Evil Awakening (2003)

As soon as I saw the first shot, I knew I was in trouble. It looks like a home movie.

Obnoxious a-hole Sam is suffering from road rage and runs down an old man on the way to his friend Geno's apartment. Sam tells Geno that someone's gone into the Cochwoods (pronounced Cockwoods) to use their body as an amusement park and accidentally brought the Cochwoods Monster back to life.  Why anyone would go into the woods to do that, I have no idea.

The police don't believe in the Monster and think Geno was responsible for the previous murders in the woods.  So when the monster returns and there are more deaths,  Geno is questioned by the police. And then some kids decide to throw a party in the woods. Uh oh, that can't be good.

This is essentially a home movie made on a consumer grade camera.  There are bad wigs, amateur makeup, Halloween masks,  the audio seems to be recorded with the on camera mic, the night scenes are too dark to see what's going on, and the dialogue is often too low to hear.

The comedy, such as it is, is from things like having the news channel 69. If you cut out the swearing, you'd be missing at least half the dialogue.  Geno plays both himself and Sam's father, which is really disconcerting.  There's a list of FU's at the end of the movie which make the filmmakers sound really bitter.

So I decided to listen to some of the commentary and was surprised to find that the filmmakers not only seem nice enough, but they also appear to understand the shortcomings of the movie. At one point someone mentions a joke, referring to it as funny and another guy says "... if you're 8 years old."

The extras include the original short film made in 1996, which I couldn't get through. It's unwatchable to anyone except friends and family, but how cool would it be to have a movie of the stuff you wrote as a teen.  I used to write plays with my friends. It was before camcorders, and I didn't know anyone who had super 8 or anything else. But if we had recorded our scripts, they would have been just as terrible, but it would be funny as hell to watch later.

Is this an old man mask or did they draw on his face?

Filmed in an apartment.

Find the killer and the victim in this picture.

Bad wig ahoy.

Just when you thought he couldn't be less appealing,
he ramps up the repulsion level. 

Is it Geno or is it Sam's dad? 

Low rent Andy Richter joins Geno and Sam on
their quest for the ultimate party...

...and stumbles upon this questionable gathering.

Your killer, Ladies and Gentlemen.