The story is about a true crime writer who previously had a #1 best seller years ago and is trying to recapture some of that with his next book. Taking his work to an excess, he moves into the actual house that is the subject of his study. He doesn't have to dig far to uncover new evidence that gives him a grisly insight into what happened, but there's much more than he expected as he is now investigating a serial killer.
This one had a ton of hype surrounding it early on and it looked pretty interesting, but I don't get out to the movies much these days. It initially had picked up a 100% positive rating on rotten tomatoes, but that has since dropped; I think when that 100% was reported, it was too early along. I think a lot of the negative feedback was due to the hype being so high, because I liked it. It does draw from too many other films for some of its concepts, so it doesn't feel "fresh", I agree, but it was still entertaining as horror films go.
The premise sounds pretty solid, so all that needs to happen is a clean delivery right? And for the most part, that's what you get. It's too bad that the "reveal", while interesting, is kind of a let down. I read a review that said "2/3 of the movie was great", and I'd say that is close to the mark. They tipped their hand a bit too soon which makes the wrap up not as exciting. The "twist" is more inline with Japanese horror films and unfortunately, this one's already been done better. In spite of that, I still enjoyed the film (horror fan
) It is a heavy film too, so while not everything is shown, there are some fairly intense scenes. Not for kids for sure.
Video is pretty good, it is just that there are a LOT of unnecessarily dark scenes just for the sake of adding tension and that sort of detracts from things. I thought the cinematography was pretty well done if fairly standard, since the vast majority of the film is in the house and it uses pretty sub-par make-up and digital effects. One detail the bothered me were the 8MM videos - they just looked like they were shot on a camcorder and digitally "aged"; a minor thing, but it also pulled me out of the
willful suspension of disbelief.
Audio - not unlike Dredd, this one has an EXCELLENT dts-HD MA track. This guy understands that sound can play a huge role in the tension in a horror movie and this one does a great job at setting the mood as well as placing the odd "what was that?" sounds around the room. Surround is well placed LFE is awesome on this one, adding that "ominous" layer; hanging in what has to be the mid to low 20s. You know its good when I rewind it just to listen to it again
The tools are there, the tension and mood are there and it has a lot going for it, so it still ends up being fun IMHO. To set realistic expectations: recommended rental.
