Choose (2011)

A journalism student tracks a killer with the help of her detective father and a therapist.

Director:

Marcus Graves

Writers:

Brandon Camp, Mike Thompson

Stars:

Katheryn Winnick, Kevin Pollak, Nicholas Tucci

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Katheryn Winnick	...	Fiona Wagner
Kevin Pollak	...	Sheriff Tom Wagner
Nicholas Tucci	...	Scar Lip
Bruce Dern	...	Dr. Ronald Pendleton
Richard Short	...	Detective Benson
Alexi Wasser	...	Marni
Lenny von Dohlen	...	Creepy Guy in Hotel
Cady Huffman	...	Alice
Billy Kay	...	Brian
Billy Magnussen	...	Paul
Tom Cleary	...	Simon Campbell
Shana Dowdeswell	...	Sara
John Rothman	...	Elliot Vincent
Cathy Ladman	...	Sara's Mom
David Iacono	...	Jake

Storyline

Fiona Wagner is studying for a master's degree in journalism and still grieves for her mother Samantha who committed suicide at the Crescent Hotel three years ago. Her father, Detective Tom Wagner, is investigating the brutal death of lawyer Elliot Vincent, who was murdered by his teenager daughter. His daughter was forced to choose between killing him or having her mother, little brother and herself killed by a sadistic criminal that had broken in their house. When pianist Simon Campbell is forced to choose between losing his fingers or his hearing, Tom realizes that a deranged serial-killer is attacking people. Meanwhile, Fiona is contacted by the criminal through the codename ISO_17. Fiona recalls that her mother had mentioned something about choice in her suicide note and she decides to investigate the sadistic man further.

---

Plot Keywords:

hooded figure | hooded attacker | slasher | killer | one word title | 

---

Taglines:

He makes the rules. You make the choice.

---

Genres:

Crime | Drama | Horror | Mystery | Thriller

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for bloody violence and terror, grisly images and language

Did You Know?

Quotes

[first lines]
Sara: Oh my God. Jess told me that he's like way into Ella. Ugh. Can you say slut?
Lisa: [on video chat] I heard she gave him a blumpy.
Sara: Boys are disgusting. And that guy Nick? He's thinks he's all like, look at me, I'm so beautiful.
Lisa: I think he's kinda cute.
Sara: No. No. I mean he's kinda hot, but he's *not* God's gift. No.
Lisa: I heard he hooked up with Michelle.
Sara: *No* he did not.
Elliot Vincent: [mockingly] He totally did. Like for real.

---

Connections

Features Halo 3 (2007)

---

Soundtracks

Fantasy Adagio
By Stephen James Edwards
Courtesy of 5Alarm Music

User Reviews

Nothing Noteworthy About This

It isn't bad, but in all honesty it isn't especially good either. One of the main problems is that it gets progressively weaker as it moves along, rather than building to a strong finish. It's actually quite good in the beginning, as right from the start we're treated to a horrific crime and find ourselves wondering who in the world would do this and why? The basic plot is that some psychotic is on the loose and forcing people to make horrific choices. So in the opening scene, the madman invades a home and forces a teenager to choose whether her mother or her father will die. A pianist has to choose between his hearing or his fingers; a model between her eyesight and her beauty. Thus, the title.

Through it all, the madman is playing with Fiona's mind. Fiona (played by Katheryn Winnick) is an aspiring journalist and daughter of the local sheriff (Kevin Pollak.) Years before her mother died in what was believed to have been a suicide, but Fiona starts to see a connection with the psychotic on the loose and starts working with her dad to figure out who he is.

The movie's pretty short at well under an hour and a half, so a lot seems to be left undeveloped; it moves pretty quickly and too much is revealed way too soon. By half way through we pretty much know the story and so there's no real mystery involved. There's a fair number of "turn your head away" scenes if you're at all squeamish. The closing scene was weak and to be honest seemed strangely disconnected from the basic story of the movie, so that I wasn't sure about the need to include it, other than to reintroduce (for no particularly good reason) a creepy character who's had a brief scene earlier in the movie. I wouldn't call this particularly noteworthy. (4/10)

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

23 March 2011 (Brazil)

Also Known As:

Choose

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$90,901

Company Credits

Production Co:

Choose Films, The 7th Floor

Technical Specs

Runtime:

83 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1