Three Can Keep a Secret (2006)

Pack: Tomb of Terrors
Disc: 5

Subgenre(s): Crime, Revenge

Year: 2006

Rated: Unrated
Length: 95 minutes

Director: Zachary Yoshioka
Writer: Christi Wilson
Starring: Blake Smith, Tim Cornwell, Lauren Bergen

Synopsis: After one of them is raped and another murders the rapist, three friends try to cover up the crime.

Screencaps:

Review: Another crime drama from the director of Disk Jockey but with a far more serious tone. I'm not sure why it's part of an indie horror compilation pack though.

I suppose Three Can Keep a Secret is a kind of poor man's version of Shallow Grave and a load of Hallmark channel movies. It has moments of violence and lots of blood, but there's nothing scary here apart from some of the motion-sickness inducing camerawork.

The handheld camera shots could have made some of the scenes intimate, but it's mostly just infuriating. During the scene where the "three" are arguing over the top of each other round a table, the constantly circling camera only makes the poor audio more unintelligible.

The acting isn't bad although none of the lead characters really stand out. Rob (Blake Smith), Nathan (Tim Cornwell) and Serena (Lauren Bergen) only have run-of-the-mill dialogue yet they deliver the majority of their lines well. Looks-wise, Lauren Bergen is a knockout.

Three Can Keep a Secret has a couple of intentionally lighter moments although it falls into the trap of too much unintentional comedy with Detective Carson (Vladimir Wallace). He starts off well but inconsistency kills his credibility. His scenes with two uniformed police officers is more like a comedy skit than anything else.

As another film school student's project, the storytelling isn't bad at all. There aren't too many characters to get confused about nor any big twists. Unfortunately, there's no originality to Three Can Keep a Secret, and it's just not a horror movie.

Most Memorable Moment(s): The three friends arguing at a table while the camera circles them.

Originality: A little bit like Shallow Grave (1994) in places.

Best Line(s): "Just because we enjoy other people's misfortunes doesn't exactly mean that we're bad people. It just doesn't necessarily mean that we're good people."
Worst Line(s): "Your dad's going to kill you."

Best Effect(s): The blood gushing from Derrick's head.
Worst Effect(s): The blood splatter patterns as revealed by luminol which don't match what happened at all.

Goriness (out of 10): 2
Sexiness (out of 10): 4
Profanities (out of 10): 5

Hottest Actor/Actress: Lauren Bergen as Serena.

Picture Quality: Average (4:3 ratio)
Audio Quality: Average

Rating (out of 10): 4

Trailer:


IMDb or Wiki: None

Final Thoughts: Not a horror movie.