Realistically, when you consider all things, "The Corrupt Half" is truly a decent although largely unoriginal horror flick; and yes, the "indie" staples are all over the place. However, for anyone who loves the genre, this is as good a way as any to spend an hour. The trend of rehashing familiar stories or plot arcs is not a new one. Big budget, small budget or no budget at all, re-telling stories is quickly becoming common for loads of would-be writers and directors. With that said, it's no wonder the trend for unoriginal stories, or new spins on old ones have become the norm. If it works do it. Besides. What is truly original anyhow? With this in mind, it all comes down to style and execution. Factors that are very... very tough with indie, low budget productions. Movies like Paranormal Activity, Blair Witch or even to some extent the original Saw film, used a low budget mentality to create something that made sense. Something that would feel real and be logically low budget looking. A bunch of found camcorder footage or surveillance tapes, pieced together to tell a story, would make perfect sense right? Anyone remember the iMDB page for Blair Witch? It broadcast that the cast was missing. The "cheesy" yet realistic footage made perfect sense since this was potentially a real event that took place. Success! Then something strange happened. The clones. The hand-held camera style and general disregard for the core practices involved in making a movie spread like wild-fire. Recording footage on your phone or with a cheap camera, by holding the device in your hand and moving all around does not make you a movie maker. Editing said footage doesn't quite cut it anymore either. Especially with the lowering costs of decent production equipment and a tripod. Anyhow, let's now return to "The Corrupt Half" and I want to make clear that by no means am I directly talking about this film. I'm simply outlining the mind-set of many indie films, that this particular movie has brought to my attention. Rod Wess, who wrote and directed this film, brings us a creepy, ghostly enemy in the vein of our favorite Japanese horror movie. Said entity committed suicide, and now haunts the very place she died. As I wrote above, nothing terribly new here. Things get interesting down the road with the basic explanation/premise being this: The possibility of trading places with another. Saving your own life or soul, by giving up someone else's. It's a choice or test that many of us would fail if ever put into that actual position. Self preservation is a powerful thing. This is the spin Rod Wess has taken, and it does work in this movie. Quite well. The real question then becomes one of faith, which is also hinted at. Have you really saved your soul? Or have you actually damned yourself for eternity... to live a few more short years. This ends up being a main theme for the movie, and one of the reasons this flick works. Of course, you won't realize this until the end. Interestingly enough, "The Corrupt Half" also manages to ask some really serious questions. Probably unintentional, yet present none the less. Mass hysteria, a slow decline into actual depression, and the potential for depression to spread, like a virus, to other people who may be close to the original patient. This is a ghost story, but the hints at real world issues dawned on me quite brightly. Especially as our lead, later in the film begins looking quite depressed herself. Understandable considering the situation, yet it made me wonder. This is not directly related to the story itself, just something I thought I would add, since the film did open the door for this train of thought. Finally, the ending was quite fitting. A full circle if you will. As I wrote above, this may not win the next Oscar by any stretch, but it is a decent horror film no matter how you slice it. Technically, I'm not going to rant all that much. You expect an indie low budget flick... here one is. Some shaky camera, some soft shots and at times, some hollow acting. I am quite glad to write that although some of the acting feels hollow, for the most part, the cast have done some excellent work. Especially during the second half. It was like a switch was pushed, elevating the performances fifty times. I did find it unusual, that at times the "purposefully" cheaper looking images that are supposedly on the laptop, looked better than some of the main shots used in the film. That was a minor annoyance however. I also felt that "The Corrupt Half" seemed to grow on me, and after a bit I forgave or ignored the less than stellar instances of indie film. Again, you know what to expect... but may be a little surprised that this title actually ends up exceeding your expectations... technically. When it's all said and done, as I wrote above, this is a decent film. When you consider it probably had very little funds behind it, it's a great film. I can't rate a movie in that way however. As impressive as finishing a film actually is, or as amazing as it is to have a "low budget film" that is actually watchable... I can't base my rating on that. I have to rate this film as a typical viewer would. They don't care how little money you had. They don't care how great it is to even simply finish a movie. They either like it... or they don't. I liked it. Nothing amazing, but good enough to keep me watching. Die hard fans will probably like it more than me, and the haters... you know who you are... will probably think I'm insane for writing I liked it at all. Personally? Excellent job. This film kept me in my seat for an hour. I never thought about hitting that "stop" button, and I was entertained. That's really all it comes down to in the end. Period.
