Crush the Skull

Crush the Skull is a 2015 American comedy horror-thriller film directed by Viet Nguyen, starring Chris Dinh, Katie Savoy, Chris Riedell, Tim Chiou, Lauren Reeder and Walter Michael Bost.

Cast

 * Chris Dinh as Ollie
 * Katie Savoy as Blair
 * Chris Riedell as Connor
 * Tim Chiou as Riley
 * Lauren Reeder as Vivian
 * Devyn Stokdyk as Young Vivian
 * Walter Michael Bost as Killer
 * Lincoln Hoppe as Sheriff Dennis
 * Nathan Moore as Officer Gabbe
 * Leonard Wu as Koji Miller
 * Jerry Ying as Yoji Miller
 * Michelle Grondine as Torture Video Victim
 * Katrina Nelson as Mom
 * Justin Ray as Boy Toy

Release
The film premiered at the 2015 Los Angeles Film Festival, where it won the Nightfall Award.

Reception
Martin Tsai of the Los Angeles Times wrote that the film is "Easily the most thrilling thriller in recent memory", and that it "recalls the snappy meta horrors of the mid-1990s almost as though the glut of formulaic straight-to-VOD throwaways circa the mid-2000s never happened."

Timothy Tau of IndieWire gave the film a rating of "B+" and wrote, "Extremely entertaining and well-crafted, Crush The Skull promises a bright future in genre films for Nguyen."

Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter wrote that despite the film's "formulaic and derivative aspects" and the "overzealous camerawork that is far more busy than effective", it is "fun at times, thanks to the frequently witty dialogue delivered by the performers in deadpan fashion."