The informal men's club, "Hell Gang", has a rather dubious initiation process for its new prospects. A would-be initiate is outfitted with some lighting and camera gear and a flashlight, sent out in the dead of night to walk about 1/4 of a mile through a forested path, and video themselves on the porch of a supposedly haunted mansion. The video captured is the proof of their bravery and worthiness for membership. Aside from a minimal number of distribution and production credits at the very beginning, DELIRIUM opens directly to a scene of one such potential initiate attempting to make it through the process.

After a collection of found-footage action tropes, our would-be initiate falls into a trance-like state (and not for the first time in this opening sequence) and disappears into the dreaded haunted mansion.

For the rest of the movie we follow the members of the "Hell Gang" as they enter the haunted mansion and attempt to locate and retrieve their missing initiate. As you might expect, it doesn't turn out well for everyone involved. The End.

I am struck with the notion that what makes a movie truly disappointing is not so much when it's relentlessly terrible from first frame to last, but rather when a movie displays flashes and glimpses of genuine artistry and creativity, but those flashes and glimpses are mired in an overwhelming context of filmmaking manure. And so it is with DELIRIUM. Apparently randomly, there is some actual quality in this movie mixed in with stuff that is so bad it makes you want to drink bleach.

Here's a couple of examples.

Immediately following the dismally schlocky opening sequence comes the opening credits. Astoundingly, the opening credits sequence, while not completely original, is actually quite good, or at least it starts out that way. It's traditional in moviemaking to try to come up with some kind of original credits style, hopefully with characteristics that are in some way reflective of the nature or genre of the movie. With background music that is surprisingly beautiful, haunting, and what we assume is evocative of the ghostly and supernatural events that are to follow, the opening credits are expressed as a sort of floating tour through what looks like a turn-of-the-century laboratory or medical office. Individual credits are written or inscribed upon various objects that we see close up as we float around the room. Here are credits carved into a wooden table top, then engraved on a set of old rollerskates, then as worn labels on bottles of chemicals and now tooled into leather straps etc.

This is perhaps not the very first time that I have seen credits expressed in this particular way, but it's engaging and artistic and the music is exceptional. And then you notice that the whole thing is carried off rather amateurishly and inconsistently. Watching closely, you notice you can't actually read some of the credits because they're poorly executed. Then at one moment we're led to believe that we are viewing things in some kind of "bullet time" freeze, and then in the next moment characters are moving without any situational transition. Someone had good instincts and started to make some high-quality credits and then piled up on the rocks.

Or how about the basic set up of having a bunch of young, strapping jock types all descending upon a paranormally infected mansion en masse, all grimly determined to retrieve their initiate. Sounds like an interesting set up, no? Should be a potent confrontation between ectoplasmic troublemakers and testosterone-infused rebels. But nope. Everybody splits up and goes off in different directions, experiencing paranormal events that they just don't mention to each other and often don't even seem to react to. Characters seem to occasionally fall into a fugue state where they behave like zombies for no apparent reason and blah blah blah. Let's just flush that interesting set up right down the toilet.

Gaping plot holes, inconsistent scenes, continuity fails... There is no lower limit to the moviemaking sins to which this production will sink.

I recommend that you watch the movie through to the end of the opening credits. At least then you can come away with a somewhat positive feeling about it and you will have seen all of the good parts.

'Delirium' drew me into seeing it, with a cool poster/cover, an slightly intriguing but very derivative premise and as someone with a general appreciation for horror. That it was low-budget, which from frequent personal experience is rarely a good sign due to that there are so many poor ones out there, made me though apprehensive.

It is sadly however yet another film seen recently, hence some reiteration because the exact same strengths and flaws those films are present here, that to me was incredibly disappointing considering its potential which it doesn't do anywhere near enough with. 'Delirium' is terrible, with a plethora of problems (huge ones too) and doesn't do enough with its potential, which was hardly small. There is next to nothing to recommend and it is a sleeper.

Lets start with the sole positive. The scenery is atmospheric and spooky.

Unfortunately, it is not done justice by the rather direct to video schlocky way it's shot and edited, it was very clear that the film was made in a rush with no care or enthusiasm.

Going on further to the negatives, the story does feel paper thin, disjointed and over-stretched and some of it feels vague, under-explained in the last third where the film especially became duller, more predictable, more senseless and less scary. Too many characters are too sketchy and with nowhere near enough to make one want to endear to them. Their annoying and illogical decision making and behaviours frustrates.

Making the film feel bland and forgettable with not enough heart put into it. The effects are ropy at best, the sound quality is obvious and utilised cheaply (being too loud in the build ups and people's reactions) and it's best not mentioning the uniformly lumbering and histrionic acting.

Dialogue can be stilted and rambling, with lots of clichés and no depth whatsoever, while the pace goes to a standstill very quickly and drags on forever with very little going on worth caring about, never recovering. Found too many the supposedly shocking moments not surprising or scary and the supposedly creepy atmosphere dreary, due to the excessive obviousness, a lot of dumb and vague moments and explanations and the lack of tension and suspense. Would not have minded the lack of originality (the film is extremely derivative and in a dumbed and watered down way) if the story and atmosphere were at least alright in execution, in reality they were both dreadfully done. Not to mention a whole novel's worth of inconsistencies and continuity errors.

A lot of 'Delirium' has underdeveloped plot elements and often nonsensical and confusing character motivations, while too many of the things to make you jump or shocked are far from creative or scary and are pretty tame. The ending makes the film finish on an incomplete and confused whimper.

There is not enough threat here and what there is of it tends to be used poorly, it is completely unimaginative, very repetitive and more odd than creepy, completely failing to show any sense of horror and resorting to cheap typical horror tropes. Some badly sagging momentum too. The direction is leaden, inexperience seems to be all over the film, and the music doesn't really fit.

Concluding, near-irredeemably awful. 1/10 Bethany Cox

A group of college age kids call themselves "Hell Gang." Eddie (Ian Bamberg) wants to join. All he has to do is walk down a path at night....about a quarter mile we are told and film a haunted house, then come back. When Eddie never comes back, it is Hell Gang to the rescue.

We get the back story to the haunted house during the credits. It is explained shorty afterwards, and then explained the right way. The film was hand held footage. The story line was fairly good, but the execution was lacking unless you like to watch a bunch of guys in a panic screaming like girls. They even laugh like girls during the end credits. I did like the photo effect in the film.

Guide: No sex or nudity.