Three teenage friends get in way over their head when they cross a down-home crime syndicate. They hope to make a break for it and escape their dead-end existence in a cotton-mill town but get sucked into the seedy underbelly of organized crime when one of them steals from the wrong man.
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Let's be realistic.
It's complicated... I really like the directing, acting and writing but, there are issues with the way it's shot that I just can't deny. As much as I love the storytelling and the fantastic performance but, there are also certain scenes that didn't need to exist.
It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.
It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,
They say that the friends you make in school will be your friends for life. The film Bad Turn Worse explores these bonds and shows just how tight they can be. B.J. (Logan Huffman) is your typical Texas High School senior, who is more concerned with meeting the right people, and getting a good job, then he is about going to college, which present a problem in regards to his best friend and girlfriend, who are both headed towards university. B.J. wants to leave his friends on a high note, and decides in order to accomplish this, he needs to "borrow" some money from his shady boss. What B.J. doesn't know is just how connected his boss really is, and once it's discovered that he took the money, his life, and the lives of his two closest friends end up being in jeopardy. Logan Huffman stars and fails to follow up on the success he had in his debut film, Underdogs. In that film, Huffman looked like he would be the next big thing in Hollywood, but playing a dim-witted character in a somewhat anti-climatic story didn't do him any favors. He is paired with Jeremy Allan White, better known as Lip, in the hit series Shameless. I was hoping to see him open up and show some range with this role, but the truth is he was just playing the same character, a highly intelligent young adult who makes poor choices. As far as the story goes, it was pretty interesting, but there are too many breaks in the main story, which distract you from the big picture. There is a lot of discussion and strains on the groups friendship, which pop up at the absolute worse times and pretty much stop the film dead in it's tracks. Bad Turn Worse really did feature a pretty good story, with a ton of up and coming young Hollywood talent. It's very appealing in many ways, but also disappointing in others.
If you think the title is strange wait until you actually see the film. First of all, the synopsis for Bad Turn Worse is not entirely accurate. It's not three young adults fleeing small town Texas to find a better life, it's actually just two. One of our main characters, B.J. (Logan Huffman) is losing both his girlfriend, Sue (MacKenzie Davis) and best friend, Bobby (Jeremy Allen White) to college. So, he takes them both out for a wild night of partying and drinking at a local bar and hotel to celebrate. However, in Bad Turn Worse, nothing is really what it seems. ***SPOILER ALERT*** The money B.J. is freely throwing all over the place for his girl and best friend is actually stolen from his boss (or is it?) And Bobby and Sue? Well, there's more to their leaving than just college. What unfolds is a big series of plot twists that could have been pretty good - except the horrible script by Dutch Southern and mediocre to bad acting got in the way. ***END SPOILER*** This is one strange movie, I'll say that again. For one, the plot tends to drag along with all the enthusiasm of a turtle, and a good deal of what happens seems illogical. Why writers make these characters so clueless, especially characters who are supposed to be intelligent, is mind-boggling. It doesn't help that most of the performances were dry - as if the cast conceded early on that this will never be anything more than a B-rated film. I guess some of the blame can be shifted to the directors, Zeke and Simon Hawkins. While they do an excellent job capturing the gritty feel of rural Texas, they don't do so well with directing the cast. Dialogue between characters is also pretty horrible. Often, a character will start rambling on with some parable that takes up entirely too much time; guess the writers intended for these stories to be awe-inspiring but they only leave the viewer confused. Little of these heart-to-heart chats actually tie in well with what's going on in Bad Turn Worse, which actually ends with a references back to one of these little parables/speeches (or whatever the writer wants to call them) that happened early in the film. Let me tell you, it wasn't an effective strategy. Anyway, I give it a 4 out of 10 because I think the plot, though strange, was overall pretty good. With some cleaning up of the script and better directing/acting, Bad Turn Worse could have been a winner. Oh, and maybe had they gave it a better name, too...
Excellent thriller!! The characters and their relationships are well developed. You immediately take an interest in their lives and want to know more. The actors did a tremendous job at portraying their characters. There is a good balance in the different aspects of the storyline. The Texas setting is seamless; it is exactly what you would expect of this type of thriller and more. The Hawkins brothers waste no time diving straight into the action. It is refreshing. They grab your attention from the opening scene. There is just enough of a plot twist to keep you guessing. The cinematography is flawless and the Hawkins brothers add some visually appealing and unique. This is a must-see!
"We gotta get out of this place" ... that's the title I saw this movie with at a Festival. It's a nice little thriller, where the inciting incident can be smelled a mile away (at least). If you can get over that bump, you are in for a nice little ride. It has a few nice twists and turns along the way.The acting is good enough and the movie has a nice pace. Are there flaws/clichés along the way? Yes there are, but like with the initial bump, they can be overlooked to a certain extent. Relationships are almost drawn and are heading to an obvious (from the start) direction. But if it's done right ... like here, you can forgive the movie. If you do, is up to you