Studio: New Line Cinema
Rated: R
Website: http://www.runningscaredthemovie.com/
Release Date: 2006-02-24
Cast: Paul Walker, Cameron Bright, Vera Farmiga, Karel Roden, Johnny Messner
Director: Wayne Kramer
Screenwriter: Wayne Kramer
WorkNameSort: Running Scared
Filmmaker Wayne Kramer's latest may disappoint folks who associate him solely with The Cooler, forgetting that he also happens to be the guy who wrote Mindhunters. Thankfully, Scared is a far more entertaining breed of bad movie, throwing in everything but the kitchen sink as it follows a low-level hood (Paul Walker) on the trail of a missing gun that could place him at the site of one of the most over-choreographed bloodbaths in screen history. The film is comically profane, hyperviolent and studded with perverse details: A vignette about a Hoboken kiddie-porn ring could send even the most jaded critic's jaw hurtling toward the floor. Yet one resists the impulse to call this endearingly sleazy mess "watchable," given the acrobatic cinematography and frenetic editing that batter even the simplest scenes into stylized submission. Oh well; if you're going over the top, go all the way. I expect the DVD to be loaded with all manner of sidesplitting outtakes, including the time somebody mistakenly uttered a word that was not "fuck."
