Review of Scar

Scar (2007)
5/10
Chicks dig Scar ... or do they?
7 December 2008
This umpteenth entry in the successful trend of Torture Porn cinema definitely succeeds in being one of the most nauseating, stomach-upsetting and sickening pieces of trash I've ever seen, but – as expected – it's also very little else than that. I presume the creators were so focused on surpassing the gore level of "Hostel" and "Saw" that they simply didn't have any time left to put some thoughts into the script. The story is mundane and predictable; with a laughably implausible finale and certain plot holes so gigantic you could drive a bobsled through them. Still, "Scar" is nonetheless a fast-paced and occasionally very unsettling thriller and – as said – the accomplishments in the gore department most certainly justify at least the price of a rental DVD. Angela Bettis, the oddly attractive horror starlet of "May" and "Toolbox Murders", stars as a mentally and physically scarred woman who returns to her hometown to celebrate the graduation of her niece. She left the place, understandably, after she narrowly survived an encounter with a deranged serial killer at the tender age of seventeen. The psychopath ran the local funeral home and practiced his sickest fantasies on Joan and her best friend; who didn't survive the ordeal. Now, all these years later, the little town is once again faced with a series of brutal murders and the police assume Joan's return isn't coincidental. Has she really become a copycat killer of her own assailant or has the original killer risen from the grave? While the plot of the new serial killer unfolds, we gradually learn about Joan's grueling experience as a teenager through short but powerfully morbid flashbacks. These flashbacks are undoubtedly the highlight sequences of the film, since they feature Ben Cotton as the lunatic mortician and a whole series of truly nasty & engrossing images of torture and mutilation. Some of this stuff is even really difficult to look at – whether with or without 3D goggles – like the tongue removal or the toe-cutting scene. Obviously this is a very derivative and highly unoriginal movie, as you've seen this at least two dozen times before in only the past five years or so, but that's hardly a reason why you should check "Scar" out to begin with. The gore is astounding and, admittedly, there are some nice and unexpected positive details in the script. For example, the present day teenage characters, most notably Joan's niece Olympia and her closest friends, are surprisingly likable and non-stereotypical girls that you don't like to see butchered.
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