The Helpers (2012) Reviews

• This movie is so dumb

  spotlightne2013-01-28

  This movie left me laughing throughout. So many stupid things happen. The 'victims' are stupid; the killers are stupid. How can 78 people give this movie a 10/10? Unbelievable. I gave it 4/10 because I was being charitable. What's it about? Well not much. Seven 'teenagers' (who are all in their late 20s/early 30s) go on a road trip. The usual thing happens. Their car tyres get a puncture and yes you've guessed it they go off wandering for help. THIS, the movie tells us, will be their downfall. After walking a little while, they meet up at a roadside motel and gas station. All seems friendly at first but then the inevitable happens. Nothing is surprising. Nothing is that much interesting. You know they're not going to leave that place singing and dancing. The victims act dumb because they are dumb. You'll find yourself screaming 'kill him!' And guess what happens after knocking one of the killers unconscious, YEAH, THEY DON'T KILL HIM. Hmm, looks familiar. But now it's boring. If you're looking for something different in this movie, forget it. It's like Saw and Vacancy rolled into one, except the majority of the acting sucks big time. Ultimately it's very forgettable.

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• Help me please

  dawulf2013-01-25

  OK first off, never say that to a stranger. If you decide to watch this movie you will understand. This movie seems to be a collection of Vacancy, The Hitcher, and Saw. Not very creative and someone should help the cast to acting lessons. Especially the blonds. I am writing this to be helpful to the next potential victim of this movie. I understand that is didn't have that large of a budget as movies go nowadays and it shows. When watching this, you can't help to notice the inconsistency and implausibility of the plot. this movie isn't even worth writing ten lines worth of review for. Help me get away from this bad movie!

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• writing, writing, WRITING! (was missing from this movie)

  JamieWJackson2013-11-20

  *** WARNING: RAMPANT SPOILERS *** OK, there's some acting ability amongst the cast, and there was some (but only some) decent filmmaking on display here (camera work, lighting, etc., good in places but not always), and a few scenes were disturbing, so I could almost give it a 3, but it was just SO DUMB in SO MANY PLACES that I had to go with a 2. NONE of the following problems should have survived into the film; they should all have been resolved prior to shooting: * protagonists got off course too easily; none ever heard of a map? * all 4 tires should have blown, not just 2 * even with "only" 2 simultaneous blowouts, nobody went back to see what had caused them * nobody was suspicious/bashful about all the freebies * there was a debate (albeit tiny) about whether to stay, but no alternative suggested... were they considering just wandering around in the desert all night? * motive for the killers was unconvincing * with all the surviving killers in one place, held at gunpoint, the surviving protagonists LEFT THEM there and RAN AWAY... but only back into the buildings, allowing further attacks {facepalm} This is TERRIBLE writing -- and I stopped there only to save time. This movie has a lot of 1 and 2 star reviews. The above list should help provide clues for the few reviewers who remain in need of them. There's nothing essential in this film, unless you just need a Dallas Lovato fix or something. (She is awfully sexy here; hoping to see her more.) Of course, if we're mentioning eye candy, the lovely Rachel Sterling is on parade, but she doesn't get to do much real acting here. Her big scene to show some acting skills comes across as pretty weak; I've seen girls act more terrified of small critters than she did at the imminent prospect of being fatally ripped apart. I found myself wondering if she had been confused about which of them was wearing the anti-scream shock collar. Wait, I take that back... there is just one thing that was kind of different. The black guy DIDN'T die first, and in fact got his grudge on and dished out some butt-kicking. So, I could almost give it another point for that, too... but I can't because my brain hurts too much from all the plot holes.

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• A mercifully short trek through tiresomely familiar ground...

  wadechurton2013-07-17

  I thoroughly enjoyed the 'Saw' series (give or take an entry or two), because their plotting, acting and inventive 'traps' lifted them well above the norm. Their main saving grace however was the solid vein of black humour, something which accorded them a standing with the similarly fun 'Dr Phibes' movies of the early 1970s. There was a conspicuously low budget with 'The Helpers', but so there was with the first 'Saw', and the creators made a virtue of it. A low budget isn't the problem here, and neither for the most part is the acting. What utterly destroyed my enjoyment of 'The Helpers' is a distinct lack of ideas. This means that the movie falls squarely into the category of 'torture porn', and simulated snuff movies are just a tedious one-by-one blood-bath which follow a depressingly well-trodden path to the inevitable 'it's not really over' ending and the raucous music accompanying the final credits. Thank goodness it was so short.

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• Awful movie

  dashielle89-425-1321812013-04-27

  This movie starts off with a pretty typical horror plot, a group of young friends is traveling (by car in the middle of nowhere, of course) to Las Vegas for a weekend trip. They need to take a detour because a road is closed, and suddenly, two of their brand new tires mysteriously blow. Do they get suspicious and go check to see if someone put something in the road to purposely cause it? Nope. Do they even have an idle curiosity as to what may have been the cause, even if it was an accident? Of course not. And as usual they also have no cell phone signals anywhere, nor do they try to get a signal very hard, even though just a minute ago they had one. Right from the beginning all of the characters are so unbelievably stupid it makes you want to quit watching there. As the movie progresses it just gets worse. The villains, after they reveal themselves, are so ridiculously over the top it is laughable. I'm not sure if it is the actors' fault or just the directing and writing in general, but it seriously is stupid. Nobody has even the slightest bit of a realistic personality, and in the end the motives don't really make much sense either. Isn't one of the main points of a horror movie to make you scared? But when a movie seems totally fake, lame, just generally unbelievable and you know nothing like this could ever happen in a million years, what is scary about it? And as others have already mentioned, it brings nothing new to the table, it has all been done before. Maybe some people will enjoy it just for the fun if they're into the torture stuff, but anyone else will most likely find it too stupid to bear, it's almost embarrassing. I guess if you're really bored, a one time watch won't kill you, otherwise steer clear.

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