Red Letter Day (2019) User Reviews

Very disappointing. Awful script, poor acting.

[Jester222 · 4/10 · 5 March 2020]

Disappointing. Trailer did its job and made this film appear far better than it was. The script was terrible, nonsensical and the acting poor. Zero chemistry between actors supposedly family.

This film appears to have been made by a couple of bored special make up FX guys and friends. The gore is lots of fun and actually makes it quite watchable despite the poor writing and puzzling actions of all the people who suddenly become Psychotic because received a Red Envelope ( supposedly addressed to each person although close up shots show nothing but a triangle on them) with a letter saying who they need to kill. Nonsense. But I ignored for the sake of the film......but that couldn't save it, or the fun gore.

I was really looking g forward to this film as well, it's been quite a while since I was this disappointed in a film.

What could've been...

[broken-and-disposable · 3/10 · 18 November 2019]

Red Letter Day is a movie that should have been picked up by Blumhouse. The story was interesting enough for me to sit through, though the acting was absolutely terrible. Don't get me wrong, I am a huge fan of low budget, badly written and poorly acted movies especially when it comes to the horror genre. But the entire time I found myself thinking about what could have been and who would have been cast in the roles. In all honesty it confuses me how this wasn't a Blumhouse production as it seems to be the exact thing they would normally release. With a better budget and a better cast (personally I was thinking Winona Ryder, Katherine Langford & Alex Wolff) this could have been another horror success but unfortunately this has been released instead

ZERO logic.

[mvike · 4/10 · 22 February 2020]

If you can suspend absolutely all logic, then you can enjoy this.

MINOR spoilers.

*Plot* All people in a upper class neighborhood randomly gets letters in the mail, "kill this person, they've gotten a letter saying to kill YOU."

Okay, I was intrigued.

Any film under 90 minutes is almost 100% of the time going to be VERY questionable. Here were my issues with the film.

• The concept/plot is played VERY straight, it's not a comedy at all. So we are meant to take it serious. So the obvious issue...why would anyone that ISNT totally insane go through with t he letter request? All the sudden, normal people with no real reason to do so, start killing each other. I can buy that if this happened, there would likely be about 1-5% of nuts that would use this as an excuse to hurt people. I can even buy that they could get 10-20% to act in some way, out of fear that they will be hurt if they don't. But to think people will just started killing their neighbors because a letter said to do it...? With no consequences if they don't!?!? That's VERY hard to buy. And is ridiculous. They could've selected specific people and held their kids hostage or something and forced them to do it, but to think they'd just do it...? Come on...

• The husband of the main woman's friend. I won't spoil anything, but again...zero logic. To not understand why the mother would want protection in general given what's going on...?

• The daughter and her boyfriend...did anyone not see this coming..?

Some good things:

• It LOOKS nice.

• Acting is...solid.

• Concept was decent, although poorly executed.

• The boyfriend has a poster for "Death Ship" which is a cult classic.

Overall it was something decent enough to kill time, not good enough to be a movie night choice. 4 stars is pretty fair.

The daughter was nice to look at so I can go 4.5 :P

Fundamentally flawed, still enjoyable

[jdollak · 5/10 · 10 March 2020]

This movie draws a lot of obvious comparisons, particularly The Purge. This is reasonable, since the theme of having to defend yourself against your community is an effective one. But the lack of motivation makes this a problem. Nearly every review here says the same thing - why would people kill their targets because an anonymous letter says so? Are we supposed to believe that people are intrinsically bad?

This huge flaw doesn't make it a terrible movie though. The direction is fairly well done, the technical qualities are solid. And it's great to see a horror movie that isn't an inky black swirl. The sound doesn't have any of the annoying habits of massive dynamic range.

There is some weakness in the acting, and it's hard to pinpoint the problem. Every now and then there are little beats of dialogue that don't land correctly. I can't blame this on the actors or the script - I'm not sure which it would be.

The highlight of the movie is a score that seems to borrow from Vertigo. A welcome touch of class, we need more music like this.

Worth a watch, but don't expect to feel completely pleased with it.

Stupid plot and terrible acting

[michelleld-95349 · 3/10 · 9 November 2019]

The acting in this movie is so bad and the characters jump from one extreme to the other for no reason at all. The plot is like the purge but stupider because of the lack of reasoning for why everyone should killed who they have been assigned to in the letter...they just do it just because. The teen daughter is bad and who leaves her brother with someone who wants to murder him?? Just jumps out of the window and rolls out to kill the person assigned on her letter? The characters do other stupid things that logical people wouldn't do and overall this was just a lazy attempt at movie.

Purge wannabe

[MikeHunt1075 · 4/10 · 5 November 2019]

I just can't take a film seriously with such stupid characters. Someone sends letters out saying kill your neighbour or they will kill you. The police don't take it seriously, so the neighbours start killing each other lol. The stupid main characters don't just drive out of town or to the police station.... speaking of, where are the cops? The plot is just too dumb to even suspend belief and try to enjoy it, as there is nothing here to enjoy.

Suppose to be a fun movie...

[elle-six · 2/10 · 21 November 2019]

In the first 15 mins of the film, i thought its suppose to be fun like zombieland. Halfway through i realized its not funny and the things that characters do in the film are downright ridiculous. The mom has got 2 really dumb kids, its tragic. The son is like a young adult but sat on the floor and cry when neighbour comes attacking. Didnt even attempt to defend himself. The daughter ran away quietly instead of helping the brother to fend off attacker. Mom tried to save the daughter while the bad bf busy talking to the webcam... she snuck into the room in standing position instead of lunging at the bad guy who is just 1 feet away. Really? She really thinks she could untie the daughter without anyone realizing?

The more i watch it, the more i wanna smash the TV. Cmon... if you wanna make a movie, at least put more thought on characters acting realistically in situations.

Not... good. Not good. Bad.

[scott-1144 · 2/10 · 8 November 2019]

The concept sounded vaguely interesting but the execution was so awful that... never mind. I had a whole bilious review in my head but it doesn't deserve even that- this is bad and the people who made it should feel bad. I gave it two stars only because at ~70 minutes it was blessedly short.

Pleasantly surprised

[Teddy-Bear-Picnic · 7/10 · 26 October 2019]

I had zero expectations going into this and actually found it to be very entertaining. It was cool seeing one of these types of movies with a middle aged mother as the lead character kicking people's asses. I really liked the concept too but wish that they showed more of what was happening outside of the suburbs on the red letter day. It felt like it went by too quickly but I enjoyed the film overall.

Laughably bad

[AntonioAntonio91 · 3/10 · 5 November 2019]

The story of this movie is actually very interesting, and it would be a good movie if it was better done, very bad acting (except for Dawn Van de Schoot, she managed to look great which I guess was an extremely difficult task when everyone else around her did very badly). The movie looks very amateur, bad camera work, the fight scenes were hard to watch, like in a way when you are ashamed in behalf of the director.

A Wild and Gory Ride

[MrsOrange · 8/10 · 20 October 2019]

I had a blast with this film. The concept was interesting, the characters were goofy but loveable and the events unfolded in a natural but unpredictable way. It probably helped that the sibling relationship reminded me of me and my brother...

I was not expecting this film to get as gory and nasty as it did. The visual effects were awesome and I almost gagged during one moment. The filmmakers were likely working with a low budget but that didn't limit the amount of creativity on display. The camera work was always interesting, the fights were pretty cool and I was a huge fan of the old school score. I look forward to revisiting this one again with a group of friends.

Good story, Cool kills

[dcase74 · 6/10 · 8 November 2019]

This one clearly had a small budget but I have a soft spot in my heart for indie horror movies. All things considered the effects were really cool and I was entertained during the entire runtime. Some of the supporting performances are not very strong but I really liked the lead family and the mom was good enough to carry the film. The story was really cool and I really liked the practical effects. Not a bad option for midnight viewing.

Worst acting ever, just wow!

[synnyzter · 1/10 · 7 November 2019]

Whoever would rate this higher than a 1 must be insane or has never seen another movie in their life... The acting in this movie made me cringe, it really is THAT bad. The plot is ridiculous, the whole movie is ridiculous, I couldn't even finish it.

Steaming pile of ....

[GialloFanUK · 1/10 · 5 November 2019]

Really bad acting, ridiculous storyline, a complete mess. Don't waste your time watching this garbage.

Boo!!!

[shona_916 · 1/10 · 9 November 2019]

This was not good at all. Just a bad rip off of Chosen.

Junk Mail.

[iamtherobotman · 3/10 · 5 November 2019]

Even as I read the film's synopsis I couldn't help but wonder just how they were going to have people actually pay attention to these letters and carry out the murder...and then it hit me. They were going to have the characters act completely irrationally and stupid and that is exactly what happened. It was all very logical for the initial 15 to 20 minutes of this film and then in the space of a minute people just totally lost their minds.

The protagonist obviously got her friend to kill and vice versa, she goes round to visit her friend to assure her that she's not paying any attention to the letter. Unknown to her however her son had slipped a kitchen knife into her handbag prior to her leaving. Ofcourse the visit to her friend is a short one and while preparing to leave, the friends husband discovers the knife and irrational behaviour ensues. They don't allow her to leave their home and he then threatens her with the knife, a scuffle then leads to her stabbing the husband in the neck with the knife and beating a hasty retreat back to her kids who are now under attack from the strange neighbour who walks his cat and has been told to kill the son.

Sadly the film just fell apart once things started happening, it's a shame because it could actually have been a decent wee horror/thriller had the actors been any good and the script been up to scratch and the direction decent. It tried to be satire at times and unfortunately it didn't work. I feel had they either played it straight or gone down the comedy route it might have been a different outcome, as it is however, it's stuck in limbo and is neither.

Mediocre At Best

[wandernn1-81-683274 · 4/10 · 26 March 2020]

Altho the plot sorta reminds me of a take off on Twilight Zone's 'Monsters on Maple Street' or of the more recent The Purge, it's not as well done, well acted, or well scripted. Disappointing overall and very mediocre even for a B Movie

Don't watch this crap, worst movie ever.

[psxexperten · 1/10 · 4 January 2020]

7th grade school project? There should be a law prohibiting making garbage like this. This movie is laughable but not funny, nor is it scary. It's crappy as can be. Everything about this movie is bad, the acting, script, direction, editing... A terrible attempt at making a film. Extremely low budget. The high scores are as usual from wanker friends of cast and crew!

Quite fun

[kosmasp · 6/10 · 18 February 2020]

If you have a weird and quirky sense of humor that is. The movie itself is quite flawed, but not to the degree that it would take out the fun of it all. If you like small budget movies (and thrillers to that extent), you will like this, with everything it offers and everything it doesn't.

Not the best acting overall, but it does the job. As does the technical "standard" of the movie. Again, one could easily nitpick on so many things - but why do that, when you can have some fun with this? And it has its heart in the right place

Sharknado had better acting

[alie-36138 · 2/10 · 13 September 2019]

Terrible. Poor acting, poor scripting. Not worth watching.

Very good

[rmhartos · 8/10 · 12 February 2020]

Good acting, great story. Endless possibilities for sequels. First decent movie in this genre in years. Kudos!

The purge inspired

[nickyb-79131 · 4/10 · 7 December 2019]

Very easy to see the vibe was taken from the purge. Some nice tense scenes and graphic gore but ended without a point covered up with just a nutter in his basement kinda deal. The kids of the mum played useless millennials pretty well. The running time suggests a fair amount was scrapped. As a sociological piece, I very much doubt people are so easily willed to take away life. But then I live in England not America.

Terrible Awful Crap

[ferdmalenfant · 1/10 · 7 November 2019]

This is without a doubt one of the most annoying, pointless and idiotic movies I've EVER seen. It makes no sense whatsoever. The acting is just painful to watch. I've seen low budget movies but this one's a NO budget attempt of a movie. Yuck!

The worst movie ever

[kimwagoner · 1/10 · 2 March 2020]

Point blank dont waste your time. I can not put into words how bad this movie is. The worst story line, actors and by the end of this horrible movie I was so mad that movies like this are still being made.

Mediocre to worse

[christine_aka_stine1 · 4/10 · 8 March 2020]

The first third is ok-ish but it gets dumb and dumber. Who in his right mind tiuches a turning drill! Oh come on... stopped the movie in the middle. Too stupid...