Director: Gregory Dark
Year: 2006
Country: Australia/USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Slasher
Plot:
Sent to an abandoned hotel to clean it up, a group of juvenile delinquents finds that the hotel is home to a hulking, deranged, psychopathic killer with a fetish for plucking out the eyes of his victims and is stalking them for intruding upon his home, forcing them to find a way to get out alive.
Review:
This here is an above-average slasher of the period. The fact that the setting is almost near-perfect is one positive aspect, as this hotel looks suitably disgusting, slimy, and completely unlivable, with a thick layer of dirt covering every single piece of furniture. The sequences where they're cleaning up the hotel in the beginning are spectacular, and the completely clever touch of having the scenes play out with buzzing flies in the background, which is a realistic touch, is greatly appreciated in building a wonderful aura around this.
That also works for the killer here, who is one of the most impressive ones around as he's bulky enough to be a threat, and the scenes where he towers over everyone due to his height advantage are another big factor in making him someone to fear. The killing method doesn't hurt either, and leads to one of the film's biggest pluses in its gore and kills. The hook-on-a-chain is the main one and is hooked through the legs, arms, and shoulder. There's also an ax to hack off arms, a cell phone is forcibly swallowed, a steel pipe embedded in the eye, a body breaking through a set of glass during a fall from great heights, as well as the centerpiece of seeing a slew of victims with eyes ripped out.
The last half of the film, based on sequences of the killer chasing them around the upper areas of the hotel, is a pure blast, containing a series of suspenseful stalking scenes mixed in nicely with great action that includes the final manner of disposing of the killer and the final fights. The last little bit that works is the single most clever idea in the whole film, the system which lets the killer know where everyone is and can get to them, which fixes a major problem in the genre and is a clue to his creativity and inventiveness. These make the film really enjoyable.
There's not a whole lot of flaws in this one. The worst is the fact that there's a lot of really terrible camera angles or technical decisions which make it look all the worse, from the washed-out look that becomes a pain every time, sequences where the camera is thrust right under their heads and the aggravating and incredibly irritating flash-cuts that appear all the time. The last flaw in the film is the fact that there's a backstory given for the psycho change, but it's a tired old cliché that doesn't make the killer all the more frightening and makes no sense as to how it can lead to such a change in personality. Thankfully, it's not nearly enough to rid this one of its positives, which far outweigh the flaws.
Overview: ****/5
One of the better modern slasher entries, there are a lot of likable factors to hold this one up as a strong feature to withstand a few minor, barely detrimental drawbacks. Those who are intrigued by these factors, are generally intrigued by this style of feature, or are fans of the creative crew will want to give this a shot while most others out there might want to heed caution.
Comments
Post a Comment