The Shriven (2010)

 Studio: Hollywood Wizard/Media Blasters

Theatrical Release: September 30th, 2010

Director: Brian Schiavo

Not Rated

Review by James Klein

I was always told that if you can't say something nice, don't say it at all. Unfortunately, that's not my job here. I am here to tell you to stay far away from The Shriven. If it wasn't for me being loyal to my fellow readers, I would have turned this movie off after the 20 minute mark. But I suffered through and I am here to warn you that The Shriven is bad filmmaking all around.

I know how hard it is to make a movie and with that in mind, I have to give a little credit to Brian Schiavo, the director/writer/producer/star of The Shriven. He accomplished getting a feature length film made and put out on DVD. I do admire him for that. This movie should give hope to aspiring film directors that if The Shriven can get picked up, anything can!

The bets way to describe the plot of the film is it was like a vampire/zombie film made for Cinemax. The character of Ben is always having nightmares.  When he wakes up, he has the taste of blood in his mouth. He quickly finds out that maybe he's responsible for some of the deaths that have been happening in NYC. His girlfriend is concerned but can't seem to help him. One night he walks into a bar and meets the beautiful Nina (played by the cute Sienna Aldridge) who happens to be a creature that feeds off brains. She seduces Ben and pulls him into her world while his girlfriend joins up with a group of eccentric Shriven hunters who are out to stop her. Yes, the plot is rather silly but that's not why the film is as bad as it is. Poor Brian Schiavo just can't make a film that is no better and actually worse than a student film. You know those films where an actor freezes as if the director just got done saying, "Action!" or "Cut!"

Brian Schiavo is a bad actor. Simply put, he's bad enough to make me gouge out my eyes. He's so over the top and his dialogue is so ridiculous, it stopped being funny very quickly and just got down right annoying. He's always has his mouth open and looks like he's in misery during the entire film. Even during his sex scenes he looks like he's in pain or just confused. The rest of the actors are no better and just as awful. At least the women showed some skin so I will hand it to Schiavo for getting some full frontal female nudity. But its not just the acting that makes this film so awful; the editing is choppy, the special effects are bad with some hilariously atrocious CGI, and the film is extremely cheap. I'm not talking about a low budget film, I mean downright cheap to the point of fake sets, bad sound effects, a bar scene with no extras...I can go on and on but why bother.

The Shriven is just garbage. I wish Schiavo luck in the future. I just hope his future isn't in movie making.