Critic Reviews
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Steve Biodrowski, ESplatter
Penny Dreadful is an enjoyable combination of psycho-thriller and slasher horror, which somehow achieves a slick, Hollywood-calibre visual style in spite of its modest budget.
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Staci Layne Wilson, Horror.com
Nothing new, but the visual razzle-dazzle is enough to keep you watching.
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Steve "Uncle Creepy" Barton, Dread Central
Somewhere in here there is a great flick hiding. However as is, it's dreadfully too long.
Featured Audience Ratings
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The acting of this movie wasn't awful, but it wasn't good either.
Some people are saying the movie was "too long" when really it was only 90 minutes. I think it only felt long because the director dragged out scenes and made them much longer than necessary. I… More
The acting of this movie wasn't awful, but it wasn't good either.
Some people are saying the movie was "too long" when really it was only 90 minutes. I think it only felt long because the director dragged out scenes and made them much longer than necessary. I think the director tried to make suspense, but because of the lengthy scenes any suspense he attempted to create was lost as the audience got bored. For example (spoilers), in one scene in the car, Penny was sitting and heard kind of a soft moaning sound. It was really creepy and it was pretty suspenseful. However, the person kept moaning for a LONG time, so after like 5 minutes, I didn't really care who was making the noise or where it was coming from. It was a lot longer than it needed to be. There's a bunch of scenes like that in the movie, and it's all really unnecessary.
The movie is kind of shallow too. A girl in a car getting tortured by a pyschopath. Lame. They don't even tell you the motive for the killer, until the very end, and even that is pretty lame. It's like they didn't know what the motive for the killer should be so they just said "hey! Let's make it an escaped mental patient!" It was pretty stupid and really unrealistic. How one person would be able to get a car with 3 tires down a hill and wedged tightly between a bunch of trees without causing the car any more noticeable damage is beyond me.
Not the best movie. I could've made it better. Just saying.
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Penny Dreadful is not a great horror film, I've seen better. But what it is is a pretty good psychological thriller. Penny dreadful is a well made, and well acted horror film that will satisfy any horror lovers urge for a good time. This movie is a dark and gritty psychological… More
Penny Dreadful is not a great horror film, I've seen better. But what it is is a pretty good psychological thriller. Penny dreadful is a well made, and well acted horror film that will satisfy any horror lovers urge for a good time. This movie is a dark and gritty psychological thriller that takes you into the mind and soul of a frightened and traumatized young girl, and her fight to stay alive. This film explores three main themes, 1. terror and what it can do to you if you let it control you. 2: What certain events in your life can do to change who you are and what you are. 3: What the darkness of a quiet woods can do to turn your worst fears into a reality. Probably my favorite Horrorfest film.
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Oh man this was so freaking boring! Rachel was being the most annoying character that I've seen. I even hoped her to die soon. No wonder this movie got so many bad reviews. It doesn't even deserve any star to be honest. Just to be polite, I'm giving it 1 star.
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This independent film hasn't seemed to chip it's name into the horror block even though it's scarier than most of the newer horror films with it's gritty realism.
Rachel Miner portrays Penny who's a young woman traumatized by an auto accident that occured… More
This independent film hasn't seemed to chip it's name into the horror block even though it's scarier than most of the newer horror films with it's gritty realism.
Rachel Miner portrays Penny who's a young woman traumatized by an auto accident that occured when she was a child. Her fear of cars is quite intense, so her therapist(Mimi Rogers) believes a trip back to the scene of the accident could be an important part of her therapy to overcome this fear that has such a hold over Penny.
When the two cross the path of a mysterious, hooded hitchhiker on a dark, desolate stretch of mountain highway, things twist into utter chaos of what lies inside, and what lurks outside the fragile shells so vulnerable to those who prey upon it.
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A small town film with a big city attitude, this movie although being a short film is an amazing piece of horror history containing Mrs Voorhees and Jason himself! but apart that plays amazingly well on screen.All the elements of making a successful fright flick are present and then… More
A small town film with a big city attitude, this movie although being a short film is an amazing piece of horror history containing Mrs Voorhees and Jason himself! but apart that plays amazingly well on screen.All the elements of making a successful fright flick are present and then some ... my review would be fantastic movie obviously created and made with care, and job well done! loved it! oh... and if you have a blonde haired child dye its hair there just really spooky! But all in all with amazing actors and a witty fast paced movie your not for one second sitting there bored! your on the edge of your seat the whole way through! And extremely striking imagery and settings!
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The sheer stupidity of everyone in this movie made it impossible to enjoy. And Penny herself was just so IRRITATING! The villain seemed chilling until he started spouting inane nursery rhymes and being overpowered by a frightened teen girl. At first he came off as some kind of… More
The sheer stupidity of everyone in this movie made it impossible to enjoy. And Penny herself was just so IRRITATING! The villain seemed chilling until he started spouting inane nursery rhymes and being overpowered by a frightened teen girl. At first he came off as some kind of flesh-eating monster, but he's revealed to be yet another escaped mental patient (how original). Not a bad premise, but the execution was just dreadful.
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From After Dark Horrorfest - I didn't enjoy this one as much as a few of the others, But still enjoyable Slasher Film, Still Worth The buy.
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Now I could make some sort of joke about how this is just Plain Dreadful, but then I would be stooping to the same levels as this film. On one hand it is kind of brave, it attempts to mix both psychological horror and slasher horror together. It doesn't work however as rather… More
Now I could make some sort of joke about how this is just Plain Dreadful, but then I would be stooping to the same levels as this film. On one hand it is kind of brave, it attempts to mix both psychological horror and slasher horror together. It doesn't work however as rather than joinging as one they collide head on. The whole film being set in a car starts off as interesting and then becomes boring as hell. It's obvious the writer found problems as well, adding in a small subplot about some people close by just to off them and make it a tad more interesting. I couldn't care less about anyone or anything by the end and almost didn't make it. Balls.
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Oh it's dreadful alright. This is a very scary and entertaining horror film.
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The After Dark Horrorfest (AKA 8 Films To Die For) are always really good or really bad. When it comes to Penny Dreadful, the title says it all. It's a boring film that was much too long, a ridiculous story, with horrible acting, and laughable text. A girl whose parents were… More
The After Dark Horrorfest (AKA 8 Films To Die For) are always really good or really bad. When it comes to Penny Dreadful, the title says it all. It's a boring film that was much too long, a ridiculous story, with horrible acting, and laughable text. A girl whose parents were killed in a car accident when she was a kid is now afraid of being in cars. To get over this fear she is going on a road trip, with her psychologist, where a creepy man they hit with the car comes after them. I know most horror films aren't written by Pulitzer Prize winners, but this is honestly the dumbest, most ridiculous story I've ever seen. Unless you want to waste 2 hours of your life, avoid this piece of shit!
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Relentlessly grating and, yes, dreadful.
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Off to a bad start at the beginning, and the idea of a young girl with serious car phobia and later on being trapped in one with 4 trees blocking the car doors by a crazed slasher/hitchhiker does not work well enough to be "true horror". There could've been clever… More
Off to a bad start at the beginning, and the idea of a young girl with serious car phobia and later on being trapped in one with 4 trees blocking the car doors by a crazed slasher/hitchhiker does not work well enough to be "true horror". There could've been clever plotlines to go with the motivation behind all that madness in order to chill me, but it fails.
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Well titled. Bad direction. Bad script. A heroine so unlikable, and unintelligent that I was hoping she would die horribly within the first 20 minutes of her introduction. A lame antagonist.who does inexplicable things (such as sparing Penny's life, while instantly killing… More
Well titled. Bad direction. Bad script. A heroine so unlikable, and unintelligent that I was hoping she would die horribly within the first 20 minutes of her introduction. A lame antagonist.who does inexplicable things (such as sparing Penny's life, while instantly killing everyone else) for no apparent reason, than being an escaped mental patient. However, the films worst sin is that of the creation of boredom rather than suspense. Avoid at all costs.
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Penny Dreadful is not a great horror film, I've seen better. But what it is is an amazingly brilliant psychological thriller , Penny dreadful is a well made and well acted horror film that will satisfy any horror lovers urge for a good time. After surviving a horrible automobile… More
Penny Dreadful is not a great horror film, I've seen better. But what it is is an amazingly brilliant psychological thriller , Penny dreadful is a well made and well acted horror film that will satisfy any horror lovers urge for a good time. After surviving a horrible automobile accident that killed both her parents Penny Dearborn has an unstable and perpetual fear of cars, her therapists suggest that they confront her fear head on. So they take a road trip to cure Penny's fear, but it has dangerous and disastrous results when they pick up a psychotic hitchhiker. Penny Dreadful is a dark and gritty psychological thriller that takes you into the mind and soul of a frightened and traumatized young girl and her fight to say alive. This film explore three main themes, 1. terror and what it can do to you if you let it control you. 2: What certain events in your life can do to change who you are and what you are. 3: What the darkness of a quiet woods can do to turn your worst fears into a reality. Penny Dreadful is a psychological thriller that is right up there with the best and will continue to shock and scare you for a long time to come.
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The film starts suspenseful,interesting & once the hitchhiker gets in the car becomes creepy but probably for the first 30-35 minutes,after that it drags too much & becomes boring after awhile just seeing Penny trapped inside the car trying to get out with a dead body next to… More
The film starts suspenseful,interesting & once the hitchhiker gets in the car becomes creepy but probably for the first 30-35 minutes,after that it drags too much & becomes boring after awhile just seeing Penny trapped inside the car trying to get out with a dead body next to her.Penny is so annoying just talking to herself,taking pills,screaming & by the time she gets out the car, besides getting a chance to fight this lunatic is almost tours the end of this film.I was surprise to see few more victims died tours the end but nothing so spectacular.Another After Dark film not to die for.
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I actually thought this was so annoying from the start. Was trying to be creepy and scary, but it was too aggravating to watch.
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Not quite as good as the other films that came out. But I was interested the whole time.
Read all 18 featured audience ratings
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