an A+, I think I'll go with a B+ or A-, I can't decide, but it's between those two. So B+/A-!!! Anyway, EVERYONE go see it, unless you have a weak stomach...



[This message has been edited by Mike (edited 08-08-2001).]

[JasonSlasher]

Alot of people hate this movie, but I thought it was great. It was disturbing at parts especially since the mom looked so old and sweet (didn't help she looked ALOT like my grandma, brrr). I would've appreciated an extra five minutes at the end. Ususally I don't care if a movie ends this way, but it just kinda left me there staring at the credits for a few minutes, going through what I just saw in my head. I wished I new where they were going when the mom started helping the one brother who was cut by glass. I also thought the opening scene when they first broke in was one of the scariest parts of the movie. it was very realistic. i'd give it 9/10.

[pablotheintern]

I just rented it Mike. I hope it's as good as you say.

[Mike]

You should enjoy it Pablo --- you should at least be entertained... I hope you like it. Once you watch it let me know what you thought of it...

[pablotheintern]

**Spolier Warning**
I really wanted to like this movie. But I didn't. I admit that there are a couple of tense moments, and I have seen a lot worse, but I was very disappointed. First of all, the girl could have called 911 right away. As soon as she saw and heard them coming up the steps, she could have called from the phone in her room. But she didn't and that bugged me. After that, I enjoyed it for a while, and I appreciate the short running time, but it falls apart. Mute Watson overacts big time and is not scary for one moment. He's just stupid. The rest of the acting is poor. Soap opera-style acting. It looks bad, too. Maybe I got a bad copy, but it looked terrible. Very, very cheap. And the ending is laughable. She throws him, with one hand, off of the roof! Give me a break. That was so dumb. And then she has a vision of him attacking her, even though he is dead. Very cheesy and stupid. Like I said, I've seen worse, but this is still pretty bad. Not scary even once. And please, don't even try telling me it's better than The Texas Chainsaw Massacre! That's like saying Spice World is better than The Godfather.

[Mike]

Yeah, when I watched it I kept yelling at the TV to that girl even though I knew she couldn't hear me. There's a lot of things she could have done, but if you were under pressure like she was I highly doubt you'd be thinking clearly. Even though while watching it I was thinking of a ton of things that I'd do in that situation, but I know if I was actually in that situation I would have been captured right away. Because you just wouldn't be thinking clearly. And she did a pretty good job anyway. I loved it when she beat the shit out of that one guy, I was cheering for her. And in the chimney part, hell, if it would've been me I would've fell down the chimney.

And I thought that the movie looked good, it didn't look shitty at all, maybe you got a bad copy or something.

Anyway, sorry you didn't like it!!!

[pablotheintern]

I still think she could have and should have called 911 right away. Granted, the movie would not have worked then, but that would be any person's reaction to intruders in the house. First thing you would do is call 911. After that, I didn't have a problem with most of her actions. Like you said, a pretty tense and tough situation. You really like this movie and Valentine more than The Texas Chainsaw Massacre? For the life of me I can't understand that.

[erick73]

! Never before have I seen a movie where I felt involved. The lead actress gives such a good performance, that when she came out from behind the door swinging that bat, I was swinging right along with her. This movie starts it's suspense one minute into it's run time and does not let up on you for the rest of it's 73 minutes. One of the VERY few straight to video movies that deserved a theatrical run. Run to your video store to pick up this movie. NOW!!!

8.5/10

[Mike]

Well, I know I would've liked The Texas Chainsaw Massacre A LOT better if I would've been able to tell what was going on. Because it was just too dark. The last half an hour of TCM was great, very entertaining and pretty disturbing! The girl I originally thought was a bitch and didn't like I ended up feeling sorry for, nobody deserves that kind of torture. I was hoping leatherface would kill her right away because I didn't like her, then after seeing her get tortured I liked her and I wanted her to get away. I wish I could see it digitally remastered because I'm definately willing to give it another chance, because not being able to see what was going on was my main problem with this movie. And if I could see it more clear I know I would like it more.

Grade: 6/10

Valentine:

I saw this movie expecting a slasher flick with hot chicks, and I got a slasher flick with hot chicks. It has a good plot and kept me interested the whole way through. It's not nearly as bad as people say it is. It was a fun slasher movie that had style, some wit, some creative killings, and a good soundtrack (Linkin Park, Orgy)... I can't help it, I just didn't hate this movie...

Grade: 7/10

If I Die Before I Wake:

Grade: B+/A-

[someguy]

I rented the DVD. I found this a good movie except for the fact that I didn't have an intense feeling through the whole movie. I jumped when he busted the door down but that was because it was loud. I didn't feel anger towards the people when they were getting hit. I showed my mom this film for some bizarre reason(I forget why). She was yelling at trhe top of her lungs when that bat was swinging at him. She was rooting for Lauriebeth. I enjoyed this movie and the little girl's acting which was very good(she reminded me of the girl from Poltergheist and Newt from Aliens). I'd give it an 8.

[Mike]

Yeah, she reminded me of the girl from Poltergeist also...

[pablotheintern]

Well I can tell I'm in the minority on this one. I'm glad you all liked it. Maybe I'm getting to cynical for my own good.

[Mike]

Pablo,
since we disagree on most movies I have one to recommend to you that I'm sure you'd like. I don't see how anyone could not like it, it's excellent. It's called PANIC with Neve Campbell and William H. Macy, rent it and let me know what you think...

Here's a link to my review for it in the Video Capsules forum:

/ubb/Forum13/HTML/000523.html

[This message has been edited by Mike (edited 08-10-2001).]