THE SCRIBBLER (2014)

Genre: Thriller
Director: John Suits
Cast: Katie Cassidy, Eliza Dushku, Michelle Trachtenberg, Garret Dillahunt, Michael Imperioli, Gina Gershon, Sasha Grey, Kunal Nayyar, Ashlynn Yennie, Billy Campbell
Runtime: 1 hr 30 mins
Rating: R21 (Sexual Scene)
Released By: Shaw
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 6 November 2014

Synopsis: "The Scribbler" follows Suki (Katie Cassidy), a young woman confronting her destructive mental illness using "The Siamese Burn," an experimental machine designed to eliminate multiple personalities. The closer Suki comes to being "cured," she's haunted by a thought... what if the last unwanted identity turns out to be her?

Movie Review:

You must be quite a hardcore comic book fan in the first place to know that The Scribbler is actually based on a graphic novel by Dan Schaffer (who actually took the time to adapt the screenplay himself). The sole reason why a movie such as The Scribbler exists is because someone up there wants us to believe there are still miracles left in this chaotic world of ours. 

Not to be confused with the current trend of onscreen superheroes or misled by the intriguing trailer, this unnecessarily rated R21 flick stars TV’s Arrow Katie Cassidy as Suki, a woman suffering from multiple personality disorder. After successfully eliminating some of her extra personalities by a hokey Doctor (played by Billy Campbell the Rocketeer), Suki is sent to a halfway house called Juniper House, a rundown building occupied by weird occupants, in short a place where nearly everyone jumps down the building killing themselves at some point.

It sounds like we are gonna have a mind-bending mystery, but I don’t expect you to hold your breath. As told in flashbacks, Suki is now questioned by a detective Moss (Sopranos’ Michael Imperioli) together with a shrink named Silk (Dollhouse’s Eliza Dishku), where Suki is suspected to be involved in the mysterious deaths. Cue in the drumroll please…

Specifically speaking, the plotting attempts to keep its audience in suspense though the ultra-bland writing and the all so grungy dark lit atmosphere is not going to make you invested in the expository that goes on far too long. Did Suki push all the victims down the tower or perhaps it was that talking bulldog with a Brit accent? This is an absolute bizarre movie that ridiculously doesn’t contain any interesting/ outrageous characters to sustain your interest - unless you want to watch former porn star Sasha Grey wearing bunny ears in a cameo and Michelle Trachtenberg (Gossip Girl) as a fellow lunatic.

At times, it seems that everyone wants to create a gritty, experimental cult flick; but mostly it’s all ideas stuck in the minds of director John Suits and Dan Schaffer. Perhaps it’s all those menacing voices circling in there. There’s nothing exceptional about the so-called controversial shock treatment therapy especially when Suki glows like a mini Doctor Manhattan and for no reason turns into an irritable backwards writer.

It’s clear from the start that the budget is less than a TV pilot. The CG is atrociously bad and the sole dilapidated setting makes the viewing experience even worse. Leading actress Katie Cassidy puts in a more than decent performance as the tortured Suki while the rest of the mostly TV actors and actresses are mere fillers. Haters of Sucker Punch are warned to steer clear of this wreckage. This one doesn't even have dragons and Nazis slaying to make up for it.  

Movie Rating:

(I comply with the voices in my head to hate this movie)

Review by Linus Tee