The abandoned investment property is a fine setting for this tale, but director Patterson inexplicably shuffles us - and the entire cast - through every single room with an "And this here is the bedroom"-style tour of the facilities. Only veteran thespian, Tony Manders, in the tiny role of detective, provides any hint of a sympathetic character.
There is not a quirky nerd, a tough jock, a brainiac, or a nympho among them they are all so similarly bland & useless that it is no small relief when they start dropping out. These actors do not fit together they are simply not believable as friends, much less collaborating investors. Rather than a felicitous opening ala Cabin in the Woods, Friday the 13th or The Burning, Patterson's bar scene character-intro plays like a funeral dirge, with weak dialogue, lagging conversation, apprentice editing & stiff acting. Patterson & cinematographer Pasternak's inexperience is on display from the start. In his second project for ITN, writer/director Ben Patterson returns with another cast of amateur actors & crew and a half-baked script about a group of six friends who encounter a killer while renovating an investment property.
We should make a scary movie!" Unfortunately, Chatterbox is this latter kind of ITN product. While a few ITN distributed films feature known actors such Nicholas Cage (Grand Isle) or Lance Henriksen (Paranormal Island), much more typical is a product made by novice actors/crew with an investor pitch that surely goes something like, "Dude, my dad has a creepy looking cabin behind his house. However, whereas AIP films typically cost $200-300K & grossed a few million dollars, ITN products are often budgeted for less than $50K & go straight to VOD & retail DVD outlets. Arkoff's American International Pictures, whose success spanned the 1950-1970s, ITN Distribution specializes in micro-budget products aimed at a somewhat lowbrow audience willing to overlook rather obvious compromises of quality. It's hard to argue with a business strategy that's proven to work.
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