Oh boy, if had to choose between this and Star Trek. Unfortunately for me, residing in the Mexican town of Celaya, ST wasn't available in my schedule to watch, so the rest of my family decided to watch this.
After the credits, I noticed it was a remake of a Wes Craven film. This is just one of many movies in a sad trend of remaking every work by Mr. Craven. I haven't seen the original, but for what I have seen here, there wasn't much of a story to tell. I thought it followed the same storyline as "Deliverance", but without the outstanding performances or memorable music.
The story follows a young girl who, after several mix-ups, ends up being held hostage by a pair of criminals led by an escaped convict. She miraculously escapes, and later, the criminals arrive at her parent's summer house. In this odd coincidence, the parents later discover the truth and slowly but surely, end up executing all of their evil-doers. There wasn't much to the script other than this premise, which may have worked better for a short film, not a full length picture.
But, the main problem is that this story is told for the sheer purpose of showing you blood and gore. I guess it was meant to show a normal family turning into killers due to aggravating circumstances. But, other than that, there is no lesson to be learned, no emotional situation to be explored. There's a lot of drama, but it's not properly handled.
It would have been interesting to see the Main Bad Guy's relation to his son in the past, or see more interaction between the girl and her parents. The dad has sort of an attitude at the beginning, blaming his brother in law for almost everything, and later, he's just a vicious torturer. This brother in law, by the way, is merely mentioned and not seen anywhere later.
You can tell the writers tried to add some more juice to the already predictable and dull scenes, including some long dialogs, extending scenes with more and more tension and having a character take forever to die. All of this sure ensues a running time of +90 minutes, but it's tedious and boring.
By the end, where you think the main bad guy got killed, it turns out that the dad had him paralyzed and stuffed his head in a microwave. Why would he do that? That's too vicious. And, yes, you do get to see the head exploding, making it even more gross and unnecessary than it already is.
The score by John Murphy also aids in creating tension, but don't expect to play some of that unlistenable audio on you stereo. As for the technical aspects, it's competently made, even for the gory scenes, coming from your average crew of unknowns. The gore here sure is realistic and not over the top (except for the microwave finale).
Overall, the story goes nowhere and the violence and gore make it nearly unwatchable. If you find blood splashing and that sort of things entertaining, you'll enjoy it. If you want a story worth telling, I suggest Star Trek.
After the credits, I noticed it was a remake of a Wes Craven film. This is just one of many movies in a sad trend of remaking every work by Mr. Craven. I haven't seen the original, but for what I have seen here, there wasn't much of a story to tell. I thought it followed the same storyline as "Deliverance", but without the outstanding performances or memorable music.
The story follows a young girl who, after several mix-ups, ends up being held hostage by a pair of criminals led by an escaped convict. She miraculously escapes, and later, the criminals arrive at her parent's summer house. In this odd coincidence, the parents later discover the truth and slowly but surely, end up executing all of their evil-doers. There wasn't much to the script other than this premise, which may have worked better for a short film, not a full length picture.
But, the main problem is that this story is told for the sheer purpose of showing you blood and gore. I guess it was meant to show a normal family turning into killers due to aggravating circumstances. But, other than that, there is no lesson to be learned, no emotional situation to be explored. There's a lot of drama, but it's not properly handled.
It would have been interesting to see the Main Bad Guy's relation to his son in the past, or see more interaction between the girl and her parents. The dad has sort of an attitude at the beginning, blaming his brother in law for almost everything, and later, he's just a vicious torturer. This brother in law, by the way, is merely mentioned and not seen anywhere later.
You can tell the writers tried to add some more juice to the already predictable and dull scenes, including some long dialogs, extending scenes with more and more tension and having a character take forever to die. All of this sure ensues a running time of +90 minutes, but it's tedious and boring.
By the end, where you think the main bad guy got killed, it turns out that the dad had him paralyzed and stuffed his head in a microwave. Why would he do that? That's too vicious. And, yes, you do get to see the head exploding, making it even more gross and unnecessary than it already is.
The score by John Murphy also aids in creating tension, but don't expect to play some of that unlistenable audio on you stereo. As for the technical aspects, it's competently made, even for the gory scenes, coming from your average crew of unknowns. The gore here sure is realistic and not over the top (except for the microwave finale).
Overall, the story goes nowhere and the violence and gore make it nearly unwatchable. If you find blood splashing and that sort of things entertaining, you'll enjoy it. If you want a story worth telling, I suggest Star Trek.