When I saw that this was from the creator of Final Destination I had high hopes. Wow, I disappointed.
OK, the premise isn't awful; after failing to intervene in a brutal attack which leaves a man dead, bystanders start dying. Can they break the chain? So far, so very Final Destination. Except that it lacks the suspense and imagination that made the FD franchise such a horror favourite. So much could have been done with the concept, it's hard to see how it could have gone so horribly wrong, but it did. There is absolutely no tension at all and the majority of characters die off camera and their bodies are discovered by the main character in scenes that are about as gory as Murder She Wrote. There is so much focus just on the main character that we don't really get to know the other characters. In FD we get to know enough about the supporting characters to feel some sense of tension at their impending deaths.
The acting isn't awful. It's not award winning but it does the job for a horror film of this ilk. There's even a reasonably good twist right at the end, although it could have been put to better use had it been revealed 10 minutes sooner in order to build suspense.
It's a shame because as I say, the premise isn't bad. However all the way through all I could see was a massive wasted opportunity.
Review of Don't Look Back
