![]() The abandoned investment property is a fine setting for this tale, but director Patterson inexplicably shuffles us - and the entire cast - through every single room with an "And this here is the bedroom"-style tour of the facilities. Only veteran thespian, Tony Manders, in the tiny role of detective, provides any hint of a sympathetic character. ![]() There is not a quirky nerd, a tough jock, a brainiac, or a nympho among them they are all so similarly bland & useless that it is no small relief when they start dropping out. ![]() These actors do not fit together they are simply not believable as friends, much less collaborating investors. Rather than a felicitous opening ala Cabin in the Woods, Friday the 13th or The Burning, Patterson's bar scene character-intro plays like a funeral dirge, with weak dialogue, lagging conversation, apprentice editing & stiff acting. Patterson & cinematographer Pasternak's inexperience is on display from the start. In his second project for ITN, writer/director Ben Patterson returns with another cast of amateur actors & crew and a half-baked script about a group of six friends who encounter a killer while renovating an investment property. We should make a scary movie!" Unfortunately, Chatterbox is this latter kind of ITN product. While a few ITN distributed films feature known actors such Nicholas Cage (Grand Isle) or Lance Henriksen (Paranormal Island), much more typical is a product made by novice actors/crew with an investor pitch that surely goes something like, "Dude, my dad has a creepy looking cabin behind his house. However, whereas AIP films typically cost $200-300K & grossed a few million dollars, ITN products are often budgeted for less than $50K & go straight to VOD & retail DVD outlets. Arkoff's American International Pictures, whose success spanned the 1950-1970s, ITN Distribution specializes in micro-budget products aimed at a somewhat lowbrow audience willing to overlook rather obvious compromises of quality. ![]() It's hard to argue with a business strategy that's proven to work. ![]()
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