DIRECTOR: MARK TONDERAI
WRITERS: DAVE LOUCKA (SCREENPLAY) AND JONATHAN MOSTOW (STORY)
STARRING: JENNIFER LAWRENCE, ELISABETH SHUE, MAX THIERIOT, AND EVA LINK
I bet if the title of this contained just an ounce of thought twisted with some creativity, it would be drenched with positive reviews. I almost decided against contributing another five dollars to the Pay Per View bank, but the trailer pushed me otherwise. Good thing because there is a better chance of me using my DVDs as hockey pucks than paying to watch a PG-13 horror movie. That kind of rating means no boobs, no sex scenes, and minimal blood and violence. Uhh, these are probably the sole seasons why this genre puts bodies in the movie theater seats.
The movie is about a mother and daughter who move into a new home that is located near a house with a horrifying past. A few years earlier, a young girl murdered her parents and was never seen again. Some people assume she drowned trying to run away, but others insist she lives in the woods nearby. And obviously and thankfully for the sake of our attention deficit disorders, shit goes haywire.
I love how creepy the murdering girl is, but don't get mislead and picture a disturbingly deformed face. The bone chilling feeling that overcomes your body is a result of seeing eyes made of pure evil. In all seriousness, I'd rather see Jason from Friday the 13th running at me with a machete than this bitch.
The best parts of this film are the beginning and the end. If it's been more than fifteen minutes in a horror movie and nobody died yet something is very wrong. Blood and death must be introduced immediately! This was successfully portrayed, and better yet, the ending was a true shocker. Mystery killers can always be suspected, but the twist in this movie that I'm referring to is an unseen slant in the plot. It's difficult to explain without spoiling the egg, but trust me when I say it makes you look at some characters differently and shift your sympathy in an opposing manner.
Even though there was not much blood to rave about, or boobs for that matter, the movie makes sense, flows well, and scares the shit of you a few times. Finally, I would like to address something that is quite rare in this genre. The main character who plays the new daughter in town is not a bimbo like all the stereotypes make you believe. She's doesn't even have that passive and vulnerable personality as most girls in her role do. I thought this was a cool touch because you never really find yourself disagreeing with her actions. In other words, this bitch never runs past the front door and up the stairs to escape a killer.
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