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greensleaf wrote on 12/15/2011:

Ok, so cute guys who get off punching each other? This is like FIGHT CLUB but gayer- at least it SHOULD be. Its really boring and badly done. You should check out BLOODLUST instead

Amos Lassen wrote on 04/01/2011:

“Shiner” has great promise and could be so much better but don’t let that stop you from looking at this interesting film. “Shiner” is made up of three interweaving stories of sex, abuse and obsession. It is a disturbing film and I think that is so because it deals with some of the realities of life. Tony (Scott Stepp) and Danny (Derris Nile) are participants in homoerotic activity (let that suffice for now); Elaine (Conny Van Dyke) AND Reg (Seth Harrison) have a somewhat normal relationship that becomes kinky after they argue; a stalker who follows a well built boxer (David Zelina) which ends in a confrontation.
As I watched this movie there were tines that I felt as if I was watching a run through rather than a finished movie. It was shot with a hand held video camera and consequently the picture is not always clear and the sound is terrible. But I still found it quite fascinating even though it is quirt sloppy. If you do not pay attention to the technical problems, this is a compelling film and the movie does have some highpoints. If you watch it with an open mind, there is something to be learned here about the way people handle obsession.
The three couples are dysfunctional to the letter. We get a look at the way violence and eroticism are meshed and how impossible to see where one stops and the other starts. The two supposedly straight guys enhance their friendship by beating each other and Danny wears his bruises with a sense of pride. Tony beats him so that we will have a “shiner” and thereby be able to achieve orgasm.
I am sure that somewhere in this film is a good idea. Whatever it is never makes it and the movie sinks under its own exploitive nature. There is a story to be told and one that should be heard. It’s a pity that it did not happen here.

Green Giant wrote on 10/19/2010:

SHINER is a perfect example of a low budget
independent film being praised for simply tackling
a "tough" un-Hollywood subject even though the film is in fact a piece of crap. The acting is horrid
and the beatings etc... would look fake to a
blind man. When I returned this to my local video
store I suggested they create a new shelving category- Pure Cinematic Bilge.

Craig Wilson wrote on 09/20/2007:

With all that's happening in America, I'm surprised that no one is looking at movies to see how crazy and violence driven we have become. In a stark and campy way, shiner, does this and throws in some strange bonuses. The movie is largely wasted on its audience's main drive to see it for its skin appeal. I use the film to talk to an art class about a perverted vision of the future. One where we fight and get off because we can and as recreation. Just like fat people who eat to calm down and to relax. Shiner is much clearer and cleaner in its aim at showing this. It doesn't try to make you empathize with the characters. It's like the director says in his commentary, an experience in voyeurism. There's those who fight and destroy (soldiers) and those who watch and get off doing so (the rest of us).

Frank wrote on 03/09/2007:

I didn't think this was so bad. The reviews on here kind of suck but still I bought it on sale. The last half of the film is a turn on.