Day 316: The People Under The Stairs

The People Under The Stairs

I'm more worried about the skull over the roof

The term “master of horror” is thrown around a lot. It's attached to names like George Romero, Dario Argento, Lucio Fulci, John Carpenter, and whoever directed Sex In The City. One person that has almost always received that title is Wes Craven. With a resume including such massive horror movies as A Nightmare On Elm Street, Scream, The Hills Have Eyes, and The Last House On The Left. Craven has also shown a desire to work in a mix horror with comedy, sometimes to mixed results. Movies like Shocker and Vampire In Brooklyn were less than stellar in terms of quality and box office draw. Were they just terrible movies or do people not want to see lighter horror movies?

The People Under The Stairs is a 1991 horror film starring Brandon Adams (The Mighty Ducks, The Sandlot) as Pondexter “Fool” Williams. Fool lives in the slums of Los Angeles with his sick mother. His family are about to be evicted when Leroy (Ving Rhames, Dawn Of The Dead, Pulp Fiction) recruits Fool to help with a robbery. Supposedly, the Robeson house outside of the city contains priceless gold coins. After a failed attempt at getting in the house with Fool dressed as a Boy Scout, Leroy's accomplice Spenser gets in dressed as a utility man. When Spenser doesn't return, both Leroy and Fool break into the house, narrowly escaping a guard dog. The are unaware that this is no normal house and the Robeson's are no normal family. Daddy (Everett McGill, License To Kill, Under Siege 2) and Mommy (Wendy Robie, Twin Peaks, The Glimmer Man) are a deranged, racist incestuous couple who terrorize and abuse their daughter Alice (A.J. Langer, Escape From LA, My So-Called Life). Fool ends up in the cellar where he comes across a group of deformed men. Terrified, he runs back up stairs and finds Leroy. Fool and Leroy discover the house is heavily fortified with unbreakable windows, automatic locks, and electrified door knobs. Daddy shoots and kills Leroy while Fool is able to escape through a labyrinth of tunnels in the house, thanks to Alice. Alice explains that Mommy and Daddy has been kidnapping boys for years and when they disobeyed, they were imprisoned in the cellar, resorting to cannibalism to survive. Will Fool and Alice be able to escape this house of horror?

That's the best tic-tac-toe board ever

On the surface, The People Under The Stairs has a pretty good horror story. A kid, trapped in a house full of homicidal maniacs and cannibals trying to find his way out. It's the movie's execution that takes away a lot of the horror. It's as if Wes Craven saw Home Alone (which came out the year prior) and said “Hey, I want to do that, but with more gore!” While The People Under The Stairs is certainly a horror movie, it's not the horror movie I was expecting. It turns out, the people under the stairs are just abused humans with bad skin. Kind of disappointing. I figured the people under the stairs would play a more prominent role in the movie, but more focus was given on Daddy and Mommy. They are completely deranged, to the point where they can no longer be taken seriously. Seeing Daddy run around the house in a full “gimp” BSDM suit could have been scary and disturbing, but just came off as silly and unexpected. The movie isn't exactly a comedy, but it does have comedic moments, complete with goofy sound effects. The movie still manages to be entertaining, but not in a horror movie sort of way.

The movie has a good amount of action and a surprising amount of gore. If you ever wanted to see Ving Rhames rib cage, this is your chance. The People Under The Stairs goes a different route by having children as the main characters. I feel that making them a little older would have allowed the movie to be more serious in nature and tone. Instead, we get wackiness and nominal scares. The acting is good throughout, with Wendy Robie and Everett McGill putting in the best performances. The house is very cool and you're never sure what is going to happen next. Craven uses many different styles of filming throughout the film, using different angles, extreme close-ups, and sped-up action. The writing occasionally feels like a white person writing for black characters, but it never reaches the level of Mitt Romney saying “Who let the dog's out?” when taking a picture in an urban area. 

"Welcome to the Republican National Committee."

The People Under The Stairs manages to be mostly entertaining even though it favored comedy over horror. I wanted more people under the stairs than what we were given, but Daddy and Mommy were such strong characters that it's a wash. The movie could have been very scary, but it's just too silly thanks to sound effects and over-the-top characters. The acting is very good and the direction is solid. I do have to question the movie using young children instead of teenagers in the main roles. It hobbled the potential for extreme content which would have added to the horror. While the overall themes in the movie are creepy, nothing is particularly scary. If you're looking for something a little different, give The People Under The Stairs a try.

6.5/10

Day 279: Let Sleeping Corpses Lie

Let Sleeping Corpses Lie

You lie down with corpses, you're going to get...uh...horrible diseases

“We're all automatons: each one of us is a slave to the basic instructions embedded deep within our brains, the instincts enshrined deep down in our DNA. Inexorable logics. Uncontrollable patterns in our behavior; tics and compulsions that we can't avoid; obsessive thought, violence, delusion, paranoia: we're all zombies!” Those are the lyrics to the song “Drive To Destruction” by the awesome British thrash metal/“Zombicore” band Send More Paramedics. Our friends “across the pond” sure do love their zombies. Whether it's 28 Days Later, Shaun Of The Dead, or the television series Dead Set, the UK has a solid history of making good zombie-related entertainment. Most of my examples, though are from the bast 15 years. I felt it was time to go back into horror's past and see a British zombie movie from an earlier time. Well, it's actually filmed in Italy and has mostly Italian actors, but it's supposed to take place in England, so we'll go with that.

Let Sleeping Corpses Lie (also known as The Living Dead At The Manchester Morgue and Don't Open The Window) is 1974 Spanish/Italian zombie movie set in the English countryside. The movie stars Ray Lovelock (Almost Human, Fiddler On The Roof) as George and Cristina Galbo (The House That Screamed, From Pink To Yellow) as Edna. On a trip to sell an antique statue, George's motorcycle is accidentally damaged by Edna. Edna gives him a ride to his destination, but insists on stopping at her sister's house first. They get lost on the way and George gets out of the car to ask some men for directions. Some of the men work for the Department of Agriculture who are using an experimental machine that uses ultra-sonic radiation to kill insects before they can destroy crops. While waiting by the car, Edna is attacked by a man who came out of the river, but he disappears before George returns. Meanwhile, Edna's sister Katie, a heroin addict, gets into a fight with her husband Martin and plans on killing him. Before she can complete her plan, she is attacked by the same man who attacked Edna. Katie escapes and runs to her husband who is then attacked by the man. Martin hits the man in the head several times with a rock, but he cannot be stopped and the man, now revealed to be zombie, kills Martin. Edna and George arrive in time to see Katie frantically running from the scene. The police sergeant (Arthur Kennedy, The Sentinel, Champion) accuses Katie of killing Martin, causing her to have a breakdown and be hospitalized. At the hospital, George learns that some of the babies, all from the area they just came from, have been trying to bite people. George and Edna try to exonerate Katie while the sergeant pursues them. Their investigation leads them to the town graveyard where they enter an underground crypt where the man who killed Martin was supposedly buried. There, they are attacked by the man, who brings other corpses to life. They kill and gruesomely eat a policeman sent to trail George and Edna. With the dead coming back to life and the sergeant on their trail, how will George and Edna survive and will they be able to prove Katie's innocence?

"This police officer is going straight to my thighs!"

I didn't know much about Let Sleeping Corpses Lie before viewing it, but had seen it's name pop up on multiple top zombie movie lists. If it can share the same space as Dawn Of The Dead, Planet Terror, and Dead Alive, it must be good. Right? Well, maybe for some people, but definitely not for me. That's right, I didn't like a “cult classic”. I was incredibly bored for most of this movie. I felt that not enough time was devoted to the zombies. Instead, a good chunk of the movie focuses on the asshole sergeant giving George and Edna a hard time like they're a couple of college kids on spring break. The story itself is quite bland for my taste, filled with unlikable characters and mediocre acting. The direction is fine and the graphic violence will make serious horror fans squeal with glee.

I will say that Let Sleeping Corpses Lie does fit in well between Night Of The Living Dead and the gorier Italian zombie movies like Zombie. These are the slow, lurching Romero zombies combined with Fulci's extremley violent zombies. There aren't a lot of action scenes, but the ones that do exist are pretty gory for the time. It's just not enough to keep my attention for very long. Instead of the dead rising from their graves or people turning into a zombie from an infected bite, these zombies reanimate after the lead zombie puts blood on their eyes. That's, uh, new to say the least. It wasn't entirely clear if a bite would change people, so that's just poor story making. By not having zombie bites change people, a lot of danger and excitement is removed from the movie. The zombies all make a constant groaning noise, which makes sense in terms of “science” but it does become annoying over time. The movie does have social commentary in regards to technology and authority, but I would have liked more. Once again, too much focus was given on the quest to prove Katie's innocence.

Just another night at Glenn Beck's house

Let Sleeping Corpses Lie isn't a bad movie, it just didn't entertain me. The pacing was too slow and there was not enough action to keep my attention. The zombies are of the traditional slow variety and the makeup used to create them isn't particularly special. The violence and gore are both very, very good, but they are used sparingly. I appreciated the brief social commentary used in the film. It's more than a lot of other zombie movies are able to muster. The movie is currently on Youtube, so by all means give it a watch. You may like it better than I did.

5/10

Day 156: I Am Omega

I Am Omega

Omega Man

I knew it was going to be bad. It was just a matter of how bad it was going to be. I had watched a few minutes of I Am Omega when it premiered on the SyFy channel. The description mentioned something along the lines of a zombie wasteland and those words are like catnip to me. What I saw was certainly a wasteland; a wasteland of entertainment. Maybe I didn't give the movie enough time. Plenty of movies start out slow just to become great towards the end. Yeah, and maybe monkeys might fly out of Uwe Boll's ass.

I Am Omega is a 2007 horror movie starring Mark Dacascos (Iron Chef America, Double Dragon) as Renchard. Los Angeles has become a post-apocalyptic zone filled with zombie-like cannibals. It appears that the infection is widespread because Renchard cannot get a radio signal and has not seen another human being for a long time. His house has been retrofitted with fences, alarms, and flood lights which help warn him when cannibals attack. He keeps his sanity be reading, training in martial arts, and driving around the city planting charges. Renchard receives a distress call on his computer from a woman named Brianna, who is hiding somewhere in the city. She was heading to Antioch, a town supposedly free of infection, when her group was attacked and she had to take refuge. Two men, named Vincent and Mike, claiming to be from Antioch arrive at Renchard's home and ask for his help in finding Brianna. When Renchard refuses, they blow up his house and force him to help. It is revealed that Brianna is actually immune to whatever it is that turns people into cannibals and the men want to kill her because they like what the world has become. Will Renchard be able to save Brianna and survive the cannibals?

"God, I hate Bobby Flay."

Well, I watched the rest of I Am Omega and no, it did not get better. It shouldn't be a surprise because the movie was done by The Asylum, possibly the worst “studio” ever. You may remember The Asylum from my review of Zombie Apocalypse, another shittastic horror movie. I Am Omega is loosely (and I use the term loosely, if that can even be imagined) based on the novel I Am Legend by Richard Matheson. It was released about one month before Will Smith's I Am Legend hit theaters in hopes that stupid people would accidentally think this was a real movie. That's one of The Asylum's calling cards; make a direct-to-video knockoff of a popular movie, give it a similar name, and pray that idiots pay 3 dollars for it when they buy gas.

I'd say the story for I Am Omega was terrible, but that would mean there's an actual story. We have no idea what caused the outbreak or any specific details. We don't know if the infection is widespread and are given conflicting ideas; Renchard can't get a radio signal and is shocked when Brianna contacts him. If he thinks there's no one left, why bother blowing up the city? What good would that do? How did Renchard survive when everyone else died, despite him constantly leaving his weapons in his car or just out of reach. Shit just happens and we're supposed to role with it. On top of the barely-there story, we're “treated” to such exciting scenes as Mark Dacascos doing martial arts without his shirt on, Mark Dacascos driving around, and Mark Dacascos taking a piss. 

"Now where is that Hanson cd?" 

The movie was clearly rushed and probably cost about $50 to make. The “effects” are embarrassingly bad. Not counting the cannibals, who were probably just the same 2 over and over again, there are only 6 actors in the movie. The cannibals don't need to be shot in the head, so the movie ignores the basic zombie rules. I guess that's fine, since they're not officially zombies, but some distinction would have been nice. They don't look that bad, so at least the movie managed to not screw up that. There's plenty of action, but it's not entertaining and the direction is just awful. Mark Dacascos is fine for a script that must have been written on used toilet paper. His costars don't fair any better.

Movies like I Am Omega only exist in bargain bins and flea markets just to part horror fans with their hard-earned money. The Asylum just apes off the work of other movies and tries to rip people off. The story makes little to no sense and has very little entertainment value. The action isn't thrilling and there isn't much horror to speak of. The movie is rushed and cheap and you shouldn't dignify it with your time or money. All that being said, it's still probably one of the better movies from The Asylum. Of course, that's like saying that puddle of puke is better than that pile of shit.

1.5/10

Day 143: Frontier(s)

Frontier(s)

Sacre bleu!

The wonderful world of the public library strikes again. Like I have said previously, the library is great source for movies. I was perusing the movie section when I saw Frontier(s) staring at me from the foreign film section. The cover was pretty striking and had the “8 Horror Films To Die For” stamp from Horrorfest. And hey, it's French! I don't think I've reviewed a horror movie from France yet. Heck, I don't think I've ever scene a French horror movie. Well, that's what this blog is for; new movies and new experiences.

Frontier(s) is a 2007 French horror movie starring Estelle Lefebure as Yasmine. A far-right extremist has been elected in France which leads to rioting in the streets. Alex, Tom, Farid, Sami, and his sister Yasmine, who is three months pregnant with Alex's baby, commit a lucrative robbery before leaving the chaos of the city. The group splits up, with Tom and Farid going ahead with the money, while Alex and Yasmine take a shot Sami to the emergency room. Sami dies, but not before he tells Yasmine to keep the baby. Tom and Farid arrive at a small family-run inn in the French countryside. There they meet two beautiful women, Gilberet and Klaudia, and their musclebound brother Goetz. Tom and Farid text directions to the inn to Yasmine before being seduced by the two women. After the sexy time, Tom and Farid are brutally attacked by all three and their brother Karl. They try to escape in their car, but Goetz runs them off a small cliff. Injured, but alive, they crawl into a mineshaft that leads back to the house and Tom is captured by the third brother, Hans. Farid gropes his way through the shaft while avoiding the family's deformed children. He is eventually trapped in a steam room and cooked to death by Hans. Unaware, Alex and Yasmine arrive at the inn and are soon beaten and captured. The head patriarch of the family, von Geisler, and wants Yasmine to wed Karl and usher in a new generation for him. It is revealed that he and the rest of the family are cannibal Nazis and their house stores the bodies of many past victims. He kills Alex and has another sister, Eva, care for Yasmine. Eva reveals that she was kidnapped and had a few children with Hans, all of whom were rejected due to “complications”. At dinner, von Geisler announces that Karl will lead the family now, much to the chagrin of Goetz. Yasmine grabs a knife and takes von Geisler hostage. Hans accidentally kills von Geisler, and Karl shoots him. Yasmine makes a run for it under a hail of gunfire. Will she be able to escape this deranged family? 

"It smells like Arby's in here"

Originally, Frontier(s) received an NC-17 rating and there's a good reason for that because damn is this violent. It was so bad that they couldn't even show it during the 2007 Horrorfest. ER doctors in the worst neighborhoods don't see this much blood in an hour and a half. Gorehounds will salivate over the various gruesome injuries and deaths. It can be most closely compared to Hostel, High Tension, and House of 1000 Corpses, but it is unique enough to not be considered a ripoff. Where as a movie like Hostel can be considered “torture porn” where gruesome acts are committed just to make the audience squirm and shriek, the violence in this move has a specific purpose to the story and isn't really violence for the sake of violence. That's not to say there aren't some brutal scenes. I won't say exactly what happens, but an Achilles tendon does meet and “cutting” fate. The story itself is pretty thrilling from beginning to end and will keep you on the edge of your seat. The social commentary is appropriate and the parallels between what is happening Yasmine and the country is much appreciated.

Thankfully, the movie is actually in French with English subtitles. I can't tell you how many movies are ruined with terrible dubbing. Director Xavier Gens has a great eye for horror by using creative camera shots and proper lighting.The acting is good all around, each role convincing. One slight problem I had was after going through some of the atrocities, Yasmine goes through a sort of shock and has a trembling twitch. I applaud the realism and in small doses it would have been good, but it happened a bit too much and made her look silly. If you sped it up and put Benny Hill music, the movie would have been slapstick. It's a small complaint and when you get that specific, you're really fishing for things to worry about, but it stuck with me nonetheless.

That cleaver better be clean!

Frontier(s) is a thrilling and gruesome horror movie with an interesting story to keep the action going. There is a lot of violence so this may not be appropriate for some younger viewers. Of course, plenty of violence is inflicted on the Nazis, which is always good, because fuck Nazis. The acting and directing are both solid and the social commentary is done well without being too heavy-handed. It's nice to see other countries getting in on the horror act and I'd love to see more of what France has to offer. If you have a strong stomach, make sure to check out this movie.

8/10

Day 75: Nite Tales

Nite Tales

Nooooooo booooy!

I like movie anthologies. You get a few different stories all rolled into one. If you don't like the first movie, you can just skip over it and watch the rest. Sometimes you're lucky and get to enjoy a few good stories. Of course, you do run the risk of sitting through multiple movies that weren't good enough to be made into feature length films. And on that rare occasion, you have to sit through Flavor Flav prattling on about nothing. Welcome to Karma and Storm, two horror stories in Nite Tales.

Karma

Karma tells the story of 4 criminals that rob a small-town bank. One of the criminals is shot by a security guard and they high-tail it out of town. Out in the country, their car breaks down. The ringleader orders one of the thugs to kill the wounded criminal. They then travel to a house down the road in hopes that they can steal a truck. With no way to get inside the truck, they approach the house in hopes of finding car keys. They are let in by a strange old country man, who shares the house with his silent wife and mentally-handicapped brother. Each of the three criminals explore the house in search of keys, only to be knocked out by an unseen force. They awaken to find themselves being chained-up and tortured. The old man informs them that they do not like thieves and plan to eat plan to eat the thugs. He offers them a deal that will allow when of them to go free. Will they be able to decide or will they all become dinner?

Sorry, can't stay for dessert

Karma is a very basic story, one that I feel I've heard many times. The plot of black criminals terrorizing white people and then white people eating African-Americans in revenge makes me feel incredibly uncomfortable. And why do they have to be criminals? If they were just 4 guys riding down a country road, the story would have been essentially the same. I couldn't understand exactly what the story tellers were going for. We're told these guys are killers and thieves, but their tortuous punishment makes us feel sympathetic. The acting is fine, although for whatever reason, this version was edited, so all the curse words were silenced. There were times where I could not even hear entire conversations because of all the silencing. There is a good effect on screen right before each person is knocked out, something I really haven't seen in too many movies, so that was a creative touch. Beyond that, Karma isn't anything special.

2.5/10

Storm

Storm is about 5 friends playing Bloody Mary on a stormy night. The ritual is interrupted by a knock at the door. They are shocked to see a clown standing outside. James the Clown (Tony Todd, Candyman, Final Destination) claims his car broke down and he just needs to use the phone. The kids are terrified because the clown is so odd and creepy and are relieved when a policeman shows up. Things are not what they seem and one by one, the young friends are brutally murdered. A game of whodunit begins, with each person being a suspect. Is this cop really a cop? Is The Clown actually an undercover police officer? Is Bloody Mary real and slitting people's throats?

Corpsey the Clown

Storm is a very confused and convoluted story full of plot holes. It's hard enough just looking past the fact that the “teenagers” look like they're in their late 20s. Then you throw in a story about a cop who's not really a cop and a clown that's really a cop with a side story of Bloody Mary. And if James is really a police officer, why was he acting so creepy to being with? Why bother having Bloody Mary at all when it's just pushed to the fringes of the story? And then why try to tie it to the first movie? It makes no sense. NO SENSE! Also, there was one scene where faucets are turning on by themselves. I could clearly see string pulling the lever. Helpful reminder, don't use black string. Tony Todd is awesome as the clown, but unfortunately even he couldn't save the muddled mess.

2/10

When I watched Nite Tales, I was hoping for something like Tales From The Hood; fun urban horror stories. I thought Flav might be funny as hyper Crypt Keeper-like MC, but he just rambles on about nothing. It's like they forgot to write him lines and just had him huff out of a mysterious paper bag before shoving him out in front of the camera.Unfortunately, I got a confused jumble of half-baked ideas with poor follow through. Throw in an unnecessary intro and outro by the ever-annoying Flavor Flav, and you've got yourself a disappointing movie.

4.5/10

Day 30: Deadtime Stories: Volume 1

Deadtime Stories: Volume 1

You're going to have to scrub real hard to get that tub ring out

George Romero is the undisputed king of zombies. Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, and Day of the Dead are all horror movie classics. Even his later releases Land of the Dead, Diary of the Dead, and Survival of the Dead have great moments. His non-zombie related movies, such as Monkey Shines and The Dark Half tend to be overlooked, which is unfortunate because Romero has a great eye for directing. I came across Deadtime Stories because his name was plastered right on the poster. I thought to myself, “Hey, maybe this will be like Creepshow. I loved Creepshow.” How wrong I was.

The first story, entitled “Valley of Shadows,” sees a woman searching the jungle for her missing husband . Or at least, that's what I think its about. There is barely a story and it doesn't help that it jumps around faster than a methed-out kangaroo. It's like someone watched ten minutes of Cannibal Holocaust and thought they'd make a 25 minute short. The direction is just awful, with shots out of focus, too close, or just completely pointless. The acting if flat and painful and there's a pointless twist ending. I've seen commercials more entertaining and compelling than this. This movie violates the Geneva Convention because sitting through it is absolute torture.

People paid money for this? HAHAHAH!

0/10

Story number 2, “Wet,” follows a man that discovers a mysterious box on the beach with a hand inside. He asks a local dealer about it and it is revealed that the hand belongs to a mermaid. More boxes are discovered and the man pieces together a mermaid skeleton. The mermaid comes to life and terrorizes him. Conceptually, Wet is a decent idea, but it tends to drag on for too long. There is a slight burst of action and a genuinely creepy moment, but its not enough to keep you entertained. The acting is passable, with some good musical swells to keep the sense of horror. The twist ending comes off as silly and unnecessary. Still, it was better than the first movie.

But she has so much INNER beauty!

3/10

The final story, “House Call” is about a country doctor that pays a house visit for a teenage boy that claims to be a vampire. This story is directed by Tom Savini, so we're in much better hands than the first two. Well shot and well acted, this is clearly the best of the three. You get a little bit of blood and action, with a steady sense of horror and dread throughout. House Call is shot in an interesting, old-timey style. It takes a little while to get used to it, and it may not appeal to everyone, but I appreciate the effort to make this story stand out. There is yet another twist ending, but at least this time, it helps make the story more compelling.

I think I found the cause of your chest pain

6/10

George Romero's name is on this movie, but don't be fooled. He serves as host and executive producer, but not as writer or director. The acting ranges from decent to mind-numbingly bad. Same for the stories. There is no saving grace or scene to make Deadtime Stories worth your time. Thoroughly mediocre, you should avoid this at all cost.

3/10

Day 2: Parents

 Parents

Parents just don't understand

I was set on watching a different movie when I happened across Parents. It's a 50's horror-comedy, shot in the 80s? There are cannibals and it's starring Randy Quaid?! Oh yeah, that other movie can wait. Horror-comedy is a bit of a misnomer for this film because there aren't actually many laughs. The movie is less “ha-ha” and more “heh...(awkward silence)”. That's what most of the movie is; a lot of creepy and awkward moments.

Parents follows the story of Michael, a child so odd, he'd make Vincent Price uncomfortable. Michael refuses to eat his dinner at home and has nightmares. Most of the horror in this movie comes from the nightmares and they do not skimp on the blood. These nightmares are not “The Boogeyman is going to get me” nightmares, but “Sausage links are trying to strangle me” nightmares.

Speaking of food, meat should have gotten it's name on the poster because there are some serious closeups of the food. There are so many shots of meat that you'd think the movie was either a Beef Industry infomercial or a “Meat Is Murder” documentary from PETA. I seriously regret eating while watching this film.

Michael is afraid of his father and I don't blame him. Randy Quaid is the real star of this movie. He is a far better actor than he is given credit for and it really shows in Parents. Quaid oozes so much creepiness that we should bottle his sweat and market it to Craigslist Casual Encounters posters. He is the quintessential overbearing father in every coming-of-age indie movie. Everything looks just swell on the outside, but beneath the surface bubbles anger and hatred. You are truly afraid to be alone in the same room with him.

Music really helps set the tone for Parents. The minimal spooky keyboard music is juxtaposed nicely with 1950's pop music. The wholesome 50's clothes and furniture hide the dark and twisted underbelly of the movie. Good camera angles and film tricks create a sense of fear and dread, but sometimes tread a bit too closely to Sophomore year at film school.

The only thing that hurts the movie is that Michael is just so. Freaking. Awkward. It gets to the point where you just want to grab him and scream “BE NORMAL FOR 2 FUCKING MINUTES!”. I guess its a compliment to the actor, but it comes very close to “cheering for the bad guy to get him” anger.

Overall, I'd say the movie is worth watching just to see some real good acting from someone who has been mired in mediocre comedies. Attention to detail such as the clothes, the furniture, and the music are much appreciated and make the horror scenes much creepier. However there are plenty of awkward scenes that make you feel overly uncomfortable and if you're a vegetarian, you should probably just stay away.

6/10