Nine Dead

Plot synopsis:
The nine characters are revealed to be: 1 — a petty criminal (Christian), 2 — a police officer (Jackson), 3 — an illegal gun seller (Leon), 4 — a strip club owner and loan shark (Sully), 5 — an Assistant District Attorney for LA County (Kelley), 6 — a pedophile and rapist (Coogan), 7 — a priest (Father Francis), 8 — a health insurance executive (Eddie), and 9 — a Chinese store owner who does not know English (Nhung Chan).
After a string of kidnappings, these nine people are locked inside a room and handcuffed to pipes. Then a masked man enters and explains each of them are there for a reason, and to survive, they must figure out how they are all connected. He further explains that he will kill one of them every ten minutes until they figure it out. The shooter leaves and a countdown begins. The group begins introducing themselves, and a few early connections are made. Christian says he once borrowed money from Sully, but paid it back. Coogan mentions he has been in multiple prisons. Kelley and Jackson are former lovers. Just as the group begins to think it is all a hoax, the shooter enters and kills Christian. After the masked man leaves, Leon has Sully stomp on his hand until it breaks, freeing himself from his handcuffs. He attempts to escape, but is caught and brought back by the shooter. The shooter then kills Coogan, who has mentioned earlier that he is dying anyway. Before he shoots him he whispers the reason in Coogan's ear. Then Coogen attacks the masked man and is shot. The shooter tells Leon he will be the next to die.
With seven people left, Mrs. Chan recognises Kelley as her former lawyer after Mrs. Chan's store was robbed two years earlier. The group begins to see connections between themselves and the robber, Wade Greeley. The shooter returns, but as the seven only know part of the story, he shoots Leon. With the theory in doubt, it becomes clear that Father Francis knows more than he is admitting, but refuses to give further information. Eventually, it is determined that Greeley did not rob the store; the real robber, Christian, confessed to Father Francis that he committed the robbery in order to gain enough money to pay back Sully. However, when shown a line-up, Mrs. Chan mistakenly identified Greeley as the robber, and Kelley prosecuted him. At this point, the shooter reenters, and since not all of the connections have been establish, he tries to kill Eddie, but Father Francis puts himself in the path of the bullet and is killed instead. When Kelley calls him Wade, he denies being Wade Greeley and leaves. Once the shooter leaves, Sully realizes that before Christian robbed Mrs. Chan's store, he didn't have a gun, and must have bought one from Leon. Mrs. Chan is the next to be shot. As she begs for her life however, he speaks to her in Chinese, and the father-son relationship between the Shooter and Wade Greeley is revealed to viewers who understand Chinese. Kelley begs to be let go to be with her son, but the shooter is visibly angry Kelley used her son as an excuse, and leaves, but not before hinting Jackson is the father of Kelley's baby.
Kelley confirms that Jackson is the father of her son, and also reveals she fabricated evidence to convict Greeley, saying she needed to win a case after many losses. She also reveals that Jackson unknowingly helped her falsify evidence, and that she once murdered a man who raped her, and swept it under the rug when the man's body was found. Eddie realizes the shooter must be Greeley's father, exacting revenge, and the remaining four begin to wonder what happened to Greeley after he went to prison. The shooter returns and kills Sully, who has no regret for his actions. With only Kelley, Jackson, and Eddie left, the three struggle to establish connections for Eddie and Coogan. Eddie supposes that Coogan was earlier referring to being infected with AIDS, and, as he has been in multiple prisons, could have raped Greeley and infected him. Then the final connection is made; Greeley applied for an experimental drug treatment (run by Eddie's company) for HIV, but Eddie would have had to reject him due to his criminal conviction. They explain this to the shooter, Greeley's father, who agrees to let them all go. Kelley is released, but, having slowly revealed her true nature, steals the shooter's gun and shoots Greeley's Father, Eddie, and Jackson. Greeley's father, who was wearing a kevlar vest, recovers momentarily to reveal that the whole time "everybody has been watching" and that they now know "who the real Kelley Murphy is". He is then shot in the head, and Kelley escapes as the police arrive.

Tags: violence, claustrophobic

Review:
The writing was terrible, the acting was worse & the ending was so abrupt it was as if the film itself committed suicide rather than put viewers through any more pain.As I said, the concept seemed decent, not completely original but nothing is COMPLETELY original anymore.
Sadly MJH confused those traits with "I'll shriek & whine & generally act like a spoiled brat, that will show my inner strength & intelligence!" No, just no.So to sum up (sorry for the rambling by the way), the only recommendation I can give this movie is to stay far, far away from it.
Surprisingly, this one was executed in a way I haven't seen done prior, but it all ultimately goes back to putting strangers in a room.**Rant about Melissa Joan Hart's acting**Despite what I said in my other reviews where I might've mentioned that someone might've been the worst actor I've ever seen, Melissa Joan Hart in this movie takes the cake.
All that these characters did was just try to reason by saying things like, "we need more time to figure it out." Don't you think you'd be speaking a hundred miles per hour on all the atrocities you might've done in your life and hope you guess right???
2) Even if you don't agree with my opinion above, then how about when there came a time in the movie where the characters more or less had the whole damn chain of events of the puzzle solved, with just a few missing pieces (at that point they still didn't figure out how the medical dude fit into the story).
And going even deeper into my abyss of madness (i.e., logic), I could sort of even understand why the other people who's turn hadn't come yet wouldn't say anything, so as to not bring attention to themselves by offering the solution (and potentially getting it wrong, and yeah, maybe being killed for it), But, if it's YOUR turn to die, and the killer is in your face, giving you one last guess to solve the puzzle, WHY WOULD YOU NOT TELL HIM WHAT YOU THINK YOU KNOW SO FAR???????????
It's not 'horrible' and there are some anecdotes that actually make it a bit funny in a campy way if you are a cynical evil person like myself :) But to explain the above statement, the movie is a reductive of a Saw/Red Room type help captive facing death formula.
More interesting than an episode of Criminal Minds, but not much gorier, no truly unique or cool deaths but a few plot twists and turns that are interesting enough to finish watching - if not just to prove to yourself that you are more intelligent than the bozos the film focuses on.A lot of people probably hated the ending, but i thought it was pretty funny and smug.
I think it is also safe to say that she is the worst actor in this picture, being easily outdone by a handful of unknowns and Alec Baldwin's chubby brother Daniel.The film has similarities to other films, notably "Saw 2" (a group of people all connected by a common, unknown bond) and "House of 9" (nine people -- including a priest -- in an enclosed location, getting killed one by one).
I thought this film was absolutely amazing, it was a great thriller, had an amazing story line and really kept you on the edge of your seat right to the end just to know what was going to happen.
I was into a horror movie while i saw this movie.The only interesting item is the curious set of characters as history and time line build up, but all of the acting and ending was terrible.This was like a "Sabrina is having a nightmare after being a lawyer" spin off Save your self some time and do not waste time on this.I thought it will get better over time, but the truth is that it doesn't and keeps very slow.
Ending makes no sense.One very odd item is the beginning of the movie, it seems like a low budget horror movie with some odd timing to discover each character's history..
The "shooter" advises the nine that their job, and thus their survival, is dependent upon their ability to discover the common thread that links all of them.The nine strangers run the gamut of society: thugs, a priest, a cop, a dork, a lawyer and older lady.My big issue with this movies is: none of these characters are interesting.
A revenge movie that holds people accountable for an indiscretion or two.As the shooter follows through on his promise to kill one of the nine every ten minutes the strangers and then as the bodies drop they get serious and the film turns into a SA (Sinner's Anonymous) meeting.
Only half the cast seemed believable while the other half seemed lost.The movie plot wasn't all that bad, people want to compare this to Saw which I think is crazy.
I figured everyone would've just died like every other movie but the ending turned out to be a survival of the fittest kind of thing.
The one thing that really annoyed me about this film are the unnecessary flashbacks, I've been sitting here watching this movie the whole time and they go back to things that have happened maybe 10 minutes ago in the story.Overall I'd say it's worth a watch if you don't have to necessarily pay for it..
Besides, I think the main storyline has already been present in other movies ( in a much better way ) like "saw"..
This movie has credible characters in incredible circumstances, and the director and writer are obviously influenced by the master, Hitchcock, so this is almost sure to have mostly upside.No doubt many will think of SAW when this is seen.
It looked like it wasn't hampered at all by jealousy on the drawing board, which means it was done by professionals from the director down to the assistant assistant set designer.While SAW was original enough, this film is superior to SAW on all levels, particularly if you want believable action, story and characters..
the end destroyed the whole story, i think most people aren't lame and when they goes a movie thy want a good end, even if it is intricate ...
Meh. First I'd like to point out that the version I saw from a Blu Ray was 87 minutes long and not 98 as it's said here, I don't believe it was a cut version but merely a miss in the information slip by the company.Much like it was a miss to suggest that Daniel Baldwin is one of the stars in it, he is technically in it BUT for 9 and a half seconds (literally), more or less an extra in one scene.Anyway back to the actual movie, it had potential, sure we've seen these kinds of movies before (strangers in a room have to figure out what connects them or they die) but that doesn't mean that they still can't be exciting if they are clever enough, with a couple twists and good acting.Now the actual idea is in the end a decent one, BUT it's just that all sense of mystery is gone pretty much halfway through because the clues we are given are not so much clues as it is having the motive tattooed on our foreheads.And the characters are for the lack of better words, pretty stupid.The acting is mostly decent William Lee Scott stood out as one of the better performances while Melissa Joan Hart stood out for having the opposite, a really poor performance.Overall though the characters were fairly one-dimensionally written and we are given no reason to actually care for any of their fates.So yeah maybe watch 'THE KILLING ROOM (2009)', 'CIRCLE (2015)', 'SAW (2004)', 'SAW II (2005)' or 'CUBE (1997)' instead, as they are all better examples of this kind of movie..
The actors are beyond over the top and make awful lines sound like the whole thing is a parody, which I'm pretty sure wasn't the intention.The concept is actually super interesting, with nine people not knowing exactly what they did to deserve such an encounter with death by a psychopath (or the killer has a point?), similar to "The Cube", the Saw movies, "Die" and others.But as soon as the nine have to interact to try and figure it all out, I started to laugh.
Everything about this movie was boring, bad and unoriginal.In the first 10 minutes it is literally a man packing his bag and random people getting kidnapped who have no real character except for the stereotypical nonsense they sprout.
The acting, the story, the plot, the twists even the score is not good and silly sound effects sometimes pop up randomly when the killer opens the door or other minor things happen.Avoid this movie at all costs if you want a movie with suspense or tension.
The conclusion is of course different to a certain extent, but the points gained by Nine Dead for offering tribute to a spectacular film and part of the best series in psycho-thriller/horror history (in my opinion) are definitely lost for lack of plot originality.Nine Dead is not a bad film, I did not bluntly dislike it, I simply feel its shortcomings way outweigh its advantages.
But the ending is just bad.The plot is pretty straight forward: 9 people are kidnapped by a masked man with a taser; locked in a room together; and told they have to figure out why each person is there...with 1 person dying every 10 minutes.
In order to survive, they must figure out how they are all connected.As a humorously ironic personal note, like the characters in the film, I found myself trying to solve the puzzle of where I've seen some of them before (answer: Sabrina The Teenage Witch and that Fallen Skies show).Anyways...it goes along well enough.
For our luck "Nine Dead" manages to do some good despite some horrid flaws and a terrible ending (I wanted to use another word for it but I'm not allowed so, I'll let you imagine which was it).Like "Saw", this one is about a strange gathering of people who never met each other and who doesn't know why they're trapped, cuffed and scared in this dirty room where a mysterious figure comes and says he'll kill each one of them each ten minutes unless they find a way to discover why they're there.
Characters selection range from a prosecutor (Melissa Joan Hart), a priest (Marc Macaulay), a convict child molester, a police officer (William Lee Scott), a insurance company employee (James Victor, great presence here), an Asian woman (Lucille Soong) of whom no one understands what's she saying, and other low-lifes.
The writer had to bend to the excessive use of plot twists because audiences are so spoiled that they need something like this to feel that it was a movie worth watching.
Perhaps, but if you take the time to see this movie, you will quickly be on board with that view.Nine people are kidnapped by a masked stranger, put in a room, and told they must deduce the reason they are there.
An intriguing setup, even if not completely unfamiliar to those who know of "The Killing Room", "Cube", or Agatha Christie, and clearly an idea that is trying to ride the wave of the "Saw" series, borrowing heavily from classic revenge movies and the exploitation cinema of the 70's in various ways.
The problem is that they manage to make it look cheaper than it is, with a shooting style that you would expect to find in an impressive student film; clunky editing sewing flashback sequences in that just feel awkward; there is no excitement after the setup; no twists, no turns, no surprises, and when you finally reach the inevitable reveal of the connection, it is rather uninteresting, not to mention hard to believe that this person would have gone to this extent for revenge.
Some may seem familiar from character work they have done elsewhere, but barely any can deliver anything without looking like they have just been told their lines from off camera; even the "bankable" lead Melissa Joan Hart (Sabrina The Teenage Witch) fails rather miserably to deliver anything close to believable.
To believe that anyone interested in a film like this would accept and believe some of these characters' ways of thinking as being even remotely realistic is a big mistake on its own.So you're wondering why a three-star rating, right?
It is simply for no other reason than the fact I have seen worse; I liked the performance of the hostage-taker (certainly the most interesting character present), and I genuinely feel it is an idea that, if committed to the screen by someone who knew what they were doing with the material, "Nine Dead" would have come out as an enjoyable mystery thriller.As it is, it is just completely forgettable, lacking the intelligence and intrigue of "Cube", the frightening social bite of "The Killing Room" and the cinematic panache of "Saw" all at once.
Daniel Baldwin shows up in what is an unimportant cameo.A Saw variation, just less brutal than what we normally see in these types of character puzzlers(..the killer uses only a loaded gun, shooting his victims point blank as they plead for their lives, begging to be spared) where an assemblage of stereotypes try to discover a way to recover past mistakes and decisions which might've contributed to their current dilemma.
Chris Shadley's "Nine Dead", as many of the Saw movies and their imitators, opens with characters we know little about, and as the plot unfolds, revelations and behavior tell us all we need..this kind of plot services us with a catharsis, as character unveil their hidden flaws while understanding the crisis confronting them.I think the key to the film's modest success is that it really feels like these characters have ten minutes a piece as we literally hears the seconds tick as time becomes an issue and details emerge with the usual bickering and personality clashes.
A great "SAW" like film, but disappointing ending =/.
I was expecting a lot of gore from this film, but you hardly see any blood.I won't give anymore away but i do recommend this for any fan of Melissa Joan Hart or the Saw movies.
And they have petty arguments after seeing the first victim gunned down in front of them (poor guy gets a part in this movie for like, 10 minutes), call their hooded jailer an "a**hole", and then try to reason with him.
Because solving the puzzle involves hearing information from the characters, there is no way a viewer (like you) can figure out the conclusion of the movie.
The gunman tells the nine seemingly disparate people (among them a policeman, a district attorney, a nightclub owner, a priest, a street burglar, a pedophile who has served time in jail and a man who works for an insurance company) that he will come into the room every ten minutes and kill one of them until they tell him the reason he has brought them there.
It is also well acted (mostly by unknowns to me, except Melissa Joan Hart in a good turn as a district attorney who turns out to be the most amoral person in the movie).
The movie ends with her killing everyone when the whole time it may of been recorded so she left evidence that her character was obviously a bad person.
So it is impossible that this person will get away with it.The following is a MAJOR SPOILER and is meant as a discussion after one saw the movie to explain why the moral of the story is good, so stop reading if you haven't seen it yet.
These mistakes should've been weeded out, but when you add a poor script to bad acting, this film is all weed.The end has a ridiculous moment where the chubby (but still cute) Hart in high- heels wrestles the killer and beats him completely, pins him to the ground and takes his gun.
Come on now, this movie actually upset me to the point where I want to ask the writer, director, someone, what in the world were they thinking when this movie came to a close?Honest to goodness, it seems like they were working on an ending, ran out of ideas as well as time to produce, and just said forget the ending.
I mean come on, arrest MJH, make her get shot, make the bad guy go against his word, but they decide it's best to let MJH kill the other 2 innocent people, and in her get away from the cops they she just turns a corner and thats it.
I watched this movie as I liked the plot, a group of strangers are held captive trying to figure out how they're connected.The setting and the premise were obviously influenced by the first (and best) Saw movie & although there wasn't much action the story moved at a relatively good pace.There was comedy relief ion the form of the two bickering 'Alpha males' and it was a welcome surprise (for me anyway)to see Melissa Joan Hart hasn't given up on acting yet.A few things let it down for me personally; 1.
Just an ending that leaves you saying "What??" Many of the reviewers before me have pointed out Melissa Joan Hart's acting as a serious downfall of this movie.
I felt like 10 minutes had been cut which explained the f*&ing point of this film at the end?
The main fault that I found in Nine dead, was the slap in the face to the viewer of flashbacks that occurred 3 minutes before in the film and were completely unnecessary and a completely inadequate ending that people won't see coming, in a bad way.
Good Movie but like many have said before, the ending was a let down.
Yes, it is a BAD Saw-like movie.