Horror Movie Review: The Orange Man (2015)
The Orange Man is a horror comedy that sees a door to door orange salesman commit murder after one to many insults & rejections. Early on it’s clear that this is going to be a cheesy, indie romp but for all the promise it really fails to deliver.
Bucking the trend of teenagers partying & getting slaughtered, The Orange Man’s main cast are four elderly men. Gerald (Dave Juehring) has recently split with his wife after she cheated on him & now she’s going for everything he’s worked for. Down in the dumps, he meets with his three friends Wilbur (Thomas Ely Sage), Jimmy (Jim Plovanich) and Reggie (Glenn Harston).
They all agree to get away for the weekend for a remote fishing trip but unfortunately for them, The Orange Man is waiting. Also, if that wasn’t bad enough Gerald’s estranged wife & her new boyfriend are also staying nearby!
Cue some horrendous acting and cringe-inducing dialogue as just about everybody hams it up to such an extent it’s painful.
It’s frustrating really, as the four-main cast are mostly pretty likeable (although Jimmy’s sex-obsession does make for some uncomfortable scenes). Their bond is believable but in almost every line spoken, the film crashes hard. Part of the problem is its attempts at horror & humour, something that does not work at all. The Orange Man sells itself as a horror comedy but it’s neither scary nor is it funny.
Old men struggling to pee because of kidney stones, awkward conversations about naked women, embarrassing attempts at getting one over Gerald’s ex & her new fella…it’s childish stuff. Yes, the men are being portrayed as massive man-babies to a degree. However, none of them have the chops to pull it off convincingly.
It’s slow, it takes ages to get going & the promise of ‘death by oranges’ rarely surfaces as the killer (Ben Rollins) uses a hook most of the time. He is a puzzling killer, as his early motivations seem forced & you’re left wondering just how he operates. Is he a supernatural killer now? That’s never explained yet he is able to sneak into a hospital & hide under water.
Not that it matters as he’s the least inspired thing about the entire movie. Standard slasher who occasional throws an orange.
The best parts of the movie are the four friends but this isn’t selling itself as a buddy movie. It’s a horror comedy that doesn’t even boast great effects or memorable deaths. Low budget or not, it’s a massive let-down.
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The Orange Man
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The Final Score - 3/10
3/10
the movie is about our reality. the orange man is the symbolic representation of a simple man trying to get his business running in a world where billion dollar companies control the market. everything is about money. nobody will buy his oranges, no matter if he handpicked them, no matter if he goes door to door and tries his best to sell them. people dont want because they favor the easier option. they prefer the established products/producers. anything new scares people so they often dont give it a chance.
the toilet scene with the dude in the wheelchair is a symbolic presentation of what its like to be disabled and to live in our reality. so many things are designed for people without disabilities. design in general expects that everyone has a fully working perfect body. toilets especially designed to use while standing.
there are no toilets design for people in a wheel chair. neither is the sink designed to be used by people in a wheel chair.
also he is a black person. they dont get treated equal in society. thats why when they enter the cabin he says “looks like a slave shack”. the ladder going to be bed he cant use is symbolic because black people were enslaved for hundreds of years and they couldnt climb up the job ladder and neither could they reach the same rights as white people and still today its an issue.
the movie is full of such analogies. of course he doesnt kill people with oranges because if u are different, in a wheelchair or whatever it can mean you are born a loser in the society we have now. you can try as hard as u want. you can be a killer but people still dont give a fuck about you. murder is the most extreme act that can be done but….who cares? if u are rich people care. even if being rich comes from exploiting slave labor in poor countries. the slavery still exists its just disguised.
all the stereotypes in the movie are understandable. we know it because thats what our reality is like.