There. Now that I got that out of my system, I can start the review. I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised that a movie was made so strikingly similar to the blockbuster hit, Saw. In fact, what’s really surprising is that more copycats haven’t tried to ride the wave of the Saw phenomena. After all, the success of George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead generated a mass of subsequent zombie films. The success of John Carpenter's Halloween spawned a generation of slasher films. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. And in the horror movie biz, it’s the easiest way to make a quick buck.

Are You Scared is about six young people who wake up in an old, abandoned warehouse. They come to realize that they’ve been chosen to participate in a reality show called, "Are You Scared?" The competition requires the unsuspecting players to face their worst fears. What they don’t know is that failure will cost them their lives! (Think of a deadly version of Fear Factor.)

This film shows a strong lack of ingenuity on the part of writer/director Andy Hurst (Wild Things 2, Single White Female 2: The Psycho). Even the concept of “reality show gone awry” had been done before in Halloween: Resurrection. Clearly, little to no effort was put into the screenplay.

Hot on the trail of the demented game show host (played by Brent Fidler) is Special Agent “Christine Robison” (Jennifer Cozza) and a frustrated detective, “Jay Bowman” (Eric Francis). Agent Robison, a criminal profiler, does her best to do her “Agent Starling” impersonation, but the benighted script-writing made her come off as a simpleton. The acting of the six contestants wasn’t bad, however the remaining characters were pitiful.

Nonetheless, I still found the movie enjoyable. The perilous “challenges” posed to the contestants were innovative, and filmed with moderate intensity. Hurst also manages to keep the story moving at a fast enough pace that boredom never gets a chance to set in. Also, while the movie is certainly not filled with dazzling special makeup effects, there is a “head chopping” scene toward the end of the film that borders on brilliant.

So overall, I found the movie mildly entertaining. People who like the Saw series might like this movie as well. Granted, the lead villain is no “Jigsaw” (or Joe Rogan for that matter), and Andy Hurst is no James Wan (or Darren Lynn Bousman), but for the price of a rental, Are You Scared is a worthwhile watch.