Movie Review: Hate Crime (2012)

Reviewed by: Rob Sibley

I was lucky enough to get an early look at James Cullen Bressack’s film “Hate Crime”. Oh, and what a film it is. I promised no spoilers in this review and that’s the way the film should be watched. With no idea of what to expect and what’s going to happen. Without giving much away, “Hate Crime” is pretty much a found footage film shot in one take. To give up any more information would be doing a disservice to the viewer.

Now before I start my review I must state I’ve never been much of a fan of the “found footage” genre. It sort of started out with “Cannibal Holocaust”, then the French film “Man Bites Dog” and then was made popular by the “Blair Witch Project”. Then years passed and along came “Paranormal Activity” and since then we’ve been given nothing but dreck from the studios up until now...

Bressack has done what I thought was impossible. He has made a film that not only rattled my nerves but literally gave me a cold sweat and I’m thankful for it. I like many have become jaded by on-screen brutality. To me it’s nothing but corn syrup and red dye and liquid latex most of the time.

Hate Crime defied all my expectations and blew me away and hit harder than a load of rock salt to the gut. You don’t watch Hate Crime, you experience it. You feel for the victims, you are right there with them. Your no longer in your room, your right there front and center in the midst of this hate.

The acting itself is so realistic you don’t feel like you’re watching people recite lines. You just feel their emotions and pain. Yes with a title like Hate Crime a lot of pain and violence is dished out.

All of it hard to watch and tough to stomach even for the most jaded of horror fans. The interesting thing is when your done watching the film you realize you didn’t witness all that much violence. Much of it is implied or slightly hidden by the camera. Either way I haven’t experienced any of the emotions that I felt during my time with Hate Crime since the first time I saw Cannibal Holocaust.

Things start out calmly enough but before you have a chance to take a sip of water the film kicks into high gear. The tension level rises and rises and just when you think things can’t get any worse... they do. If I would of just found a blank DVD-R of this on the street and popped it into my player I’d probably would have called the cops. It’s that real and unnerving.

Words cannot do this film justice, you have to see it for yourself to judge. I only wish I had a quarter of the talent that Mr. Bressack has. Once you’ve seen this film... have a nice stiff drink and a comedy set aside because this film will stick with you and might even keep you up at night. It’s certainly a film that this reviewer will never forget.