SCRAPBOOK is an over-the-top, viciously violent and twisted film about a girl named Clara who is kidnapped, raped, beaten, tortured, humiliated, etc..etc... by Leonard - an obviously disturbed serial killer who makes his victims record their experiences and feelings in a - you guessed it - scrapbook. Now, if what I just wrote was written by someone else, and I were reading their review, I would be thinking "Man, that sounds great - I need to rush out and check this one out!", right? Well...not exactly. SCRAPBOOK is definitely gratuitous and brutal in it's depiction of rape and violence (bottle rape scene particularly...), but SCRAPBOOK fails on the fundamental level that I just don't believe in the performances of the lead characters. I understand that this is a micro-budget film, but that doesn't excuse the fact that the very mediocre acting (and over-acting in some instances) by both Biondo (Leonard) and Haack (Clara) drop this film down several notches. The story line is pretty simple, so there's no fault there. There are plenty of brutal and explicit scenes - no fault there either. But listening to Leonard ramble on and on gets old after awhile. Clara in most instances doesn't really seem to really care what's being done to her. All-in-all I think this could have been a far more effective and disturbing film if the performances were better. The only reason SCRAPBOOK really succeeds at all is because of the vicious, mean-spirited nature of the production as a whole - It seems that Stanze has chosen to substitute shock value for substance, which works in some films (a lot of the "extreme" Asian horror films have been doing this successfully for years...)but SCRAPBOOK seems to take itself to seriously for me to excuse what I consider very weak performances. I've read the other reviews about this film - some say the acting is great, some say it sucks, unfortunately, judging a persons acting skills is a very subjective thing - this may be a film where you just need to see it to decide for yourself. I'm not a huge fan of any of the stuff that Stanze does that I've seen so far - I admire the guy for pushing the limits and doing low-budget, "extreme" underground films - I just don't feel he really pulls them off that well. He's got some original ideas and definitely doesn't shy away from over-the-top situations or visuals, but I always walk away from his films feeling that something (sometimes a lot more in certain films than others...) is seriously lacking. Plus he tends to use the same actors over and over (none of whom have any real talent in the first place)for all of his features. Anyway...worth a look if you consider yourself an "extreme" film lover and dig depictions of graphic violence and rape, everyone else should steer clear. Check out ICE FROM THE SUN if you like SCRAPBOOK - another STANZE film that has plenty of faults, but plenty of gore as well. 7/10 for SCRAPBOOK
