Nastassja Kinsky is easy to look at, and the performances aren't bad, and that's about it.
Now, if you're going to make a science fiction movie about some weird stuff going on in town, some conspiracy or secret, there are a couple of ways of approaching it. You always begin with a normal person, as this movie does with Kinsky. And there should be someone else around who behaves normally, so that the hero or heroine can have someone to talk things over with. Katherine Ross, in "The Stepford Wives", has the bosomy, candid Paula Prentice to talk to, until Prentice became part of the problem instead of the solution.
Alternatively you can have the entire town act normal until its residents one by one become creepy, or a group become, let's say, unusual. See "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" for an example of the first kind, and "Village of the Damned" for the second.
In this remake, the entire town resents Kinsky from the moment she first drives into it, even before they can possibly know who she is. Actually, she's the school's resident psychological counselor, which puts her in the position of being nosy and turning the town's resentments into full-blown hatred. We know she's resented from the first few minutes of the movie when the director has carelessly positioned the extras so that they all stand with their hands on their hips, glaring at her.
Does she get help from the school's nurse? How about the school's principal? Are you kidding? This raises an interesting question right off the bat. If no one in the town wants a snoopy school psychologist, then why did they hire one? I have it on now in the other room. Somehow it was mistakenly included in a box of DVDs someone sent me. I won't watch it until the end because I don't care what the town's secret is. I imagine, though, that, since this is a remake of a cheap science fiction film from the 50s, and because the cover tells me so, that a monster appears courtesy of special effects. The appearance of a modern CGI monster is, I take it, the chief reason for the appearance of the movie. I can't think of any other reason.
Who would enjoy it? I think lots of kids around 10 or 12 would get a kick out of this undemanding and commercial pap. And, meaning no disrespect, I imagine some adults with a taste for cheaply done science fiction movies with slobbering creatures killing off characters would also enjoy it.
Not my cup of tea though. Not a soupçon of originality. Can't speak for everyone.
Now, if you're going to make a science fiction movie about some weird stuff going on in town, some conspiracy or secret, there are a couple of ways of approaching it. You always begin with a normal person, as this movie does with Kinsky. And there should be someone else around who behaves normally, so that the hero or heroine can have someone to talk things over with. Katherine Ross, in "The Stepford Wives", has the bosomy, candid Paula Prentice to talk to, until Prentice became part of the problem instead of the solution.
Alternatively you can have the entire town act normal until its residents one by one become creepy, or a group become, let's say, unusual. See "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" for an example of the first kind, and "Village of the Damned" for the second.
In this remake, the entire town resents Kinsky from the moment she first drives into it, even before they can possibly know who she is. Actually, she's the school's resident psychological counselor, which puts her in the position of being nosy and turning the town's resentments into full-blown hatred. We know she's resented from the first few minutes of the movie when the director has carelessly positioned the extras so that they all stand with their hands on their hips, glaring at her.
Does she get help from the school's nurse? How about the school's principal? Are you kidding? This raises an interesting question right off the bat. If no one in the town wants a snoopy school psychologist, then why did they hire one? I have it on now in the other room. Somehow it was mistakenly included in a box of DVDs someone sent me. I won't watch it until the end because I don't care what the town's secret is. I imagine, though, that, since this is a remake of a cheap science fiction film from the 50s, and because the cover tells me so, that a monster appears courtesy of special effects. The appearance of a modern CGI monster is, I take it, the chief reason for the appearance of the movie. I can't think of any other reason.
Who would enjoy it? I think lots of kids around 10 or 12 would get a kick out of this undemanding and commercial pap. And, meaning no disrespect, I imagine some adults with a taste for cheaply done science fiction movies with slobbering creatures killing off characters would also enjoy it.
Not my cup of tea though. Not a soupçon of originality. Can't speak for everyone.