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R.S.V.P. (2002/I) More at IMDb Pro »

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7 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :-
The Art Of Serial Killing., 14 March 2005
Author: BigHardcoreRed from Calimesa, California

R.S.V.P. compares itself to Alfred Hitchcock's "Rope" and Agatha Christie's "Ten Little Indians". I have never seen either, but I know of both of them and I would guess that R.S.V.P. could stand along side as a good thriller. I believed this movie would have been a mystery and it toys with that idea until the first murder occurs. There is no attempt to conceal the killer's identity but only to show the masterful ways he conceals the murder victims. The ending is close to being predictable. The movie hints at little things which will be unearthed sooner or later.

Nick Collier (Rick Otto) is the main character here and he is throwing a party for his best friend, Jimmy Franklin (Lucas Babin), who is leaving town. All of their best friends are invited and soon, after Jimmy fails to show up, begin wondering where he could be, assuming he is getting blitzed or at a local strip club or something.

Jason Mewes plays Terry, a stoner. Terry is really just a rehashed Jay from Kevin Smith's movies set in another environment. Strange, I'm still not tired of it, yet.

The beautiful Brandi Andres is the lead female character, Jordan. I thought her performance was quite good, better than most that are usually cast in this type of movie and I was semi-impressed. Also, worthy of a mention is Nora Zehetner, who had a small part as Leigh Franklin. Something about her screen presence caught my eye, similar to Natalie Portman in "Closer", although she does not stick around too long and is not nearly as sexual.

This is a good movie to see if you are roaming through your local video rental store and can not seem to make up your mind and have seen all the newest blockbusters. I was not disappointed. 7/10

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3 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
Bold & Hysterical! So sit back, RELAX, and enjoy!, 11 December 2003

Author: punkusa777 from USA

First off this outstanding flick is much more complex than it first appears. Judging by the comments on this page viewers fall into two categories: Those that get it (i.e. actually have a sense of humor and are looking for something fresh) and those that don't (i.e. expecting the S.O.S. and WAY TOO uptight). Basically this film is a BLACK COMEDY NOT A THRILLER - which might explain the don'ts - and a cracking good black comedy it is. The filmmakers boldly play with the audiences' expectations of a standard booze and bodies Thriller while at the same time letting the audience in on 'the gag' (Please refer to the Bullfight conversation scene mid way through if this set up is lost on you. If you still don't get it -- seek help to remove the stick from your arse) The 'gag' being that the Audience knows who the killer is in this madcap '10 Little Indians' scenario and thus the CHAOS and LAUGHS ensue as the killer plucks off his victims one by one in increasingly bizarre fashion. Pasta Anyone?! All in All this film kicks ass. Check it out and leave your ego at the door. You won't be disappointed.

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4 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
Outstanding Satire! TWO THUMBS WAY UP!, 8 April 2004

Author: preacherbillyboy from New York City

Clearly this daring little film has hit a nerve with the imdb community, so for the record I am firmly in the 'THUMBS UP' category. Basic plot is modeled after the teen slasher genre, wherein a bunch of beautiful 20 somethings gather at a luxury penthouse in Vegas, party, gossip and in a wonderful touch by the screenwriter actually chat/philosophize in an intelligent (albeit morbid) manner before we finally start the action and watch them get whacked one by one. The TWIST, and yes it is a twist, is that the filmmaker (Galluzzo) lets the audience in on the gag from the beginning by letting them know who the killer is. For once we are allowed to be with the wolf not the sheep. By doing this he has turned the genre on its head. Almost mocking it. Which clearly has offended some

traditionalists. All I can say is watch it again with a smile on your face instead of a scowl and you'll see that this indie is something really fresh and new. A brave leap into anti-genre filmmaking in a time when we are inundated with the same old slasher films time and time again. RSVP stands out as a film that at least dared to go its own way and in the end it is an open minded audience that wins. Outstanding Satire! Two Thumbs Way Up!

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2 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
Awesome Hitchcockian Classic; You gotta watch it twice!, 28 August 2003

Author: unkle-sam-i-am from Austin, Texas

This Movie rocks! It's entertaining, funny, well-paced, with interesting characters (I love Grace Z.) and excellent cinematography. Like a good Hitchcock film, Mr. Galluzzo makes a bloodless thriller that pays much attention to the details. So much so, you got to watch it at least twice just to catch half of all the tells embedded in this twisted tale. This is independent film-making at its best.

I'm not much into waxing philosophical about whether or not a movie is all that or not. And I certainly wouldn't want to pretend that I'm the authority on film, but this movie is extremely clever and well done. Bravo to all involved! Hats off to Mark Anthony Galluzzo for consistently demonstrating that quality films can be made without studio backing or 10's of millions of dollars.

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1 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :-
A Great Slasher, But Overrated, 14 April 2007

Author: jason06-1 from United States

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

R.S.V.P. is one of the best modern day slashers to come out in the last ten years

*SPOLIERS AHEAD*

Plot: Nick Collier (Rick Otto) has been studying serial killers for a while and thinking he can pull of a great mass murder he has a party in honor of his best friend, Jimmy Franklin (Lucas Babin). He invites all his friends including Jordan McNeil (Brandi Andres), Garret (Reno Wilson), Cricket (Jeanne Chinn), Terry (Jason Mewes), and John Skyles (Daniel Joseph). Before the party Nick invites Jimmy over and kills him. At the party they are convinced he is running late and are joined by his mother (Grace Zabriskie), his father (Jonathan Banks), and Leigh (Ora Zehetner). Prof. Hal Evans (Qlenn Quinn) shows up too and later on next door neighbor Callie (Majandra Delfino) joins the party. Slowly Nick begins to pick them off one by one secretly until only Jordan and Hal are left to confront him.

The Good News: The wonderful actors and actresses are one of the main highlights here. The actors are mainly relatively unknown and surprisingly this works wonders here and hopefully we will see more of them in the future. The film does feature a cleverly ingenious scene when Jimmy's mom is trying to call him because he hasn't arrived yet Nick quickly turns on the stereo and turns it up to the highest sound to cover up the fact that Jimmy's body is in the house and nobody can hear his cell phone ringing. Nick later states he should have taken the phone out to begin with, but he needed to style points. Classic! Nick is another highlight. He has the ability to be handsome, manipulative, and trusting. He often lures the victim into a false sense of security before killing them. A classic example is when he is in the bathroom with Leigh and begins to come onto her sexually and he works his hands up to her neck and out of the blue snaps it. Totally unexpected as you know something is going to happen, but you don't know what. In most slashers the music becomes real ominous and your speakers blare suspenseful music and you know the kill is going to happen. Almost like a forward, but in this scene the atmosphere and lighting is upbeat like a disco floor and you're waiting for that ominous music to start to creep in and then Leigh will bite it. This never happens and breaks a standard horror/slasher rule with the music. In fact the whole musical score is original and the Joice of musical keys in places where you wouldn't expect them really helps this out. The way Nick names off a few common reasons why killers do what they do so the people can sleep better at night and how the world thinks they can make sense of every sick thing that goes on this world is hilarious, but not funny at the same time because almost every modern day slasher has this formula where the killer explains his motivation and if you look back at Michael Myers or Jason they have no real motive. Sure Michael wants to kill his bloodline, but it's his choice and yes they did introduce the Cult of Thorn, but as we see in the film they have no power over him and he chooses to kill. Jason may have started off as avenging his mothers death, but as the series progressed he has become a simple killing machine without a motive. My personal opinion is that killers with motives are scarier. The way Nick chooses his victims to be his closest friends is revolting a strange way. The kills are pretty fresh and original and it also breaks three slasher rules. First the music, then that the heroine usually doesn't participate in the drugs or smoking, and that the pot head usually dies. This could've been way worse.

The Bad News: Three very small problems prevent total praise. There is no real attempt into character development and we never get to know the characters and makes the beginning feel a lot longer than it really is. A little gore wouldn't have hurt either as we receive a very dry affair. Also when you look down at the end of the day you realize that this is just another slasher movie and to think critics have praised this movie above others when it is basically the same it gets pretty irritating.

Conclusion: Thriller, Slasher, and Horror fans will want to check this out as it has enough elements for all three. Recommend

Rated: R for Violence, Language, and Drug Use

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3 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
It's a crime allright.., 18 June 2003
Author: Marcelo Vieira from Sintra, Portugal

It's a crime to compare this to anything that even resembles Hitchcock! Are you people out of your mind? This ought to be the most obvious and predictable thriller in the recent years.. A bunch of people regurgitating "witty" remarks all the time, and AT the same time hardly make up for entertainment in my book. And throwing Jason Mewes in there to act like a retarded Jay without Silent Bob (i guess that's the only role he can play) was the low of the lowest. And the ending..well..let's just all forget that the whole thing existed and live a better life.

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4 out of 7 people found the following comment useful :-
Not nearly as intellectual or thrilling as it aspires to be, 28 December 2002

Author: rumfoord (rumfoord@optonline.net) from New York

As one of the commenters here noted, sundance is usually inundated with gritty depressing films. R.S.V.P. is certainly not one of those. The same person said there were many clues throughout the film that hint at the surprise ending. To say that there were "clues" is an understatement. At every juncture the film screamed its torpid theme.

The film alludes several times to an underrated hitchock flick called "rope". Despite the allusions, the film doesn't even come close to Rope's level of philosophy, morality, or thrills. Instead it borrows a couple ideas, mixes in a few of the cheesier elements of mediocre American thrillers (see "Scream") and comes out with absolute boredom.

There were a few elements that could have made this film great. The allusion to rope could have gone farther and actually translated the film into a modern adaptation. One element that has changed since the time of rope is the perceived value of "fame". The film touched on this, but didn't carry anything through. The thing that could have been done right was translating the fame into a postmodern context. The killer claims he wants fame, but he tries to setup the professor as the culprit for all the murders. This could have actually been an excellent concept if the film had decided to take into account the two realities it exists in, namely: The reality of the film, wherein the professor would take the blame, and secondly the reality of the film as watched by the audience, where the killer could find fame without cost. Indeed, this would have been a clever concept that perhaps would have carried this over into the intellectual genre. Instead, the director has his character act inconsistently and later claim that he wants to be pursued by the FBI "because it's part of the game". The result is that the killer comes off as an absolute idiot, which is unfortunate because our interest has been staked in him being clever enough to pull something entertaining off.

To go back to the comment that this film is so unlike the rest of sundance's depressing flicks, I'm going to have to disagree. This having passed for an intellectual thriller is several times more depressing than boys don't cry.

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A nice vision, but. . ., 23 July 2008

Author: James Hargrove from United States

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Whilst this film has ambition and a laudable goal, due to heavy-handed foreshadowing a perceptive viewer can deduce the 'climax' within the first ten minutes of the film. The subsequent dénouement (something that might have made the predictable climax forgivable, if handled well) is, unfortunately, quite. . . well. . . stupid.

The killer, previously packaged as a warped genius, delivers a dimwitted dialogue at the end of the film that is devoid of much needed surprises and more reminiscent of something that a James Bond villain might say than of something that a twisted serial killer would. That the film itself ends on an upbeat note is the final nail in the coffin.

The special features on the DVD showcase an subplot casting the Professor as a serial killer (possibly as The Quick Brown Fox) that, if it hadn't been clipped from the finished film, would have made things much more interesting (though not any less predictable, due to the way the cut scenes were filmed).

In fact, that is the biggest problem with RSVP. The director seems intent on revealing all of the secrets up front, making this less like a Hitchcock film (or Agatha Christie's Ten Little Indians) and more like a bad Columbo episode with a few extra bodies.

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Slasher take on "Rope", 3 July 2008

Author: Scarecrow-88 from United States

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

What if you had the genius of Hitchcock's ROPE and took a giant crap on it..this foul-mouth, modern updating on the perfect murder(s) has this psycho named Nick(Rick Otto, looking like a young Ethan Hawke, without the talent, merely a cocky obnoxious a$$hole)whose holding a going-away party for his pal, Jimmy(Lucas Babin)who is (un)surprisingly missing as their friends gather together to drink and smoke weed(..often through this very unusual bong)wondering where the man-of-honor is. Quietly, Nick murders each one, through various methods when the others as a group are away, developing his perfect plan in place. The professor, obsessed with the art of crime and death, Hal(Glenn Quinn)is who inspired him to attempt such a feat. Despite Nick's use of damaging weapons, the director cleverly avoids showing any grisly violence. The film really plays with the wickedness of the situation as various people attempt to leave the party, dying at Nick's hand when he gets them alone. "R.S.V.P" is almost completely set in Nick's uncle's pad, except for the opening sequences setting up the rest of the film(..a murder investigation leading into a class, taught by Hal, and the beer drinking toast between Nick and Jimmy). Brandi Andres portrays Jim's girlfriend, Nick's ex, who the screenplay sets up as the final girl. Jason Mewes pretty much plays his Jay character from "Clerks" as a wise-cracking druggie, care-free and the life of the party. He easily steals his scenes if you can appreciate his brand of comedy. Despite director Mark Anthony Galluzzo's ambitions, this is really just another run-of-the-mill slasher where you realize that the killer will eventually make that one mistake, despite somehow amazingly succeeding in carrying out a parade of murders without getting caught thanks to a screenplay that allows him to, which will lead to his downfall.Veterans character actors Jonathan Banks and Lynch icon Grace Zabriskie portray Walter and Mary Franklin, Jimmy's uncle & aunt. I treasured their time on screen, because they bring a sense of relief that you can appreciate, especially once they "exit" the film and we're back stuck with the hard-partying brood. The film is full of sequences involving discussions on death and those whose lives revolved around murder...along with plenty of sex jokes and Mewes tongue wagging at the sights of tight female asses in jeans. Slasher fans might enjoy some of the tongue-in-cheek murders such as what Nick does to an uninvited guest, a neighbor from next door who interrupts the well-developed plan.

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ShaDink, 6 June 2005

Author: Rebelrose161617 from United States

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

OK I only say this film for Jay Mewes and I was bored that day so I rented it one day , and my video store up the street from my house has a rent for a night if you like buy it program. So I watched that night like three times because the first i didn't quite get it because I missed some parts. The second time I got all and with all the plot twists that weren't there because they cut them out I still thought the Glenn Quinn character was apart of Nicky's plan and after seeing the after the credits I'm convinced that before Glenn's death they might have been planning a sequel where he was a serial killer . I have read a lot of posts where people didn't like the ending and honestly when Terry died I was so upset so when it ended I was happy, but I also kinda expected it because of dialog . Now I am not as smart a some people but I do think I am smart enough (I mean jeez my I.Q is like 165-175) but all in all this movie is really awesome

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