Hobbs End (2002 Video) User Reviews

They should have made this a silent film (possible spoilers)

[edblask04 · 4/10 · 6 December 2004]

This had to be one of the gabbiest movies I have ever seen. Talk, talk, talk....talk. This is then interspersed with over the top acting and characters that it is hard to give any care for because of how cold they seem.

If you are looking for something different in the serial killer/horror genre this is a good movie to view if you have some patience with ham acting and way too much dialog.

The actors and especially the lead actress is pleasant to look at except that she seemed more cast for those of us 35 and above and not those 20 and under like most mad slasher movies and the very buxom and often very underclad teens like in the Halloween, Jason, Scream, Freddy, Chucky, and other teen scream movies.

Wanted a dumb slasher, got a Lifetime movie

[kbtoys100 · 3/10 · 8 July 2021]

First off, this is not a slasher movie. It's not even a horror movie.

As another review mentioned, this is more of a stage play featuring a single location and only two major characters.

I'm having a hard time judging this movie as I feel it is a bit unfair seeing as it was mismarketed and it isn't the filmmakers fault. That being said, it is NOT a good movie even for what it is trying to be.

The two leads are irritating, the soundtrack is very annoying, especially the stupid duet that plays over the credits. There are multiple plot lines that go nowhere.

In short, those watching for something akin to the cover will be upset, and those wanting a lifetime style thriller won't watch because of it (nor is it even worth it).

Where to start....

[Dali_Tzerni · 2/10 · 22 March 2003]

***SPOILERS*** ***SPOILERS*** Me and my friend were really bored and decided to go to Hollywood video to pick out some movies. Well we found a bunch of movies on sale for 2 bucks, so we're all, okay let's pick some out. So she picked out this really bad one with Jay Leno as the star of the movie (that was entertaining enough)And I picked up this..this neat looking movie hobbs end (Come on, it had a chainsaw on the front!)

I must say this is one of the worst movies that I have ever seen. The beginning is really strange, the woman's talking to herself most of the time. I thought the part that was bizzare was when she (catarina) starts sniffing the air, and said "something stinks, it's you isn't it" (to the psycho killer guy) "you need a bath." And then the guy says: "Would it be okay if I took a bath?" And then she says "isn't your timing a little off?" Ummm okay. This is how the movie goes the WHOLE TIME! I started laughing when he started stabbing his arm..that was really classic. Another classic part is when he tells the woman that he has "feelings" for her after 3 hours of knowing her. Well I don't want to blow the movie for you, it's a must see (yeah right) Major BLUNDERS: THERE IS NO CHAINSAW. Okay, I have no idea what the cover has to do with the movie. Another blunder: Who'se that guy creeping around the house, the starwarsy guy. I have no idea!!!!! All I know is that he ends up dead. My mom says it's "Obscenely Insipid" I'm making everyone watch this movie, because it's so painful. I could go on about this forever, but I think you'll have to see it for yourself. It makes me laugh just thinking about it.

Easily one of the worst movies I own...

[elderauto · 2/10 · 15 May 2007]

...But then, I had to buy it because of my name in the credits. Yep, I was the "key medic" in this travesty of film. And they didn't even list me in the "cast and crew." Bummer! But you know what the best part about this movie is? We all had a blast making it and you get to see the back of my head as I walk with my "family" across the parking lot in the beginning and then again at the end (I'm the guy in the blue "medic" outfit.) And yes, the scenery is majestic, I do forget sometimes since it's in my backyard and I see it every day. The craft service was the best -- I gained about 20 pounds during the shoot -- and they put the food right next to the medic station. I haven't seen most of the cast and crew since, but I still think about all, OK -- some, of you occasionally. Hey Buxbaum, if you ever get to Sandpoint again, call me! And I think you told me you could teach me to barefoot ski....

The acting, particularly Cat's, is pretty wooden and predictable. To me she always looked like she had something really distasteful in her mouth when she talked and couldn't quite spit it out. Maybe it was the never-ending dialog. The best actor on the set by far was Rosie the dog (although I can't remember if she's in the movie and can't bear to watch it again to find out.) As for the plot of this movie -- it's pretty transparent, BUT I'D URGE YOU ALL TO RUSH RIGHT OUT TO BUY OR RENT IT so you can actually see my name in the credits and Polestar can recoup some of the house payments they paid me!

I don't think "Ring-Around-the-Rosy" will be joining "Peer Gynt" or the "Goldberg Variations" on the Psycho Killer Hit Parade

[counterrevolutionary · 1/10 · 1 March 2003]

The first half of this movie is like a big black hole. It left no impression on me at all. It's neither bad nor good, but exists eternally in a sort of quality limbo.

Fortunately, the second half picks up, and it gets bad enough to provide a few laughs.

Another problem is that the effect of the film's first big surprise is somewhat mitigated by the fact that the copy on the DVD box gives it away completely. On the other hand, it was a pretty lame attempt at a surprise anyway.

One can see why this one sat in the can for over a year (copyright 2000, released 2002) before finally being dumped to video.

The Horror, the horror

[Lizzie-20 · 29 September 2003]

SPOILERS -- if you even care! Wow was this movie bad. It was almost like it wasn't directed by anyone and the actors made up their lines as they went along. Things that bugged me: Lacy Underalls brings in her groceries and leaves her car door open with the engine running and the radio on -- for what seems to be hours! Some old guy named Ben comes by and chews her ear off telling her the tale of some "curse". FINALLY she goes out to move her car and runs over the handy man. He's already acting all weird and psycho, and immediately tells her about his father issues. Hmmm! Then we keep seeing some hooded person lurking the woods, and guess what? We never find out who this person is! He does get killed though, along with Ben and her friend Cindy. Like we care! The handy man says "show me around the house" and Lacy says sure, let's start upstairs and he says, "I'd rather start down here if you don't mind." Like, why? I kept waiting for her to tell him about the aforementioned sink she was having issues with, but no. Let's see, what else. She tells him he smells and that he needs a shower, and he asks if he can take a bath, which she reacts to as if it were the most inappropriate suggestion. Hello, you just told him he needed a shower! There are a million doors into the house, none of which she keeps locked. She starts cooking dinner about eight times. She boils water and cuts up some carrots. They drink some red wine and he tells her he has "feelings" for her. Hello? Then he acts all gay and dorky. Hoody man comes to the house and tries to get in (again who is this person?) and Psycho man goes outside and kills him (I guess, we don't see it.) But then he comes back into the house with the most hilarious bloody handprint on the back of his sweater. I really laughed out loud at that one. Then his psyche really unravels before our eyes and he has at least three personalities, plus the personality of Lacy's dead husband Ron. The next 30 minutes are him running up and down the stairs after he ties Lacy up. She easily escapes, grabs a big fork and stabs him. He just sort of backs up and lets her stab him! As time drags on endlessly, he hits her a few times, stabs her a few times with this tiny little knife, and ties her up again. She calls 911 from her cell phone and tells them that a maniacal killer is loose in her house, and the 911 dispatcher says, "you're 50 miles from us, so maybe we'll get someone to swing by!" Swing by? Come on! They never come either until the next day after she's killed the pyscho handy man about 10 times over. She hits him with a fireplace poker many many times, but that doesn't kill him. She shoots him a few times, and I guess that finally does the trick. The real handy man finally shows up and when he sees the dead guy on a tarp he says, whoa what happened to that dude, or something really inane. Hello, the guy is dead! She gets no medical attention to all her stab wounds, and she proceeds in dumping all her husband's clothing etc. onto the snow. The end! There, I saved you all the pain of watching this movie.

Endless...

[Kelly G. · 1/10 · 22 February 2003]

It's hard to express sometimes just how bad a motion picture is. I mean after all, haven't we ALL had someone come up to us and say, "It's the WORST motion picture I've ever seen?" After a while, the term really doesn't have much meaning anymore.

While I can't quite say that this is the worst horror film I've ever seen (after seeing literally thousands of them, that honor I give to "Rat Man" with "Beast in the Cellar" ranking a close runner up), it certainly does rank up there in the top bracket of lameness which I usually reserve for older films (for some reason I expect modern day direct-to-video horror movies to suck).

So what's wrong with it? Well, first of all it fails a usually sturdy horror movie concept (self-reliant woman fights for her life in an isolated rural setting against one or multiple assilaints). Here we get an endless 100 minutes of an unappealing actor trying to hide he's a psychopath (a character as supposedly smart as the woman in this movie should have been able to tell after her first conversation with him, but like the rest of the movie, she remains stone still with a concerned look on her face while he has any number of freak outs), mixed with clumsily directed murder scenes, and an ridiculously repetitive and drawn-out final twenty minutes.

oh yeah, and there's some stuff about this guy being a shape shifting, mind-reading serial killer who may be possessed by the spirit of some kind of dead prospector who has cursed the valley. Oh man...

For better entries in this sub-genera (I'm picking more obscure ones) try, "Death Weekend," "Fortress," or even "Rituals" even though that last one is more of a "Deliverance" copy than anything else.

thought it would never End

[movieman_kev · 2/10 · 7 July 2009]

As the film opens recently widowed Lacey is desperately trying to insist to her friend, Cindy, that she doesn't need another man in her life. However later that same day when she accidentally runs into someone she believes to be the new handyman, she invites him into her house to make amends to this guy who reminds her so much of her husband somehow. Meanwhile the radio is issuing an urgent message about a dangerous convict on the loose. Are these two events linked somehow? You bet your sweet ass they are.

Oh where do I even begin to tell you what was wrong with this film. OK, right off the bat, the whole issue with the cover being so VERY misleading (there's no chainsaw, the population is a bit higher then depicted) has been said over and over so I won't repeat it here (oops just did). Then there's another character that's in the film skulking around Lacey's property that's never really explained. The sheer lack of chemistry between the two leads makes the first 20 minutes are so supremely implausible at best, and a big F you to the intelligence of the audience at worst. Also later in the film when a certain character is portrayed as crazy, the whole film turns into a (unintentional) comedy of errs. To round things off, I hated the soundtrack and the person who did the editing for the movie must have been legally blind.

My Grade: D

Where i saw it: Instant Netflix via Xbox 360

Learn some respect... (SPOILERS)

[jac_attack548 · 10/10 · 3 February 2004]

I don't believe this movie was as HORRIBLE as some people make it out to be (pul-eaze). You have to agree with me that you HAVE seen worse movies than this. At least this movie had some twists and a very believable leading actor, that goes by the name of Brennan. If you (the public) understood the film, even if you jumped just once, the whole cast and crew have succeeded. Think about that.

Brennan's character was at constant struggle. I believe he captured the basic feeling of a serial killer. Brennan understood the major split between the loving side and the extremely violent side of Michael. You can't sit there and tell me you didn't see it! He succeeded in showing one side to his romantic interest, and then putting a knife to her throat as his other side came out. You (the public) might complain, but all I saw was an actor doing his best to spell it out for John Q. Public. Which I believe was successful.

Also, I'm sick and tired of people telling me that the scenes were incomplete or that the actors were bad. If it's so easy, I want to see more of YOU doing it. Now don't you feel ashamed? You're taking someone's art; someone's heart and soul, and ripping it apart just because it didn't fit YOUR standards. Get a life. Respect that someone broke their back making this film and then getting it out to YOU. They want to entertain YOU.

Horribly-marketed, well-crafted psychological thriller

[TelevisionJunkie · 7/10 · 17 February 2006]

A woman in an isolated farm house takes in a man under the assumption he's her new handyman.

Before I say anything else, I should say that "Hobb's End" feels like it could have originated as a stage-play (it could have been successful on the stage)... or '70s movie-of-the-week. To say that it's slow and talky is an understatement.

This film seems to have gotten a horrible rap, mainly due to the fact that it was marketed to the wrong sort of audience. Not that there's a huge audience for this sort of movie. The packaging depicts a man with a bloody chainsaw (no chainsaw is even used in the film) and the description on the back blatantly gives away the twist. The body count is low, the gore is barely seen and the film crawls along from start to finish. Not exactly the slasher film that the box leads you to believe it is. And to boot, the audience is enticed early on with a tale of a "curse" that really has nothing to do with the plot.

The film fits into more of a "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf"-type psychological-drama category, but there are many factors (revealed late into the film, but disclosed on the box) that push it into the horror genre. The story unfolds at a slow pace with lots of twists and distractions, and a good chunk of the dialogue has a payoff of some sort or another.

Taking into consideration what sort of film it REALLY is, it's quite good. Catarina Conti gives a fine performance as the heroine. At times she comes off sort of wooden, though it's because of the character and not her performance. Brennan Elliot gives a very layered performance as a psychopath that's really quite intriguing if you're up to going with it. The production values are modest at best ('70s TV-movie really does come to mind) but it's well-filmed with some beautiful snowy scenery. Perennial soundtrack band Wild Colonials provide the songs in the film, beginning with an infectiously goofy ditty called "Quarrel-Tet" that plays over the opening titles (a song that it's hard to shake from my head once its in there).

The film is not for most tastes, but it's a good risk for lovers of plays or those up to taking a chance on a film that's more talk than action.

Shades of greens and browns.

[gjohnson212000 · 9/10 · 30 July 2006]

Hi. I just purchased the "Hobbs End" DVD this morning and I love it! The movie is some what a normal who done it with a little twist. You have to watch the movie to fine out what I mean. But what I love about the movie is color scheme for the inside of the house. This is my forth viewing of the movie just to see how the shades of greens, browns, and earth tones colors are coordinate throughout the house.

There's more to learn from a movie than just the plot. There is the sitting and visual art just to name a few. Watch the movie to fine out what happens to the two main charters in this isolated cabin located in a forest of snow.

Mildly interesting horror/thriller.

[HumanoidOfFlesh · 6/10 · 4 January 2006]

Lacey Cole,a beautiful young widow living in an isolated cabin in the forest of the great American Northwest,is forced to fight for her very survival when she lets a stranger into her life.Michael Bodine,an escaped serial killer and demented genius with bizarre psychic powers takes on the personality of Lacey's dead husband,lulling her into a state of open trust and romance.When Michael reveals his true identity,a life and death struggle begins,pitting Lacey's ingenuity against a consummate evil genius.The above synopsis of "Hobbs End" sounded pretty good for me,unfortunately the film itself was quite mediocre.There are some nice visuals and the snowy location sets provide a little bit of atmosphere,but "Hobbs End" is too long and quickly becomes dull.The acting is surprisingly passable with a beautiful Catarina Conti giving a likable performance as the lonely widow.Not a great amount of blood either.Give it a look,if you have nearly 2 hours to waste.6 out of 10.

darn

[hihihi15 · 18 January 2004]

thank you for your review lizzie, i wish i would have read it before watching that awful film. although i did fast forward through the last half since i was so bored with nonsense conversation. nice cover art, bad movie.