Murder! "The Scenesters" Are Making The Perfect Murder Mystery Film

The Scenesters (2009)

Rated R

Starring Blaise Miller, Sherilyn Fenn, Suzanne May, Jeff Grace, Todd Berger, Kevin Brennan, Monika Jolly,

Written and Directed by Todd Berger

The Story:

Charlie (Miller) is a crime scene cleaner. The police (Brennan & Jolly) have fun at his expense. It's when the new crime scene videographer (Grace) and his producer friend (Berger) realize that Charlie is stumbled upon a serial killer, they decide to film a murder mystery outside of their day jobs. The clues and the bodies begin to mount as suspicions are raised and artistic liberties are taken.

A movie within a movie movie unfolds as the story begins with the court case where the lawyer (Fenn) is questioning the people behind the scenes of the movie within the movie. Then we are treated to various flashbacks and memories that elaborate more on the story that unfolds between courtroom tensions.

At its heart though, it's a comedic whodunit which offers multiple suspects and red herrings aplenty.

At times, it is reminiscent of Nightcrawler which may have been the pitch, "imagine the Scenesters, but not played for laughs!"

East Los Angeles and the indie music scene plays an important part of the film as both soundtrack and setting for much of the film.

Pretty good movie, one that you may have missed when it came out in 2009, but now through the streaming of Amazon Prime, you can rectify that anytime you want!

Fenn is the only recognizable name/face in the cast as the majority is from a Los Angeles comedy troupe.

Good laughs, good tension.

Pretty good viewing experience.

Final Grade: C+ / B- range.

Just When You Thought It Was Safe To Watch SyFy... "Sharknado"

My Achilles heel...

I love shark movies.

The Story:

A hurricane is bearing down on Los Angeles, and it's bringing killer sharks onto the land as the whole area is flooding.

Chaos ensues!

First, yes, I realized what I was getting into when I added this to the queue.  It was from SyFy, and I've lamented their output on here many times.  Their efforts are often pedestrian, at best, so why would I go through it?

Sharks.

I'm a sucker for a shark movie. 

Yes, even the bad ones.

And this was spectacularly bad, in a car crash way that I couldn't not watch.

Watch as plot holes and ludicrous dialogue or (or?  More like and...) cheesy special effects race across the screen at breakneck speed.

The movie brings Ian Ziering and Tara Reid to the big small screen as a former couple who have two kids that really need a slap upside the head.

Don't worry though, before the end of the film, those two will find their feelings reconciled after surviving dozens of deadly sharks being rained down into Los Angeles by way of tornados generated by hurricanes.

Forget that hurricanes are Atlantic Ocean storms, and typhoons generate in the Pacific, but apparently that logic was thrown out the door at the beginning.

Creative shark killing abounds as these poor critters are served up as fodder to these survivors.

Trust me, by the end, I was hoping a few people would still get eaten.

Thankfully...there's a sequel in the works.  : /

And tell me if you find it creepy that the girl that likes Fin winds up in love with his son by the end of the movie.

Creepy.

Don't get me started on how she survives...

Final Grade: C-

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: No, but I'll probably get suckered into Sharknado 2... I know... I'm ashamed too.