The main characters had so many opportunities to just walk away and avoid the Plasterhead boogie man in this film. And, yet, they didn't. Of course, if they had, there would be no film. But, screenwriters have to do better than this. They need to inject a reason that the innocent cannot escape.I had high hopes for this effort, but it was extremely disappointing.Now, about that atlas: We're told that the disfigured villain was an over-the-road trucker on his way from Maine to Florida when he stopped in this town for a beer.But, the movie is set in West Virginia! How lost was the trucker?Reference is made to "Highway 95." Well, Interstate 95 would be the logical, direct route from Maine to Florida... but it doesn't come remotely close to West Virginia.Mistakes like this just shouldn't happen. It takes astute viewers out of the movie entirely.You'd be wise to stay out of this motion picture, too.

All you have to do is go to Netflix to see just how many god-awful horror films there are that were made in the last 10 years. It seems that every loser with a video camera seems to think he's John Carpenter. While this is no masterpiece, PLASTERHEAD still manages to create a good deal of low-key suspense in the first half, during which we rarely get a glimpse of the murderous Plasterhead. (In that, the film is very much like a lot of 1950's "monster" movies, where budgetary limitations almost dictated that the "creature" not be shown until halfway through {or later}). Since this is obviously a low-budget film, the filmmakers were wise to use this approach.Some other reviewers of this film have commented on how bad the acting is. The "teenagers" in the film are pretty raw and unpolished in their overly-dramatic performances, but you'll see plenty worse in this genre. And there's at least one really good performance by Gerard Adimondo as the local lawman. He's easily the best element of the film and one wishes the screenwriters had developed his "back story" better because he is the most interesting character in the film. From his first few minutes on film, one can sense that he is a conscientious lawman but there is something dark about the character. All of that is conveyed in the actor's performance: Adimondo is terrific.The film runs out of gas (and ideas) near the end, but that's not unusual for this genre. As for those "critics" who complained about the characters' accents -- Give me a break. This isn't Shakespeare!! All in all, PLASTERHEAD is an enjoyable, low-budget film, though it's far from a genre classic.

On paper this movie looked good for fans of the 'slasher'genre. It starts of OK, but as soon as the four main characters are introduced, it all goes downhill fast. Their performances are not great, not even good. But it is not there where this movie fails. Since there is no thrill of tension in the story, the makers decided to work with 'scary' music, throughout the e-n-t-i-r-y film. This will get on your nerves within 15 minutes or so, and you forget about the bad acting. For the gore hounds there's more bad news: there seemed to be no money at all for special effects or gore so all you get to see is people lying in blood. The plasterhead himself could have been scary, but the film simply doesn't work on any level. The killer is like a Candyman (also black and murdered and now the town's urban legend) and the murders are taken directly from films like "Friday the 13th" but without effects. Two examples of how stupid the reactions of the characters in the story are: -When the sheriff finds two bodies, he decides to have a quick drink before checking what the hell is going on and if he is in any danger. -The last two survivors explain the whole story to the sheriff while they are being chased by the killer (come on..) I myself am a great fan of slashers such as "Friday" and "Hills have eyes" but I still wonder why I saw this one 'til the very end..

Low budget horror films can usually be spotted a mile off - poor acting, poorly recorded sound, unconvincing sets and crude digital video cinematography usually make them films to avoid. I was, however pleasantly surprised by Plasterhead.Although the story and characters were as clichéd and derivative as they come, the standard of acting was pretty high for a film of this nature, although some of the actors did look a little too young for the parts they were playing. On the plus side, the lead characters were believable and likable - a nice change from the pot smoking, obnoxious teen "hero's" in many Hollywood horrors. It was also nicely paced with a good build-up establishing the back-story, all leading up to a final half-hour which contained moments of genuine tension - a very rare quality in the world of low budget horror.Visually this film was good. Although some of the locations had a "best friends house" quality to them - particularly the "abandoned house", which was cleaner and more modern looking than my own house! - the choice of camera shots was pretty faultless and the continuity good.Soundwise, certain scenes suffer slightly from obvious ADR and unconvincing "local" accents. However, this is compensated for by the use of atmospheric incidental music and effects.Overall, possibly not a film for the casual Hollywood horror viewer, but if you own the entire "friday the 13th" series or if you are a film maker with an interest in horror then you could do a lot worse. Recommended.