*** SPOILERS *** (but not the one that matters)
Well after 2 weeks of good movies, I couldn't expect another good 'un and indeed I didn't get one. It wasn't a 'bad' movie as such, mainly the acting irritated me. I found it very hard to get past the actors in the movie appearing like they were reading (very slowly) from a sheet without any prior reads or practise.
When the movie starts with 3 pretty girls (Gloria, Terri & Nancy) happily heading off to a concert in a car, hearing about the disappearance of lots of pretty young women, it doesn't take a genius to work out where the movie is headed. The weather takes a turn for the worse and they come off the road and into a ditch.
We then move to a mansion in the middle of nowhere. An elderly woman in a wheelchair (Mrs Penrose) and her very wierd daughter (Marion) live there. There is also a rather odd man who seemed to be a jack of all trades, including a medical professional? They have taken them in. Terri & Nancy are fine and should be ok to leave in the morning, but Gloria is unconscious and the old woman and her daughter suggest the girls wait until they can leave with their friend.
It becomes very clear that the old woman is not a very nice person. She spends the entire time she is on film lambasting men and how evil and nasty they are. It seems to stem from her hatred of her ex husband, her infidelity and the suggested interference with a child. She also seems to think her very odd looking daughter is having it away with a never-ending list of men (chance would be a fine thing). We are also shown her son, who is presented as a wierd, unkempt man who lives outside and likes to peep at ladies taking showers. We find out he is Mrs Penrose's son, who she refused to acknowledge when her hatred of men started. Marion looks after him.
So, the scene is pretty much set. Most regular horror viewers could write the rest of the story with ease. Slot in some whispered 'Things don't seem quite right' from the 2 conscious girlies (No sh*t Sherlock!).
The inevitable need to go for help which leads to the obvious death of 1 girl (which has so many disappointments, I won't even start).
The 'coming to' of our unconscious lady and repeat of our 'Things don't seem quite right' conversation.
A slightly less disappointing death of a second girl (perhaps because it happens off screen).
Hinting to the possible murderer.
A bit of back story.
1 remaining girl getting to the bottom of everything and a bloody ending.
That pretty much has it covered, anything else that happens is incidental, except that is for the ending! Yes its bloody and yes our murderer is revealed, but the twist when it comes is one that surprised me. I loved the twist and I'm surprised I didn't consider it before. I was finding the movie pretty hard going, in that the acting was really getting to me and the storyline was achingly predictable, so perhaps I wasn't engaged enough with the movie to be 'thinking' about possibilities.
In short, this was a poor movie with terrible acting, but it is saved from being absolutely awful, to being just about watchable with a clever and dark ending. Is it worth sitting through an hour and a half for the ending? Hmmm I'm not so sure. For those of us who are doing 'The Nasties' challenge, certainly. For die hard horror fans, probably. For people wanting a bit of gore for a nights entertainment, probably not.
Please use the comments bellow only to comment on this post - to write your own review, please comment on the main post for this movie.
Showing posts with label Unhinged. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Unhinged. Show all posts
29 Sept 2012
Unhinged - Will's Review
When 3 girls on a road-trip have a car accident in an area known for 'disappearing' girls, they are taken in by a strange mother / daughter combo, and forced to wait out a storm. When one of them decides to brave the woods alone to cut to a nearby town with a phone, it (quite predictably) isn't long before she joins the numbers of the missing...
The bulk of the movie is, while badly acted, at least quite well paced - we learn things at a decent rat, and the low body-count never really stands out.
That said, the time-scale of the events depicted seems a little odd - day seems to become night with alarming regularity, while the characters will act like mere minuets have passed (at one point our heroin wakes in the morning to find her bed-ridden friend missing, then suddenly it's nightfall, bus she's still barley casually interested as to her friend's whereabouts).
So there are enough flaws to take the otherwise compelling story about the Mother figure of the houses hatred of all men, and drag it down to, as I have said, and average movie.
It's quite obvious that there is going to be a twist; but rather than try to hide the fact, the film makers have chosen to hint at a dozen different potabilities - this of course means that when the twist is finally revealed, it will be something you've considered; but (for me at least) only briefly, and certainly not so seriously that it ruins the surprise.
Because of the acting and strange passage of time, I cant quite bring myself to stick the "Will Recommends" tag on this one... but I still think you should check it out.
Body Count: 4 (and a few pieces)
Boob Count: 2 Pairs
Most Memorable Death: AXE!
Please use the comments bellow only to comment on this post - to write your own review, please comment on the main post for this movie.
Please use the comments bellow only to comment on this post - to write your own review, please comment on the main post for this movie.
23 Sept 2012
WEEK 71: Unhinged
Year: 1982
Reviews / Author Comments due: 29/9/2012
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