Chain Letter

Plot synopsis:
The film opens in a garage with an unconscious young woman having her head wrapped in duct tape and her legs chained to the back of two cars. A man and woman walk to their cars on their way to work. As the couple start their cars they exit the driveway. The woman in the car notices the victim, but as she exits her car to warn the man, he drives off. Neil Conners (Cody Kasch) receives a chain letter from an anonymous person telling him that he is the first person who links the chain, and instructing him to forward it to five people or else he will die. His sister Rachael (Cherilyn Wilson) forwards the letter, but to only four recipients. Neil then adds his sister to the list and sends it.
Rachael's best friend, Jessica "Jessie" Campbell (Nikki Reed), gets the letter and forwards it to five friends. Johnny Jones (Matt Cohen) also receives it but refuses to send it, believing it to be ridiculous. While he is getting a drink of water at the fountain in the gym, a black hooded figure slams his head on the fountain, knocking two of his teeth out. Unconscious, he is chained by his arms to a gym set and has his ankles sliced open. After which the killer uses the chains to slice his face open, killing him. Jessie becomes suspicious as more people start to die. While taking a bath, Rachael becomes suspicious of a possible intruder inside the house. She investigates and is attacked by the killer who whips her with the chain several times as she runs through the house to escape. Re-entering the bathroom, she locks the door and looks for a weapon, pacing back and forth with a cistern lid, waiting for him to attack. She walks up to the door and places her face next to it, listening. Suddenly realizing the killer is on the other side doing exactly the same thing, she rapidly backs away. Seconds later, the killer breaks through a side wall into the room, hitting her on the top of her head with the lid, splitting it open.
Outside the house, Jessie is greeted by Detective Jim Crenshaw (Keith David), who tells her to forward the chain letter on to him. Jessie figures out they are being spied on using a virus embedded in the chain letter so meets with Neil, and Michael (Michael J. Pagan) planning to try to stop the murders. Later on, as more people send Neil the message, he panics and decides to delete all of them in order to confront the killer. The killer, however, is on the roof of Neil's room, and sends a chain smashing through his ceiling. Neil dies as he gets dragged up to the roof of his house by chains with various sickles and a hook. It is revealed that the man behind all the killings was a soldier. During the war, he was tortured by the enemy because he had a government-issued cell phone. He returned to the United States severely disfigured and disappeared from a hospital, starting a cult of "anti-technology" followers marked by barcode tattoos. It is then revealed that the woman chained to the cars in the beginning of the film is Jessie, who is killed because she sent the chain letter to Detective Crenshaw without sending it to four other people. Michael tries to save her but is too late; when her father pulls out of the driveway, Jessie is ripped apart.
As the film ends, Detective Crenshaw is shown chained to a table while the killer makes chains.

Tags: violence, cult, murder, flashback

Review:
The film Chain Letter went wrong in many places, so many that it pains me to write this review because that would mean I have to remember parts of the movie.
The Chain Man is forgettable, this movie is a complete mess and I wouldn't even consider calling it a horror film.
No one expects too much from any of these genres but this movie manages to out stupid the worst in each of the above genres.OK, teens get weird chain email threatening death if they don't spam 5 friends with a forward of the email.
In all those teen slasher movies the teens did something or went somewhere they weren't supposed to and the monster had some good reason to kill them, like they just had sex or something.
Then we have a veteran cop who is supposed to be tracking all this but never once does he call in for any sort of backup as he goes rummaging around empty plant buildings by his lonesome in his town's biggest crime wave investigation.Finally there is this utterly stupid and gory dismemberment scene that opened and closed the film, literally a repeat.
But if you want anything more, say a decent script, a story that makes sense, characters, even one, you can root for, some logic, even internal logic, and finally a decent killer with motivation, look elsewhere.
Make no mistake Chain Letter is a mess.So much of this film makes no or very little sense it's hard to know where to start.
It's almost like the producers took every draft script and shuffled them together, pulling out 100 pages at random and saying, "Now let's make this one"!Even if Chain Letter were good, and it's anything but, it would still not rise above the level of clichéd and derivative: the Japanese do it so much better.
Just about everyone does it better!I love horror films, I even enjoy ones that are so bad they're good.
But treat Chain Letter like the real thing: don't pass it on no matter what the promise, just trash it..
The ending was very weak, very predictable and didn't leave you in awe as Secret Window or Identity did.Chain Letters, we have all received them and we all hate them, and most of us delete them before finishing reading them without thinking about it.
That's what makes this movie quite alright on the plot part, it's a nice fresh idea to what Wes Craven started back in '96 with "Scream" (the teenage horror flicks) or perhaps he started it with "A Nightmare on Elm Street" back in '84, depends on how you look at it.I kind of liked the movie, but it's a one time watch.
This movie was really boring and was suffering from a rather silly storyline.The concept of this movie was about some chain letter that was sent out to a group of people, and those who deleted the message ended up dead in gruesome ways.Nothing much interesting happened throughout the movie, aside from the odd brutal killing here and there.
But the characters in the movie were fairly one-dimensional and you never really cared for any of them or formed any kind of bond with them, so you ended up just shrugging most of the time and looking forward to the way that the next in line was killed.If you enjoy brutal horror movies with inventive killings, then you might find some enjoyment in "Chain Letter", but if you enjoy horror movies that are driven by a deep, captivating and interesting story, then this movie is a poor choice to put your money on.Personally, I was drifting off a couple of times throughout the movie, and my focus started to shift elsewhere.
There isn't much suspense built up either, but certain scenes showed some promise.I wouldn't recommend this movie to anyone unless they absolutely love chains..
An anti-tech cult promotes a teen murder spree, killing those teenagers that do not forward a chain letter.
It begins at high tempo with the immediate link to other modern-day doomsday horror-films which combine news reports with live action scenes to provide the action with some ominous credence.
The bandaged psychopath (who made me think of leatherface) who can still somehow work computers proficiently despite being unable to use his bandaged covered hands despises every danger Brad Dourif warns his class about at the opening of the film (and which you've already heard to excess in the news fragments) – technology provides as much evil as it does good 'somewhere out there' he decries philosophically but without the intelligence to back it up, I can only suppose this signifies some sort of transgression upon the all-sacred set of civil liberties North American culture actually believe it's always had some kind of unique access to (for anyone not living there such accepted truths seem far less obvious); and despite making proficient use of this technology to senselessly rip apart people who are unlikable but don't really deserve it, is apparently part of an 'ancient' cult that perpetuates the Chain Letter curse.
As mentioned, I usually enjoy genres that reference others constantly, even if they do so constantly; here it was painful - the intelligence of the girls in the slasher films of the seventies we find amusing today seemed to me a hell of a lot less dumb today as each and every character bar one goes on using the technology which is so obviously killing them off.
Normally in slasher movies like this you'd think the weakest points are the plot and the acting.
A huge guy with a bandaged face sends out chain letter e-mails to people with the threat of death of they don't play the game.
There is a scene in the first few minutes that talks about everyone being on the internet and having a cell phone, (everyone can get in contact with everyone at anytime), this leads to the chain letter being sent, because no one can avoid it.
Six friends are pitched against each other when they are sent via email and text message, a chain letter, which if not passed on, sends a psycho-killer after them.
you will have to track down those involved and let them know how you feel.The film is really pretty good, and much better than you would expect from something that went under our radar.
To me at least it felt like it, Crazy yet simple plot, dumb teens, lots of blood, and innovative kills.
This movie as you may know is about a killer (Chain Man) who is killing kids who delete or refuse to forward the chain letter he sends out within 24 hours.
This film was actually not bad, at least not the first half was but towards the the third act it really went into a downward direction, its like it tried to sidestep obvious genre clichés but it just didn't work, the ending came off as a complete rush job and the overall plot had about a dozen holes in it.The acting was actually pretty good, it had a few familiar faces in the cast like Keith David (PITCH BLACK), Betsy Russell (SAW) and Micheal Bailey Smith (THE HILLS HAVE EYES) that do a good bit of acting but this film lacked the effort that could've made it into a great film.Overall, its not really worth recommending because the ending ruins the film enough to render any plus points meaningless..
The film is full of gore and macabre murders, but this is not enough to make a good movie because there is no real plot behind, giving coherence to all work.
It involves a viral chain letter that's being spread by the Internet and mobile phones; little do those who receive the letter realise that it's been sent by a masked killer who's ready to bump off those who refuse to forward it on.Yeah, the plot makes little sense when you look at it like that, so what we're left with here is a series of gory set-pieces combined with a police investigation into the murders.
In reality CHAIN LETTER is an excuse for some very gory murder scenes inevitably involving chains, although they're handled quite cheesily and are never disturbing.That's pretty much all the film has going for it, because the characters are extraordinarily dull and the it also manages to waste the talents of not one but two cult actors: Keith David (THE THING) plays a detective, and Brad Dourif (CHILD'S PLAY) is a teacher.
While watching CHAIN LETTER I couldn't help but feel like I was watching a film where the writer and director didn't know too much about the genre and before making the film they watched several recent horror movies and tried to copy them.
It's obvious from the violence and gore level that someone had watched the SAW films as several of the deaths are quite lavished and built up to something a normal person couldn't do.
Many people and critics are not feeling the movie because they are looking into the wrong message, but the horror fans are.
It's incredible how minor details can ruin everything.Toward the start, the contacts the letter gets forwarded includes a "Michael", although the character "Kevin" is supposed to receive it instead.Michael mentions not getting it (while rambling); his later dialogue implies he got it and thinks he's being targeted, which, unless you're paying close attention it seems there's one more potential victim than there should be.Perhaps multiple script drafts were mixed up?That's one detail which renders the plot partly incomprehensible, because really, in a film like "Chain Letter" the audience should know which characters are potential victims.
After searching for another thriller and gruesome movie, i finally find one, "chain letter".
In the underrated 2010 horror film Chain Letter, six High School friends are sent an e-mail chain letter that they must pass on to others or some brute of a serial killer will use chains (get it) to exact pain and suffering.If this all sounds routinely boring or low budget – think again.
Chain Letter might not give Inception a run for the most interesting and inventive film of the year, but it is an above average horror film with serviceable acting and some good gore contained within its 120 minute frame.As with any good horror, a challenging and memorable beginning can make or break an entire film, and in Chain Letter, director Deon Taylor gives us an opening that catches our attention with a scene that still lacks the bloody payoff.
When each of them are forwarded a mysterious chain letter, they are quick to dismiss it even as the communication hints at a life lost if instructions are not followed.But things have to be taken more seriously after one of them disappears and others are found murdered in gruesome fashion.
So with a detective (played by the ever consistent Keith David) trying to put the pieces of the murderous rampage together and the remaining group of friends struggling with emotions and the fear of being 'next', Chain Letter hits its groove and delivers on the many levels that usual straight-to-DVD horror films ignore.That's not to suggest that Chain Letter is perfect or is the 'next big thing' as a potential franchise.
But with a cast that also includes Brad Dourif and Betsy Russell and a killer that says not a word but goes about his bloody work, Chain Letter proves that a horror film can stick to many of the usual conventions and still be a valued piece of entertainment.www.killerreviews.com.
Brad Dourif ('Chucky' from "Child's Play") and the grandfather from the Texas "Chain"saw Massacre remake both have small roles in the film, which seems appropriate and a smart move on the casting director's part in order to draw in more attention, what with all the unknowns who are leading the cast.
Even Nikki Reed who plays the lead female character Jessie Campbell does a fine job.As some of the viewers mention here in IMDb, the last 10 minutes of the movie or so look hurried and disappointing.
After receiving and failing to forward a chain letter, a group of friends find themselves killed off one-by-one by a masked madman and must find a way to stop him before they're all killed.There was a lot of good things here which makes this a great deal of fun.
Some of the kills are pretty suspenseful and definitely creepy, and the action presented in the set-ups are rather fun, from the film's opening where a chained victim to different cars driving away from the same driveway, the football player who gets his face ripped apart by the steel in the high-school gym or the garage encounter in front of the visiting friend.
The movie was worth a casual watch if you want to spend a lonely weekend evening trying best to get the things in your stomach out and don't know what else to do.
I know they're probably trying to set up for a sequel, but it ends up looking like they ran out of budget after they filmed an hour and a half of footage.Don't bother with this one.
Another day, another horror movie where teenagers are killed off, in no particular inventive way whatsoever.Firstly, this film is exactly what it says.
Watching this movie is like wasting, in the most useless way, 96 minutes of your life.
The scene where Jessy gets killed is deprived of its meaning, because from the first second you can anticipate the end of the movie..
The plot device is based on killing anyone who fails to forward a chain letter.
The premise of the film, although not fantastic, could still have worked had it not have been for the lack of plot, a terrible script, a nonsensical ending and some truly awful characters.
So you receive a chain letter which says you will die if you do not pass it on to 5 friends.
You are shown who 2 of these are but, after seeing that the killer is a rather muscly, almost hulk like, man you know that neither of these people committed the killings.
I like a good horror movie, but this piece of crap is nothing more than a few extremely gruesome kill scenes taped together with a script written by a forth grader.
In at least one scene I got this specific creepy feeling I get while watching a horror film that usually causes me to classify it as 'torture-porn': getting an icky feeling during a drawn-out torture scene that someone involved in the making of the movie got off on it.
I had a little hope before I saw the movie, since the plot, and even some of the buzz, was along the lines of what could have been another Final Destination franchise.
A group of high school friends pass a digital chain letter to each other sent from a real killer.
Flirting with torture porn in places but really a bloody slasher movie at heart, 'Chain Letter' unfortunately takes one step backwards for every step taken forward.
Besides the insane death scenes, this movie really isn't worth watching.
Basically, Chain Letter is just a carnage candy movie where you cant get invested with the characters.
***Spoilers Ahead, Most Definitely*** Usually I avoid horror movies that are all guts & gore like Chain Letter but there was something about this movie that made me just want to see it.The way it starts off,WOW!!!
If that doesn't get your attention I don't know what will.After the 1st kill scene, Chain Letter held my attention till the very end.And that was my main problem with this movie, the ending.Even though it was a gorefest, I enjoyed it up until then.When the final credits were rolling up the screen I thought, that's it?!
It left so many questions unanswered.I would say the ending was done like that to leave the door open for a sequel but since Chain Letter came out in 2009 & it's 2016 now, I don't see a sequel ever happening.What was a pretty descent movie ended up being totally screwed up by a lousy ending.
Flashback to an 80's teen-slasher movie.Oops, and I've deleted so many chain letters.If they kept the atmosphere like in the opening scene throughout the movie, it would have been quite a great movie in its genre.
You just watch a teen fodder is killed over and over again and the fact this movie is called Chain Letter gives you an idea how they are killed.
If they had told more of the story towards the origin of these killings, this film might have been good and yes even THAT ending would have be explained better and therefore more shocking when it plays out as the final act.
It will appeal to those that use technology but know nothing about it, so if this is you, then you will enjoy this movie if you enjoy the horror genre.The brother is playing World of Warcraft, and he says the guy is losing his Experience Points (XP).
With me being a HUGE horror and Nikki Reed fan,I had to see this...now I would say this movie really wasn't half bad!
Now from trailers and such I expected better,but it still wasn't to bad...In "Chain Letter" I got to see just the amount of gruesome and blood and gore in this movie as I wanted...while my dad was queasy at stomach about it.
Almost anytime a gruesome bloody scene came up he'd say like horror movies were never this brutal back in my day!
So on this film I'd say it's worth watching if you're a horror type person,but if not I'd stay away.
The ending sucks in 2 ways: we don't find out who the "Chain Man" is or the bad guy and Reed's character Jesse Campbell dies a brutal death that even I hated seeing!