Panic Button (2011)

I'm a bit surprised by some of the reviews for this one - seems like people either love it or loathe it! I got it on DVD and wasn't expecting much but I found it really enjoyable. It's just a good entertaining film. It looks a bit low budget in places and the situation is pretty ridiculous but the characters are convincing and the film rolls along at a good pace. No lulls in the story and some nice twists. It's not really a horror though tbh, definitely more of a thriller with some disturbing bits. It did make me think twice about some of the things I've watched online.

If you want a good fun, slightly silly but makes-you-think kind of film then this is a good one to watch.

Fmovies: Despite some of the marketing, Chris Crow's zeitgeisty paranoia thriller owes as much if not more to Hitchcock's Lifeboat as it does to modern "torture porn", such as the Saw sequels. This is a slow-burning, character-based ensemble piece, tightly written and unfussily directed, which takes our web-based fears and makes them monstrously manifest; not only our anxiety about identity theft, but also touching upon our perceived anonymity, leading as it does to a sense of invulnerability - and from behind that veil, the screenwriters suggest, we are free to act upon our cruellest base desires with virtual immunity.

Inevitably, perhaps, the tension gives way to more visceral final act, but Crow's camera never lingers or leers. The 18 certificate (in the UK) seems harsh, given the recent, similarly-budgeted excesses of Tom Six and Srðan Spasojeviæ, from which this is a mercifully far cry.

One may well be left with the feeling that this is a desperately topical film, cashing in on the current trends for horror games and social networking - and this is not an unreasonable response. But there is real quality here, not least in the four central performances, superbly depicting the rapid mental decline as the dire situation dawns: that they've been given the trip of a lifetime, and it looks like it'll be the last of their lives. This descent could have been unconvincing, but as the laughter fades and the camera becomes unfixed, the effect is quite involving.

It's a pity that this kind of ingenious lo-fi horror is so often lost in the shadow of dismal Hollywood remakes. We can help right this wrong by supporting freshness and ingenuity where we see it.

Wasn't quite sure what to expect from this bearing in mind it was shot on a budget in Cardiff with no "big names". Having said that this film exceeded my expectations. The plot revolves around 4 people winning an all expenses paid trip to New York on board a private jet courtesy of a social networking site All2gether.com. Once on board and having to relinquish all their mobile phones, it's time to play the in-flight entertainment ... and this is where the fun begins. With the cockpit locked and the mysterious "Alligator" pulling the strings, things soon start to heat up & passengers begin to turn on each other. It's marketed as a horror/thriller and they've managed to keep the right level of suspense & gore, some movies just seem to rely on as much blood & splintering bones as possible in the hope it makes a movie - Panic Button doesn't do this, there were enough twists & turns to keep you on the edge of your seat. "Dave" played by Mike Jibson (Cemetery Junction, The Bank Job) has some of the best lines and "Max" played by Jack Gordon (Fish Tank) displays his rather impressive acting skills. Panic Button definitely hit my button and I would say this is a must for any horror fans.

Panic Button fmovies. This is a weird one to review, I mean, there's almost no blood in it and still I wouldn't advice it to kids to watch this flick. And it's easy to say that it is in the line of Saw, watch it, somebody giving orders to 4 players on a plane. It is Chris Crow his second attempt to make a full feature and for being filmed just on a plane he did a fine job. Due being less on horror I still kept watching what was really going on and I even laughed a bit with the inside joke about Big Brother.

The acting was really good and you start to know the 4 players in the beginning and you must admit that if you were in the same game you wouldn't like to reveal yourself. Everybody has his dark secrets and this is in fact were it's all about. It made me even think about the internet, it's a fact everything you do is being watched or registered on some server.

The story itself did have some twists but the end I personally didn't like. But at the end of the day, it is a suspense full thriller with some pieces of torture, I would say without offending somebody, if you can't stand the gore in Saw than watch this one.

Gore 1/5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 2/5 Story 3/5 Comedy 0/5

A friend recommended this movie to me and since we both like the thriller genre I decided to give it a go.

The movie is a bit like a mix of the B-movie Turbulence (which are so bad that they amuse me), Unbreakable and Saw, and the games Manhunt. The plot is about 4 people that win a competition where the prize is a trip to New York. When they get on the plane all hell breaks loose.

Without spoiling anything I can say that there's a game they must play, and the game is made up of what they've done on a social network. The social network is facebook but they've obviously renamed it.

The whole plot is far fetched but in a setting where it shouldn't be, the characters are unrealistic and the acting isn't that great in my opinion. I found myself not caring much about what the reason is for whatever happens because the characters weren't believable. Some of it is so stupid that I wish I could tell you without spoiling. I don't recommend it, watch a better movie.

"Interesting" as another reviewer put it. But kind of worn out too. You wish they'd actually care about the characters they write or portray. It feels very unnatural and very cliché (especially towards the ending) and does not really get you involved. And it started out so good. You have no idea who those guys and the tension gets almost unbearable at the beginning.

But all that doesn't matter in the end. Because the movie throws any logic out the window (no pun intended) and tries to stick with a known formula. It doesn't work out that good for the movie. While not the worst movie, you have to be a fan of the genre to take the time to watch this.