Chemical Peel is a hell of a clever little genre-bending psychological thriller/horror from some indie filmmakers who kind of know what they're doing. At first glance, it may just look like another low-budget horror thing thrown together, but once the sh** gets going, you realize it's anything but. It's no masterpiece by any measures, but a valiant effort from some first-time filmmakers.Watched this on Amazon and it actually intrigued me so much, I had to buy the DVD, too. I've actually watched it several times over the last week and every time I do, I notice something different. Specifically, with the characters. It's the little nuances -- an empty seat in a car, a Jesus-Christ pose in the shower, the Freudian slips in dialog, etc.-- that really stand out from others in the low-budget horror realm. I don't want to give too much away, of course, so I'll keep it brief.But I will say that it's really interesting how the filmmakers gave each character (at least the five main ones anyway) a very specific psychological arc and how each one really responds to the terrors that happen differently. Too often in films nowadays, when disaster strikes everyone becomes the same boring character and that doesn't happen here. In Chemical Peel, each character is her own person. And that's another thing, bravo to these filmmakers for the all- woman cast and not being afraid to actually make them feel real. Oh, and also thank you, Chemical Peel, for Angela. I love Jordan, Elise and Ray too but Angela is one of the more fascinating complex, darkly funny characters I've seen in a horror flick in long time. It seems like the more negative reviews about this film focus on hate for her, even ones that go as far as to express how much the reviewers would love to physically assault her. I personally think those kinds of statements say more about the reviewer than they do about the character, but hey what do I know?Anyway, I can honestly recommend this film to anyone who likes character-driven horror stories. Though it's clear the perfect ratings are most likely friends/family of the filmmakers and the 1 star ratings are just trolls, Chemical Peel is better than the 5- star rating average it currently holds as this is far from your average movie.

I'll be honest, I thought it started a bit slow, but once the chemicals hit the fan, it gets sorta...hypnotic. The setup puts these girls in an isolated spot (no cell phone service, so you know it's trouble), and then traps them there with a deadly poison outside the ranch. Things slowly start to fall apart (literally and figuratively), but enough happened that it remained interesting. I thought it was a pretty effective thriller, and when I say horrible in a good way, I mean precisely that. What transpires in this film is quite horrible, though I can promise there's at least one character who kind of deserves it.

Six friends - all girls - and an infant baby are at an out-of-the-way cabin that is owned by the grandfather of one of the girls. That night, while having a party, they hear noises from outside, and two guys - friends of the girls - come into the cabin for a brief visit.The next morning, two girls go outside and find that it's foggy, and it stinks of bleach. There are also dead birds on the ground. A moment later, a scream is heard. The girl with the baby is yelling that her child can't breath, so she runs out with the kid, gets in the car and drives away, leaving the girls totally stranded. They turn on the news and hear that there was a train accident that spilled a lot of toxins into the air, and then as is typical, the TV goes out. Also, they cannot get cell phone reception, and there is a busy signal when they called 9-1-1. One of the guys from the other night bangs on the door, but the girls refuse to let him in because if he's sick, he might contaminate everyone. While the girls are sealing up the windows with duct tape, they start wondering if ebola is outside. As well, they think terrorists might be responsible for the train accident. As the movie progresses, some of the girls show they are as big a threat as the danger outside.Let me say that I thought this would really, really suck. When I saw the cinematography, which reeked of very low-budget, I almost turned it off. At the beginning, the girls were kind of obnoxious. However, I like the atmosphere of places miles from anywhere, so I stuck with it. There was a lot of blood and gore, but no nudity. There was a part when a girl strips down to take a shower, but I think they even blurred her butt crack, which kinda cracked me up - no pun intended. lol. The acting got better as the movie went on. You could tell it was pretty low budget, but they did a good job, and state-of-the-art special effects were not needed. This was not a found-footage film, thankfully. I think anyone can appreciate the movie for what it is; a movie about a group of people trapped in a tragic circumstance. The bloody CPR was the grossest part of the movie. The dumbest part of the movie was what happened in the hospital room between Rae and the company representative. I don't know what it is with movies like this and Extraterrestrial that feel they need some sort of an explosive ending. It wasn't necessary at all. Anyway, I gave this a 5-star rating.

So many "OOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! That was so gross!!!!" moments! I really loved how this horror film attempts to explain the 'monster' instead of leaving you asking so many questions.The character development is not lacking as we quickly love our leading lady and loathe the agitator. Lots of solid revenge moments and one epic shower scene (don't worry, its all bloody gore)! I hate when horror films have blood that is fake but it LOOKS FAKE! This looks like the real deal, especially when its all over the floors and our heroes. After seeing this film at the premier, I can't wait to get my copy and watch it this season. I am pretty sure my face will peel off with all the extras on the DVD and I can have a digital copy to take with me where ever. Yay!