A young man watches a videotape of a condemned serial killer ranting and raving. The killer claims that one day, a mysterious tattoo appeared on his arm, which was his sign to stop killing. Our protagonist then sets out to kill as many people as possible so he can get a tattoo of his own.
Coming from someone who used to make movies in his backyard with friends, I try to approach these no-budget shot-on-video things knowing how difficult it can be. Even when grading on a curve, 777 (which shouldn’t be confused with 555, another shot-on-video horror movie about a serial killer), is still a tough sit.
I will say the set-up is well done. The way the killer snaps and kills his mom (clearly played by a dude in a wig) and keeps her around the house is decent enough. (At one point, he rips off her ear and eats it.) Once he runs into another guy who videotapes random people as part of a “neighborhood watch”, the movie goes into the shitter fast and it never looks back.
Part of the problem is that there doesn’t seem to be a real endgame. There are dream scenes and sequences that look like they were taken from another short film. However, they don’t really seem to serve a purpose, other than to bulk up the running time. Characters come and go, and ones that seem to have some kind of significance (like the guy who may or may not be a detective) disappear with little fanfare. The movie really begins chasing its tail in the second act. It even goes for some Lynchian type of vibe near the end, but it fails miserably. The odd ambient music will have you drifting off to sleep during the dull stretches (of which there are many).
Fortunately, the gore is plentiful. The best effect is a solid little face peeling scene. That doesn’t make up for all the times the movie jerks you around though. I may have been more forgiving if there’d been an actual payoff (even a predictable one would’ve sufficed). As it is, it’s pretty much a mess.
If you make it all the way through 777, consider yourself lucky.
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