Rating : - 0.25 STARS: It's "Ugly" alright. "The Stupid" might be a better name though.
"The Ugly" is a so-called horror movie about a serial killer who is confined in an outrageous mental institution. Enter a highly publicized psychiatrist who comes onto the scene to presumably provide a second opinion on our sympathetic serial killer. As such, the audience is then subjected to the dreaded flashback mode of film making in which the killer recalls his past deeds. In the process, "The Ugly" tries to be cute and clever by throwing in illogical and outrageously ridiculous scenes to throw the viewer into blow-your-mind world. The result is ugly. Hence the name of this film, "The Ugly" or just "The Stupid".

Movies that attempt the flashback method often make for a frustrating viewing experience, (not that the method cannot be successfully done, see "Godfather II"). Just take "The Stupid", I'm sorry, "The Ugly", which uses this method in an attempt to be clever, but the movie just never gets off the ground. While horror movies certainly do not have to be realistic per se, they do need to be convincing, and this, among other areas, is where "The Ugly" completely fails. Aside from its questionable method of cinematic procession and complete lack of theatrical structure, "The Ugly" is also plagued by bad acting, an over the top and boring script, poor execution of a unimaginative plot and an unconvincing portrait of a serial killer. Indeed, "The Ugly" tries to be clever, but perhaps it attempts to be too cute for its own good.

While style over substance can work in horror cinema, it takes an especially talented director to make it happen. Just take a look at Dario Argento's "Suspiria" and "Inferno" for a perfect example of how to do a style over substance horror flick. However, just because a movie tries to be different does not make it good in and of itself, and that is what we unfortunately get in "The Ugly", an ugly and boring movie watching experience completely lacking in the ability to provide any degree of horror in the audience.