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Title: Damaged (2008)
Format: DVD-R
Score:
Starring: Tiffaney Dantinne, Sadie Rinehard, Shad Bever, and Noelle Vandenberg
Director: Paul Rinehard
Rating: Not available
Runtime: 84 minutes
Hits: 117
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Review of Damaged

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Comments for Damaged

• Posted on 2008-11-06
  Damage, damaged my sleeping for about two weeks!
  
  It for real scared the crap out of me!!! More then most horror films, and the weird part is that it should not have. I know one of the people who helped make the film, and talked about it often with him, so when I went to go see it I knew what I was getting into. But it still scared the crap out of me!!! The story was very unique, it kept me guessing for the whole movie. I would suggest this movie to anyone who likes a good scare!
  
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• Posted on 2008-10-08
  Damaged: an intelligent psycho-killer film!
  
  What is real and what is not? That is the question at the heart of writer/director Paul Rinehard's film; Damaged. When 10-year old Emily's mother dies of an apparent suicide, no one believes that it was anything except the tragic end to a troubled woman's life. But was it? Emily (Sadie Rinehard) and her grandmother (Barb Alloy) don't believe so. Unfortunately, both seem to be suffering from schizophrenia, and reality at times is a fluid thing for them. This leaves the viewer questioning what really did happen to Emily's mother and what, if anything, now stalks her and her grandmother.
  
  Because of Emily's and her grandmother's mental instability, a young woman named Kate (Tiffaney Dantinne) is sent to stay with them and act as a caregiver for one night. Now Kate is drawn into their world and it is up to her to save Emily from a threat that may be more than just in her mind.
  
  Paul Rinehard's film Damaged is an interesting take on a traditional murder mystery. The use of the mental illness experienced by Emily and her grandmother as a way to warp reality for the view was innovative. The visual imagery of the psychotic episodes was well done, and added to the film's mystery. Rinehard also made good use of traditional gore effects during the film's more gruesome scenes. Also worth noting were the performances by Sadie Rinehard as Emily and Barb Alloy as her grandmother. They both did an amazing job portraying people with mental illness. The film's one weakness seems to be that the mix of reality and fantasy is sometimes confusing to the viewer when it spreads to Kate's perceptions as well. That said, Damaged is a well made film that delivers suspense, chills and some good old fashioned scares, so check it out today!
  
  
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• Posted on 2008-10-08
  Get through the beginning...trust me it's worth it!
  
  The first 15 minutes of the film just didn't grab my attention. Besides
  the teaser the opening is slow, we tend to learn too much about the
  characters and the acting isn't as good as the rest of the film. The
  always bright spot on the acting side is Sadie Rhinhard who does a
  great job throughout the film, her acting blows away a lot of great
  Hollywood child actors. Off my soap box for the first 15 minutes let's
  get to where the movie turns around and it REALLY turns around. Not to
  give anything away but something happens, and that something has to do
  with Drano! Once this kicks in the movie is well acted, scary, intense,
  with a great score and an excellent audio mix that just blows you away!
  If you fight though those first 15 minutes you are in for a low budget
  gem!!!!!
  
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• Posted on 2008-08-28
  balancing the vote
  
  Hi people, okay, here's the deal...
  
  In all fairness "Damaged" is about a 3.5-4 star movie at best. It's definitely NOT "Citizen Kane" but it isn't "Plan 9 from Outer Space" either. My high rating is intended as a balance. I can't be more honest than that.
  
  The story, while troubling in spots, is fairly solid. It does what it was intending and at times gets surreal, we are dealing with a little girl's psychosis after all.
  
  The actors did a fine job. Barb was disturbingly wonderful as the Grandmother! Tiffany rocked! Saddie was outstanding and, personally, I found Shad's performance chilling and didn't see the "Shining" connection until just recently... I guess Shad does look a little like Nicholson?!
  
  If you are an independent filmmaker or are interested in low budget filmmaking there are plenty of lessons to be learned by watching this movie (both good and bad). The "Behind The Scenes" documentary shares many of the problems and solutions taken over the course of production as well as some of the gore effects.
  
  Again, "Damaged" is what it is...
  
  five stars? no
  one star? no
  3 to 4 stars? yes
  
  ... and I should know, I shot and edited a good chunk of the film! Now get some beer (skip the cigs) and watch this low budget little movie!
  
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• Posted on 2008-08-18
  You can't polish a turd
  
  Yeah, so I went and saw this independently made, low budget movie when it premiered in the fall of 2007 and for all of the hype and constant yap, yap, yapping about this movie, it was nothing more than a completely underwhelming experience. There are so many things wrong with this movie and on so many levels, I'm not sure I know where to begin.
  
  
  Damaged doesn't know if it wants to be a psychological thriller or a low budget gore fest. Either way it turns out to be a conveluted mess with a smattering of unintended hillarity. A ten year old girl named Emily is forced to deal with dementia induced visions as a result of her mother's suicide; a suicide that is never explained. Emily's grandmother has a few loose screws herself and because of this, a social worker is assigned to the case to watch over the household. Then enter Emily's dad, who is by a remarkable coincedence, the social worker's boyfriend. Dad has issues of his own, that manifest themselves without any reason other than the purpose of creating carnage on video. And there is plenty of carnage, so much so that it seems that the only reason this story exists is to move from one death scene to another. Oh look, someone's hanging, oh look someone just got stabbed in the ear with a screwdriver, and so on... The gore is for gore's sake and doesn't help define the characters or move the story along. The movie's finale, while intended to strike a chord with the audience, misses the mark completely and leaves the audience feeling cheated.
  
  From a technical standpoint the movie isn't much better. The sound is distorted, out of synch in places, and of poor quality; the picture is unintentionally dark and grainy at times. In fact, the visual highlight of the entire piece is the opening credit sequence; however, that idea was obviously ripped off from the 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead. While the hand held style of movie making is becoming more and more popular, there's a good way to do it and a bad way to do it. Damaged is the bad way to do it. And then there are the gore effects. One or two look authentic, but there are so many others that just look fake and laughable it's a shame.
  
  The acting in a word: awful. Shad Beaver's channelling of Nicholson's Jack Torrence from The Shining is so obvious he should have just dropped in the line, "Here's Johnny!". Not to mention it's one of the worst impersonations I've ever seen since Jay Mohr attempted to impersonate Christopher Walken. Most of the other performances were over the top, intentionally or not, and made me laugh at how unbelievable they were. The only standout was Tiffaney Danntine as the social worker Kate. She manages to convey the terror the movie intended but you ask yourself why she's so scared of a situation that is so rediculous; her fear no longer makes sense.
  
  Bottom line: If you're going to spend twenty bucks buy a case of beer and a pack of smokes; you'll feel more satified and have less of a headache than 84 minutes of Damaged.
  
  2/17/09 - Update...
  
  I see the price has dropped; how about that?
  
  It's still twelve dollars too high and it certainly doesn't change the fact that this movie still sucks.
  
  Howzabout them apples?
  
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