Freaktana A Major Disappointment

Aneesa Wardle The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Sienna-Rose Mclaughlin The movie really just wants to entertain people.

Jenni Devyn Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

CrackinFoxy For a movie made on a low budget, the cinematography is pretty good and has some very good looking scenery. Unfortunately, this one good thing is not enough to overcome the atrocious acting and bad storytelling. The story itself might have been better if told chronologically, rather than using a flashback of a flashback. It seemed like an unnecessary device to use. The lack of any emotion from the actors, especially the lead, led to the story falling flat and pointless. The lead actor just read his lines in a monotone voice like he was reading off of a cue card. It's virtually impossible to have a good drama without either an excellent script or excellent acting. This had neither. I have no doubt that the main problem with the movie is that it was produced, directed, acted, and written by the family. With the same amount of money, someone else could have made a better movie because they were emotionally detached from the content and could have seen the obvious shortcomings.

Jewciferdude You see movies all the time that are controlled by the flashbacks that show events not seen in the movie to explain the plot. But it is extremely unusual to have a flashback of someone actually having a flashback which is shown at least 10 times during this film. When i first witnessed the horror that was Strike the Tent, i was looking for a good film to watch with my friend, but what we got made a fourth grade spelling bee on film look exciting. From the costumes to the extremely bad dialoge, this movie just plain sucked. The only thing that kept me from throwing this disc into the fireplace was that it was funny beyond belief. There were no southern accents, and the soundtrack made me constipated. The one believable character had three lines and was a 70's comedy actor, but all in all, this movie made me watching my lame Cousins Barbe movies look like a life saving activity. Save yourself from this atrocity and if you can write your local critic and tell them of this bag-o-crap from a long line of bad Thinkfilm pictures.

acmetech Very well done, especially considering the budget. I liked the independent, realistic feel to it, vs manufactured or contrived Hollywoodism.I read somewhere a reviewer saying that this was "revisionist history" wrt this movie's depiction of how the slave owners treated their slaves so nicely. Absolutely untrue... there really wasn't that much depiction of slave owners with slaves to begin with, and to see one white gentleman actually talk nicely to a few slaves was totally believable.That same reviewer also said this movie was about "nostalgia" for the pre-war south. But I think it was more about southerners protecting their tradition, and then finally knowing when to surrender (hence the title "Strike the Tent"). Otoh, the extra featurette on the DVD about how the film was conceived did show that Julian's intention was to proudly depict his much beloved, land-owning family history.The film depicts pre-war southern life favorably, yet doesn't demonize the north (much), even after it's clear that the south had lost the war and had to free their slaves. It was a good depiction of one side "protecting their own", but pretty much intentionally blind to the issue of slavery itself. An interesting "real life" depiction of real history--at least from a southern, white-man's point of view.

jimkirk-1 Being a native of South Carolina, I just truly "lived" in this movie. The actors 'became' the characters and I could feel what it was like during that turbulent time.This is not a "slick" film one way or the other. Gwendolyn Edwards makes you want to bow and offer her your hand for a promenade; Julian Adams makes you realize what true Southern men went through during that time: it was not easy, nor pat, nor automatic. It was a time that was hard on all Southerners.This film made it natural that you identify with the characters: they were not heroes, supermen, or plastic celebrities. They were real people.I'll add this to my collection, and that is a rare honor indeed. Movies are so cheap and easily attainable that it's not worth the time and trouble to buy them. But I will definitely buy this one so that I always have it near to hand.A million thanks to Julian and Weston Adams and to Gwendolyn Edwards. You all made it so real and so natural.Thank you.Jim KirkParis, Tennessee