Criticized is a short horror web-film created by Richard Gale Films. It follows a film critic who makes the mistake of criticizing the wrong creator. It can be viewed here
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This work provides examples of:
- Ax-Crazy: Arthur Lements is clearly mentally unstable, and very violent.
- The Bad Guy Wins: Arthur gets a much better review like he wanted, and it's implied he will continue to torture and kill Darian.
- Bound and Gagged: Arthur restrains Darian using a large amount of duct tape and a pair of handcuffs and gags him with the duct tape.
- Caustic Critic: Darian Stonehall is one and even discusses this, saying he writes his reviews that way to entertain.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: Arthur puts Darian through this, gouging out his left eye with a paperclip and pouring salt in it.
- Cut Your Heart Out With A Spoon: Arthur gouges out Darian's left eye with a paperclip.
- Darker and Edgier: Richard Gale opens the film by telling the viewers that this video is much darker than any previous video he made.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Arthur Lements kidnaps and tortures Darian Stonehall because he gave his film a negative review that was so vicious that every film studio ended up rejecting it. He threatens to kill Darian along with his wife and son if he fails to write a new positive review of the film. He later assaults Darian again after the retraction review simply because he gave the film 3.5 stars out of 4.
- Doing It for the Art: In-Universe, Arthur was so obsessed with his film that he spent sleepless nights working on it, spent his life savings, stole equipment for it, gave up his house, and continued to work even after his marriage fell apart. He states it was a passion project he had worked on for 6 years.
- Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humor: "I want to thank you for your advice. Take your review with a grain of salt." Said right before Arthur pours salt in Darian's now bloody eye socket.
- Eyepatch of Power: Darian wears an eyepatch after his torture.
- Eye Scream: Arthur Lemments gouges out Darian Stonehall's left eye with a paperclip and than literally pours salt into the fresh wounds of the eye-socket.
- Freudian Excuse: Darian became a Caustic Critic of films because he couldn't become a filmmaker himself.
- Karma Houdini: Arthur Lemments. He is not shown facing repercussions despite kidnapping Darian, assaulting him with a stun gun, and torturing him with a paperclip and a container of salt. The ending hints that he may kill Darian and get away with that too.
- Madness Mantra: "It's just a little paperclip..."
- No Ending: The film ends with Arthur assaulting Darian a second time. It's unknown if Darian convinced Arthur he couldn't give a 4 star review because it would be suspicious for him to change his rating from 0 to 4, if Darian was made to go back and change the rating again, or if Arthur killed him.
- Nothing Is Scarier: The fact that we don't know if Darian was able to talk his way out of further torture or what happened is very unnerving.
- Oh, Crap!: Darian has this reaction when he realizes that his review caused every film studio to reject Arthur's movie.
- Properly Paranoid: Darian becomes this after his experience, carrying a gun with him.
- Purple Prose: "Successful films have an uncanny knack for tapping the cultural zeitgeist and channeling it back into the audience in a fresh way."
- Skewed Priorities: Arthur cared more about finishing his film than losing his house or his marriage falling apart.
- Static Stun Gun: Arthur uses a stun gun on Darian repeatedly. It's the kind where you have to physically touch someone with it to use it.
- Suddenly Shouting: After being quiet and using Tranquil Fury, Arthur breaks down and shouts "DO YOU KNOW HOW FUCKING HARD IT IS?"
- Toilet Horror: Arthur Lemments takes Darian Stonehall to a bathroom (probably in Arthur's own home) after knocking him out with his stun gun and locks him in the shower. The majority of the video is spent there, and it's where Arthur tortures Darian.
- Tranquil Fury: Arthur is calm for most of his talk with Darian, though he does slip up a few times.
- Villain Has a Point: Darian admits he was unfairly harsh with his review, not that this justifies Arthur torturing him.
- Would Hit a Girl: Arthur threatens to kill Darian's wife if he doesn't retract his review or if he tries to tell anyone about how Arthur kidnapped and tortured him.
- Would Hurt a Child: Arthur threatens the life of Darian's son.
