I found THE UGLY to be pretty enjoyable overall. The problem is that no one seems to have any REAL idea what the hell happened in the film. Now, I don't mind a film that makes you think - but I don't like it when so many things are left vague that you can never truly make heads-or-tails of where the storyline is going.
Simon is a serial-killer (who claims he's not a serial killer) who seems to have a dual-personality that her refers to as "The Ugly". Simon claims that The Ugly is responsible for the murders and that "The Visitors" tell him to kill. A famous female psychologist comes in to analyze Simon and try to get a look inside his head. There's a lot of hard to decipher stuff going on, including the tumultuous relationship with his mother and his boyhood friend Julie, allusions to the fact that Simon is somehow psychic, that all of this may just be a dream, all the blood shown is tar-black, the name Karen (the psychiatrists name) showing backwards in many scenes, shopping carts all over the place, etc...that I just couldn't wrap my head around...
THE UGLY is definitely interesting and keeps you guessing - the problem is, it never provides the answers. Playing out like some sort of SILENCE OF THE LAMBS meets THE USUAL SUSPECTS, but with no real resolution (at least none that I could figure out). In many scenes it seems that Simon may be a master-manipulator, other times he seems completely sincere. Some things that happen later in the film negate things that happened before. Basically, I couldn't explain what really happened at all - but it's still an entertaining watch. The other main problem I had that while some of the performances were decent, others were sub-par. The two "thug" security guards at the mental hospital were COMPLETELY unbelievable - as though ANY mental hospital would employ such degenerates. Either way - I'd recommend THE UGLY for horror/thriller fans - just understand that unless you find something that I didn't in the narrative - you WILL NOT walk away from this one with any solid answers...7.5/10
Simon is a serial-killer (who claims he's not a serial killer) who seems to have a dual-personality that her refers to as "The Ugly". Simon claims that The Ugly is responsible for the murders and that "The Visitors" tell him to kill. A famous female psychologist comes in to analyze Simon and try to get a look inside his head. There's a lot of hard to decipher stuff going on, including the tumultuous relationship with his mother and his boyhood friend Julie, allusions to the fact that Simon is somehow psychic, that all of this may just be a dream, all the blood shown is tar-black, the name Karen (the psychiatrists name) showing backwards in many scenes, shopping carts all over the place, etc...that I just couldn't wrap my head around...
THE UGLY is definitely interesting and keeps you guessing - the problem is, it never provides the answers. Playing out like some sort of SILENCE OF THE LAMBS meets THE USUAL SUSPECTS, but with no real resolution (at least none that I could figure out). In many scenes it seems that Simon may be a master-manipulator, other times he seems completely sincere. Some things that happen later in the film negate things that happened before. Basically, I couldn't explain what really happened at all - but it's still an entertaining watch. The other main problem I had that while some of the performances were decent, others were sub-par. The two "thug" security guards at the mental hospital were COMPLETELY unbelievable - as though ANY mental hospital would employ such degenerates. Either way - I'd recommend THE UGLY for horror/thriller fans - just understand that unless you find something that I didn't in the narrative - you WILL NOT walk away from this one with any solid answers...7.5/10