We enjoyed watching it. It's a slasher, some creepy vibes. Little bit like the strangers except on a college campus. Overall good! A good scare and fun time.
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saphira_dragon-8027027 November 2019
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drownsoda909 November 2015"Kristy" has a young university student, Justine, staying on campus for the Thanksgiving break and forgoing returning home until Christmas. Her rich roommate Nicole, who had originally planned on staying with her, goes to see her family last-minute in Aspen, leaving Justine and the campus security guards alone for the Thanksgiving holiday. After taking a trip to a rural convenience store, Justine runs into a group of young people who seem to want trouble, and upon returning to her empty dorm, finds herself in for one hell of a night.
Maybe it's because I love a good college campus slasher, or maybe it's because I'm a grad student who's about to spend his first Thanksgiving alone (albeit in New York City, not in the backwoods in which this film is situated), but I was completely taken in by this film from the beginning. The premise from the get-go is very straightforward: girl alone on a sprawling rural college campus. What could go wrong?
The film establishes its villains from the beginning in an internet montage which features video and cryptic text from secret message forums, implicating some sort of new age cult committing ritual killings across the country which are then posted on the internet. While this is admittedly disturbing, I honestly found some of the most interesting the scenes to be within the following exposition of the film, in which Justine finds herself at her own wits, entertaining herself and wandering around the empty college campus. The director, Oliver Blackburn, has a stylish way of illustrating her solitude, and there is something relatable and quietly eerie in this first thirty or so minutes of the film; in spite of the fact that nothing ostensibly scary is happening on screen, there is a very ominous and unnerving mood that gets established; this is what really absorbed me most and got me invested.
By the time Justine leaves the campus late in the evening to run to the local convenience store, the audience knows intuitively that her languid Thanksgiving is about to take a wild turn for the absolute worst, and the suspense of it is taut and subtle up to that point. Unfortunately, from there the film begins to temporarily devolve. For having such an understated and ominous exposition, the film is too quick to take the route of a hyperactive thriller, and spends a good thirty minutes devoting itself to flashy cat-and-mouse chase scenes. While some of these are inarguably effective, it is routine and gets old fast. It is not until the last twenty minutes that the film redeems this devolution with an entertaining (albeit also routine) retribution. While all of this is nicely shot and at times startling, I kept thinking to myself how much I missed the subtlety that pervaded the beginning, and in reflection, that was honestly when I was most unnerved.
The acting here is surprisingly above standard, with Haley Bennett as the competent lead. Ashley Greene plays the counterpoint female cultist, with Mathew St. Patrick as the likable security guard and James Ransone making an unexpected minor appearance. The production values are high and I'm honestly surprised this film wound up slipping under the radar as it did. Granted, it's not entirely original (comparisons to "The Strangers" and "Them" are almost unavoidable), but it is a technically well-made film and is far more interesting than any horror film to hit theaters this past fall.
Overall, "Kristy" is a solid film. I especially commend it for building such a stylish and taut exposition—I honestly can say that the first thirty minutes of the film were among the most inexplicably unnerving I've seen in a long time; quietly creepy even though nothing creepy is happening. As I pointed out, the film does take the cat-and-mouse action a bit too far in my opinion and perhaps is too fast to launch into it, but the final act is satisfying and I was able to overlook this because I found the first act so absorbing and enigmatically spooky. 7/10. -
kimheniadis30 January 2016Before I start the review I want to say Haley Bennett, who played the lead, Justine, did a great job. You can feel the struggle she is facing between having to work her way through college, having a rich boyfriend who doesn't completely get it, and being a tired student. I see she's playing the lead in the upcoming movie The Girl on the Train. The book was very good, and I can see Haley playing the part wonderfully.
Having spent some holidays alone at college over various vacations, this movie peaked my interest. Although this must be a very small college because she is the only student there. Makes for a good movie, but not very realistic. There are two security guards and another guy who's house is just on the outskirts of campus.
The opening of the film begins with a young woman being chased down and killed. There's shaky camera work, and I was concerned that the rest of the movie would be like this, but thankfully it wasn't.
You get a sense of the Kristy Cult and why they are killing. Kristys are women who are pretty, and pure, and have a good life. Although I'm not sure how they know they are pure, but we're just along for the ride.
Kristy comes from Christ (although Kristy could be spelled Christy, but I guess that's too close to Christ and might confuse us??) And I think they are killing them because they don't like God. To me, this part could have been left out. But perhaps they thought people just killing because they are psycho would leave too many questions for the audience, so they needed a reason.
After that beginning it turned amusing. There was a cheap shot made for the audience to jump, and the flickering lights were explained away well enough. Then we break out into a montage where Justine is dancing around the dorms Breakfast Club style. We also see that she is very athletic from the run she takes and the swimming she does. I will say, I would have been screwed if I was her, because she did a lot of running from the killers.
Justine goes on a last minute run to the gas station before the guy at the security booth goes home for the night. At the station she meets a weird woman, Violet, with lip piercings and what looked like Meth teeth. There's a confrontation at the checkout that leaves Justine a bit shaken up.
Getting back to campus, she warns Wayne, the security guard, to be on the lookout for the weirdo from town. And then the fun begins.
The lights start flickering even more, and although Justine has an uneasy feeling, she takes her sweet time getting back to her room. When she gets back there, a video of the various girls that have been killed by the Kristy Cult is playing on her computer. Then her computer goes out and she can't get a signal. The door slowly starts to open, and we see Violet standing behind her.
Cue the cat and mouse scenes, which I will say were pretty good. My biggest problem is when she goes into the kitchen (that she works at) and doesn't grab a knife, or even a frying pan. She does do a couple of other things to throw the killers off, so that was good.
Then they're running all over campus, lots of tension building up, and I was yelling at the TV. I was getting really annoyed, mainly with the key issue. Justine needed a key to get into the doors, and it would have taken her a second, but it didn't seem like she locked any of the doors behind her. Even when the killers were not that close. Also at the beginning it seemed like a lot of the dorm doors were open. If everyone went home for the holidays, they would have all been locked. And if Justine had locked her door, there is a good chance it would have took the killers a lot longer to find her.
The movie did redeem itself towards the end though. I enjoyed it, and they did bring the Kristy Cult full circle. If you enjoy cat and mouse thrillers, with a tough heroine, I would say you should watch this one. -
Patient44416 October 2014People are harsh on this one because the film got them wanting more, some surprises, some better scenes, better kills and so on. Problem here lays in the fact that first of all, Kristy managed to get you wanting more and this is not something you just skip on.
Yes, it is better than far many such productions and indeed also quite predictable so here you'll have to choose: either go for a decent horror and not expect too much out of it or watch it with the purpose of raging on every aspect that you dislike. It's not a good idea to go too hard on it because others will avoid it, and let's be honest here, it deserves a view or two. It is a well done movie, good acting, good surroundings, "decent" is the word to best describe it.
I wouldn't go all hating on it, let others make their own opinion, for me, was a good change of pace, finally got to see something better baked, not entirely, but not raw at all. I say you go for it!
Cheers! -
neko196221 November 2015"The Strangers" meet the university (student), except it was better than The Strangers. The Strangers was a bit of a downer juxtaposing chance and violence. They pick you and you die. True, while unsystematic random violence is to be feared it can hardly stand alone as dominant story-telling. Yea need a reason. 'WE' need a reason. This movie....Kristy.... provides that reason by means of meager, yet plausible, cultism. The first half of the movie is good scary stuff, the back half.............an action film. Run for your life kind of mania. But I nevertheless enjoyed it for some strange reason. Her expression perhaps.....................I'm not sure exactly, but i believe that was it. She was very convincing.
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jdollak1 April 2016Sigh. I'm getting really tired of some of the poor horror offerings on Netflix. Kristy is a fairly dull rehash of two modern trends in horror. First, it's a home invasion flick. The twist is... it's on a college campus! The other trend is the general premise brought to popularity by The Purge - an organized, but fairly random approach to killing strangers for the fun of it.
I had a hard time getting through this. It's fairly slow-moving. The longer I watched it, I found myself feeling like Justine was just... not that bright. She drives a car. A bad guy is on the hood, trying to break through the glass. She speeds up, eventually crashing the car into a wall, crushing the bad guy. Okay... but I kept wondering why she didn't just speed up, then hit the brakes, throwing the guy at the wall, and keeping the car functional for herself?
Late in the movie, we get a reveal, when Justine removes a mask from one of her assailants. Something about the direction kept making me think that I was supposed to recognize this person.
Some people might like this, but it just didn't seem as polished as I expected.
Where the story goes wrong is in the last minute or two. Giving a touch of explanation for what has happened to Justine is a good idea. Setting up for an absurd sequel where she decides to go off hunting these people down? Less of a promise, and more of a threat. -
renatopersonalchef14 November 2018I really enjoyed this movie , the story is not very original , but I liked after all , great atmosphere, good actress , and nice ending
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Plot: An intelligent college woman find herself alone at her campus over a holiday and chance encounter with strangers leads her to overcome almost insurmountable odds to survive a murderous cult in this survival horror movie.
Technical analysis: This movie has pleasant understated acting. Good atmospheric soundtrack that don't try to make up for a lack of suspense as you find in so many other scary movies. Although bordering on the realm of horror i would classify this more as a survival thriller. Thus you wont find any gore splatter or high body counts here which is refreshing for a thriller/horror that remains suspenseful throughout.
There is a Macguyverish element where the lead must outwit her pursuers and this is captivating in itself. All in all worthy immersion and even suitable for those that otherwisely shun horror movies. -
LegionAvalon21 August 2014There is a marginally original idea here in the surrounding premise but that's it.
Okay, there are two female leads which is the oncoming fashion, but the rest of the film is so derivative of horror from decades ago that it might just have come packaged from a factory. At least they didn't have the girls running around scantily clad in the rain. Small mercies.
I liked the soundtrack but even that reminded me of Cronenberg.
The acting is fine, Greene and Bennett acquit themselves well. Plot-wise I thought the boyfriend might have been more prepared when he was attacked, a few other loose details bothered me, but my overall feeling was just plain boredom.
No surprises. -
3xHCCH26 October 2014I was not exactly expecting much with a title as nondescript as "Kristy". There were also no big name actors to speak of it seems. The news that there were alternative titles like "Random" and "Satanic" was not too encouraging as well. I was just in the mood for a horror film one lazy afternoon so I went and watched this. Turns out it was not exactly horror, but it was not bad at all.
The first frame of the opening credits was the first surprise. It showed the TWC logo. So the Weinstein Company was actually involved with this film! That was a surprise because the publicity was so low key, almost non-existent. It did give me some positive feedback about the film I was about to watch though, as TWC is known for its Oscar quality films.
The film opens with the scene of a girl being killed by a couple of men wearing hoodies and left in a grassy field. She had a big slash across her neck and a letter K carved on her right cheek. Photos and video of this crime was uploaded onto the Internet, announcing that it was the time to kill Kristy. To kill Kristy is to kill God supposedly. "Kristy" it appears is any girl they think is "pretty, pure and blessed", and therefore should be hunted down and killed.
One Thanksgiving, Justine was the only girl left in their college campus as everyone else went home. When she went to the gas station to buy some supplies, she encounters a strange girl in a pink hoodie with piercings on her lip. When she got back to her college though, she became the target of Pink Hoodie and her group of her hoodie-wearing hoodlums all wanting to see her dead.
Haley Bennett should be a bigger star some day. She looks great and she did very well in the lead role of Justine. She was able to portray the fear and determination of her smart, never-say-die character. This was no timid damsel-in-distress here. This girl was determined to survive. However, as Justine was alone and outnumbered, will she survive or not?
I was surprised to see that Ashley Greene (better known as vampy vampire Alice Cullen in the "Twilight" films) as the main antagonist, with internet username DrkViolet801. Her face was barely seen at all, hidden by her pink hoodie. They could have used another no-name actress and we would not have known the difference.
This film is not exactly horror though. If you like gore, there was not too much of that as well. I would call it a suspense-thriller, and a good one at that. I felt the use of music, along with the whistling and the whispering, was very effective in creating the thickly tense atmosphere necessary for this film to succeed.
With a lot of suspension of disbelief, I actually liked this film as it is. This is not any deep film to analyze or think too much about. Just sit back and enjoy your racing pulse as you watch it. By the way, there is an extra scene after all the closing credits roll up, if you still care to wait up and watch it. 6/10. -
paul_haakonsen21 August 2014"Kristy" is a fairly average thriller/horror movie in the survival horror genre - if there is such a genre - and it doesn't really offer anything new to the genre.
The story is about a college girl who spends thanksgiving all alone at a campus, when she bumps into a very odd and disturbing girl at a gas station. Finding out that she is being followed back to the campus, Kristy soon finds herself in a race for survival.
What made the movie watchable was the acting performances put on by Haley Bennett (playing Justine) and the one playing the girl in the hoodie (I assume that was Ashley Greene).
There wasn't any scary moments throughout the movie, so there were no shocks, surprises or anything even remotely thrilling. But there was a nice pace to the movie and a great continuous flow. However, the movie suffered from a very predictable plot that was filled with just about every cliché available for the genre.
The ending, however, was just a downright slap in the face, after having sat through the entire movie. That ending was really awful, and not to mention stereotypical.
The overall enjoyment of the movie was a mediocre result. And "Kristy" is the type of movie that you watch only once, because it doesn't have enough material or leverage to support multiple viewings. -
a_c_thompson25 October 2019I don't understand what most "reviewers" want out of movies. Does every movie have to be completely original and not at all predictable. This has intensity, scares, excitement, and it's a cool take on survival horror. I enjoyed it.
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Justine is a hard working college student who decides to stay on campus during the Thanksgiving holdiays. While she asks her boyfriend, Aaron, to stay with her, she understands when he tells her that his family has many expectations of him, and one of those is to come home for Thanksgiving. Justine puts on her tough face and tells Aaron that she understands, that it'll be fine seeing as how her roommate Nicole is staying on campus.
Well,, at the last minute Nicole's father plans an impromptu trip to Aspen for his family, so Nicole says she can't say no to that. Justine once again puts on her tough face and tells Nicole that she needs to go and have fun with her family. Nicole decides to leave her car keys with Justine so she'll be able to leave campus a little during her week alone.
After enough time alone Justine decides to make a snack run down to the local mini mart. Once there she runs into an odd behaving girl named Violet,, who calls Justine "Kristy",,, and that turns Justine's night into one that she'll never forget,,,
For a low budget thriller this one is pretty good. The heroine is very easy on the eyes and acts well to boot. Greene flexed her creepy acting muscles a bit (not great, but not bad). I'd give this a solid 6.2 rating. So if you like creepy thrillers give it a viewing. -
ranleehow25 July 2020While this movie is predictable it was fairly well acted and a good movie to pass time. My biggest problem was that no matter where "Kristie" ran to, or hid (even in a locked library), the killers were magically there. It was as if they could predict her every move before she even knew what it was. And all this on a college campus where she lived and was very familiar with while they had never even been on it once.
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Tweetienator19 September 2019Kristy got only a few elements of horror and is in my opinion rather a movie of the thriller genre. A young woman is hunted by a bunch of wild gooses on a campus while (almost) everybody else is gone because of Thanksgiving break. Production and acting are solid and so is the story and movie. Kristy: worth a watch - if you like the genre or the theme of crazies hunting someone. If not, don't bother watching.
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cmovies-9967427 August 2017PROS: A good part about the movie was the idea as a whole. The way the scenes were set up allowed for a great amount of fear and horror. The script also allowed for the main character to be resilient, not just for the sake of the movie, but just in general. There was nothing that happened that couldn't actually happen. Although this made the movie very readable, it didn't take away from the fear that it naturally would instill. A movie with a strong, independent, female lead will always be a fun watch!
CONS: The most aggravating part of the movie was the ending. There was so much more that could have been developed, but it just got cut short. I got quite frustrated at this fact because the movie lacked a lot of substance during the actual process, therefore I relayed heavily on the ending to give me that extra umph to propel the film. Another part that could have been improved was the acting. For some reason all the actors felt very stagnant. The main female character had pretty much two factions to her acting, 1. CONFUSION, and 2. BADA** MODE. Which are two good characteristics, but not the only things you need to be the star of a film. The final things that got me really angry was the fact that the main villains always found a way to find the main girl. It is an entire freaking college, and somehow they always found a way to find the girl. This gave the film a rather unbelievable factor.
www.chorror.com -
horizon200825 August 2014Sometimes I wish I hadnt seen as many horror films as I have, but then it makes me wonder just how many horror films some directors have seen. Why? Because watching this film I sat thinking hasn't this director heard of The Strangers? Them? The first Purge movie etc? Kristy is pretty much a home invasion flick by numbers only set on a campus where everyone has gone home for Thanksgiving. Again we have the idiotic masked and hooded gang turning up and going through the (usual) peeping through windows, scraping knives along the walls, and (oh look) killing a security man that appears, and (of course) cutting the phone lines (yawn). I mean really? If you are reading this Mr Director, just how many horror films have you seen? Is it three? Maybe five? Be honest, you really don't know much about horror do you? Because if you did, you wouldn't have made a film thats been done twenty times already. Do you realise that your target audience for stuff like this are a little bit more savvy these days? I mean fair enough, you might find a few noobs who think your movie is fresh and mildly exciting, but if you really want to sell a pile of DVDs of your creation, (making back some of your productions outlay) you really need to respect your genres fan base. So you must try harder next time mate. Because you'll be getting nowhere with stuff like Krusty..... Sorry Kristy. :-D
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With an interesting premise, and solid start, it proves to be a shame that Kristie couldn't amount to the potential it could have had, and instead settles for a muttled thriller. I'll start off with the good things about the film. First off, I really enjoy the look of it. The setting, the cinematography, it's grounded realistic approach- everything. The acting is rather good too, and I enjoyed Haley Bennett's take on the character of Justine, just with they could have done more with her in the script. As for the film itself, somewhere about halfway through, it begins to fall short. It isn't really scary, instead it goes for unsettling, and it stirs up a large amount of tension while doing so, with it amounting to nearly nothing rather exciting. Its first half is so strong in tension, it gives you so much hope for what this film could be, but sadly, its script and direction isn't up for the hype it starts with, and settles for being rather mediocre instead. Its ending is forgettable, a bit predictable, and nothing really struck me as particularly memorable about the film in general. In the end, Kristie is a solid indie attempt at horror, that unfortunately didn't amount to as much as it initially promised. My Rating: 5.5/10
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claudio_carvalho4 March 2015The college girl Justine (Haley Bennett) works hard to support the life at the Verse College, where she studies. In the Thanksgiving, her boyfriend Aaron (Lucas Till) travels to the house of his family and Justine stays alone in the Campus with her roommate Nicole (Erica Ash). Out of the blue, the father of Nicole invites the family to travel to Aspen and she leaves her beamer with Justine that stays alone with the security guards Wayne (Mathew St. Patrick), Dave (Al Vicente) and Scott (James Ransone). One night, Justine drives the beamer to a convenience store to buy supplies and she meets the stranger Violet (Ashley Greene) that threatens her. She returns to the Campus and soon Justine is hunted down by Violet and three hoodlums from a cult. Along the night, Justine has to fight to survive.
"Kristy" is a tense thriller with an unoriginal and predictable story with clichés that entertains. The movie has a storyline similar to "Ils" (2006), a.k.a. "Them", with a group of hoodlums frightening their victim along the night. The acting is good and the lead actress is also gorgeous. My vote is six.
Title (Brazil): "Kristy" -
Spidenus8168 October 2020This is not worth a trip to a theater. It is worth a trip to a video rental store, so to speak. This is the sort of film worth watching with a friend or two at night at home. However, it should go without saying that if you're against slashers and/or teen screams, you should avoid this.
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Snoboa75530 June 2020I was already skeptical because of the bad ratings, But what a pleasant surprise. I thought it was really good and original. The suspense was great. Overall very enjoyable.
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lehman-94-7603191 January 2019Do we really need to go into much detail for these direct to video movies? This one was good, I would like to find another. All I ask for is some suspense, originality and aesthetically pleasing actors. This movie has it all. Do listen to any negative reviews. If all the Netflix movies of this genre were this good, we would be extremely lucky.
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ArchonCinemaReviews23 September 2014Limited release horror flick Kristy follows the methodical standard as a group stalks a college student on campus.
Staying at a deserted university during Thanksgiving break, Justine has the run of the abandoned campus with just security guard Wayne to keep her company. When she goes on a munchie run off-campus she becomes the target of malicious intention by a quartet of hooded teens.
Kristy is missing a lot of content that would elevate this average film to a good horror film. There is minimal character development between the predators and their selective prey. There are no relationships within the cult-like group of blood obsessed culprits. The plot is flimsy and left vastly unexplained with a seriously anticlimactic ending. The blood is kept to a minimum considering it is closest to a slasher film.
Sounds like a lot to be 'wrong' with a film. Though formulaic, Kristy does get the chase-like pursuit right and paces it accordingly. Ashley Greene does a creditable job as the only unmasked hunter so producers can capitalize on her celebrity. Haley Bennett is a superb protagonist 'victim'. She reacts, acts and seems a capable adversary to the well orchestrated killers.
Unfortunately Kristy is just fine but underwhelming.
More reviews of recent releases in FULL at our website. -
philipmorrison-7311829 December 2015I watched this movie on Netflix. The story is about a college girl who gets stuck on campus with only a few people around. A group of serial killers target her for the next kill to post on the Internet. I liked this movie for several reasons. The heroine of the story (Haley Bennett) is smart and acts that way. She uses a number of items to fight back; some of which are pretty ingenious. The murderous gang is led by a woman (Ashley Greene), who does a great job letting you know she is a psychopath. Lots of good, edge of the moment scenes that kept you interested. The acting was pretty good. The downside is that most of the other characters who die act stupid to get there. I didn't care for the lights going on and off in the hallway scenes (It didn't seem to add anything to the movie). And lastly, no campus is that deserted even on a holiday weekend. I do want to mention that they did an amazing job on Ashley Greene's make-up. You can hardly tell it is her.