3 Thriller Review Quickies

Thriller Film Review Quickies

It’s been ages since I’ve done a proper film review! I’m finding less and less time to sit down and write a review. Through my busy schedule, I watched three horror/thrillers. The following is a three-part “quickie” review on these films.

Triangle (2009. Directed by Christopher Smith. Starring Melissa George)

My first comment about this film is that it is seriously trippy. Jess (Melissa George) joins her friend Greg and a few of his mates for a day of sailing around the Bermuda triangle. After a crazy storm jacks up their boat, they find refuge on a seemingly deserted ocean liner. As usual in these films, chaos ensues and soon the rest of the passengers are chased and shot by a masked killer. Strange occurrences start brewing and Jess tries to stop the masked murderer. After throwing the killer overboard, Jess is left alone on deck. Out in the water, she spies the same group of friends (including herself) she went sailing with. They are reboarding the shit! Very strange, since Jess just witnessed them all being killed! Soon it becomes clear that the exact same events that JUST happened are happening again. The current Jess becomes the previous masked killer, and everything repeats itself. Towards the end of the film, we see what happened previously that day, which lead Jess to go sailing in the first place.

Sounds confusing, right? While the concept seems a bit muddled, everything about this film is executed wonderfully. The acting is alright, but this is the kind of film that does not rely on the performances of the actors, with Melissa George being the exception. I enjoyed Melissa George’s performance, especially towards the end of the film where we see what Jess’s motivation is. I loved the concept of the film, and had a great, albeit mind-boggling experience watching it. Certainly not a film for the simplistic movie-lovers, but I definitely recommend it for those who truly appreciate well thought out thrillers! Postscript: Melissa George is the actress who played Sadie in Grey’s Anatomy season 5, so any Grey’s fans who like a good thriller should check it out!

Elsewhere (2009. Directed by Nathan Hope. Starring Anna Kendrick, Tania Raymonde, Chuck Carter, and Paul Wesley)

I decided to watch this film when I noticed the cast. I love Anna Kendrick, especially in Up in the Air. Tania Raymonde is most commonly known as Alex from Lost, and Paul Wesley can be seen currently as Stefan on The Vampire Diaries.

In the painfully small town of Goshen, Indiana, Sarah (Kendrick) and Jillian (Raymonde) are best friends, though massively different. Sarah is the stereotypical girl next door: top notch student, athlete, and all around good girl. Jillian is a promiscuous punk kid with a bad attitude. Jillian has been meeting men online via her [very sexed up] Myspace-esque profile. She longs to meet a guy online to take her away from her small town life. Shortly after revealing this to Sarah, Jillian disappears. Sarah is determined to find her best friend. Her only clues are Jillian’s journal and a short and sinister video message that Jillian sent her on the night of her disappearance. With the help of computer geek Jasper (Carter) the duo find themselves caught up in a series of corrupt and dark secrets revolving around both Jillian and their hometown. Even more so, they uncover a string of similar disappearances. They are soon led to the disturbing truth!

I have a few complaints about the plot of the film, but overall I did like it, and had an enjoyable time watching it. It’s very reminiscent of a mystery novel, as it goes through the paces of discovering and deciphering clues to get to the bottom of the abductions. Anna Kendrick as Sarah delivers a fine performance, and the audience roots for her the entire time. Though not on screen for the majority of the film, Tania Raymonde as Jillian also shines. The character Jillian is really the driving force behind the whole plot. Right off the bat, Jillian is honestly a thoroughly unpleasant girl. In so few words, she’s essentially a grade A bitch. As the film progresses, the audience falls in alliance with Sarah’s search for her best friend, which in turn allows the audience to feel some pity for Jillian. I enjoyed the mystery, but I have a bone to pick with the ending.

The culprit is obviously revealed in the end, and gets what is coming to them. My problem is not so much with what the ending presented. My problem is what the ending did not present. I do not want to spoil the ending completely, but in order to get my complaint out, I will have to reveal a bit of it. If you plan on watching this film and do not want it spoiler, do not read rest of this paragraph. SPOILER: So it is revealed that Jillian, along with the other abducted girls that Sarah learns about, have been killed. BUT it is never revealed what the bloody hell happened to the bodies. Sarah and Jasper come across the dark and scary school bus, which is the apparent scene of the murders. The seats have suitcases belonging to the abductees on them, but there are no bodies. The audience is never told where these murdered girls actually got to. We know they were killed, but that is as far as the film gets. I think the bodies of these girls are sort of a HUGE piece to the puzzle. Without those bodies, I just felt like the film was left a bit unfinished. They are on a farm, so I sort of concluded that perhaps the bodies are buried somewhere on the property. There are also these wicked creepy scarecrows on the farm, and I thought it would have made for a great ending if the bodies were somehow crafted into becoming those scarecrows. Wishful and morbid thinking, I suppose. Anyways, that was my biggest issue.

There are a few inconsistencies with the film, but overall it is a solid thriller. While subtly targeted towards a teenage female audience, it isn’t for the easy-minded. The subject matter of abducted girls is obviously quite dark, so be aware of that. I know I have a few friends who would find this storyline a bit too disturbing for their taste. Apart from my gripe about the ending, the rest of the flaws of this film are forgivable. It’s a good mystery thriller!

Nine Dead (2009. Directed by Chris Shadley. Starring Melissa Joan Hart).

I happily admit that my initial attraction to watching this film was simply because Sabrina the Teenage Witch was starring in it. Nine Dead is in short, a knockoff of the Saw movies. Nine seemingly random people are all chained up in a room. Their captor tells them that in order to be released, they must figure out why they are there. The captor explains that every ten minutes, he will come in. If they do not offer him their answer, he will kill one of them. They all begin to discuss what it is that they have all done to be there. As the plot unfolds, each character admits to some sort of sin they’ve all committed, but they can’t seem to find the connection. As such, every ten minutes, someone gets killed. As the number of those alive steadily decreases, it is soon discovered that each person played some part in sending an innocent man to jail. While in jail, the man contracted AIDS. His health insurance denied him coverage for a specific treatment, and he died. With three characters remaining, they give their answer to their captor, who is revealed to be the innocent man’s father. As promised, he releases them. BUT, the lawyer, played by Melissa Joan Hart, who has admitted to having falsified evidence to convict, decides that she isn’t going to risk her career. She then kills her two remaining comrades, and the killer, and escapes. The end.

This film is crap. The acting is awful. The plot is painfully unoriginal. Everything pretty much fails for this film. The gore wasn’t even good, which made me quite upset. It saddens me to learn that this is what has become of my dear friend, Sabrina the Teenage Witch.
So that’s my three-part review! I really hope to find the time to get back into the swing of writing reviews consistently. Look for upcoming reviews of Up in the Air and Death at a Funeral (UK version). Happy Viewings!