The Horror Show
The Hatred
by Michael Kehoe
Before writing for Horror Metal Sounds I had a little blog that was just reviews of horror movies. I used to watch movies with friends and then write quick little reviews full of jokes and goofs. I watched many a bad flick and I would joke with my friends that I was just going to write a blog post that was just two words long like, “it sucked” or “don't bother.” This time I want to just post that stupid poop emoji and be done with The Hatred.
I was warned by my friend Mattari to stay away from The Hatred. He said it would probably be the worst movie I have ever seen. He was pretty on point with his assumptions. This was one of the worst things I have ever witnessed in all of my years of horror. I really don't even want to talk about it, but it is my duty to watch and warn. Heed my warning, dear readers. Heed it!
This pitiful excuse for a movie starts off back in the late 60's with this very Amish-like family. The father is Samuel Sears, played by horror icon Andrew Divoff. I love Andrew Divoff. The Wishmaster is one of my favorite movies. I always thought he was a commanding actor. Too bad his talents are wasted on this. Sears is joined by his unnamed and forgettable wife, and his whiny daughter, Alice. Alice just wants to be like other girls. Oh Papa, let me be free! The Wishmaster tells her that she needs to be protected! She runs off and then there's a mysterious package delivered to Papa Sears. Oh, he's a Nazi. Well, okay, then. He receives an amulet that was Hitler's prized artifact. This amulet is supposed to pull your hate and fear out of whoever wears it so they can be a fearless fighting soldier. It really makes no sense. Nothing in this movie does. Sears seals it in the wall. He goes back to chorin' and discovers his daughter talking to some random kid. He scares this kid and sends Alice back to the house. She stands up to him, he slaps her, she tries to skewer him with a pitchfork, and Alice gets drowned in a horse trough. She's dead. He gets rid of the body. He has a heart attack while working, the mother finishes him off by poisoning him with this herbicide he's been spraying. She packs her bag and leaves the house. This was the first 22 minutes of a 90-minute film. I was praying for my own dose of poison.
The movie then goes to present day in a scene that introduces so many characters I was exhausted after it was done. This was 20 minutes of introductions that took 4. I can't tell you who any of these people are. I know that the main girl is Regan and apparently, she got a job working for Walter and Beth, whom she has known for years. Walter is played by David Naughton. This man performed what must be the greatest werewolf transformation in all of film history and you just have him talk on the phone. At this point I was tired and annoyed. The girls make it to the house. Guess who's house it used to be? That's right! It's the Nazi's old homestead.
The girls unpack and we are introduced to the screaming child that will be making your ears bleed throughout the rest of the film. Her name is Irene. She knows that the house is haunted because she sees dead people. Well, dead person. It's at this point I am no longer invested in this trash. People start to die. We get a rehash of a short that Kehoe did and shoehorned into this movie. It's also a creepypasta that everyone has read. Regan is tucking Irene into bed and she is adamant that Regan check under her bed. She does. Audible gasp! Irene is there! “That's not me.” Slow pan up. Jump scare. Irene and Regan run from Alice, who just wants to be found. Regan has the final girl moment of clarity: oh, it's the amulet. They find Alice and Regan steals her locket for some reason. Nobody touches the actual iron cross amulet. It makes no sense, why did she take that necklace? They drive off and I really just want to gouge my eyes out.
I skipped a lot of the useless plot. There was Regan's sick grandma and her sister. There was a small fight between two of the girls. It was never addressed. Nothing was ever addressed! It's almost like the director had never made a feature length film. Because he hasn't. He's mostly done shorts and it feels like it. There's so much padding in this movie you would think it was a couch.
This movie sucked. It wasn't so bad it was good, it was just bad. It was so bad it made me angry that I wasted my time. As I was watching it and trying to follow the messy story I realized all The Hatred did was remind me of better movies I could be watching. This is on Netflix. Don't waste the bandwidth on it. It's 90 minutes that you will never get back.
Robin Thompson, HMS
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