I watched this film having purchased it for the princely sum of £1.99 from my local Blockbuster. I picked it up purely because it looked like it might be a decent horror to pass the evening with. I couldn't have been more wrong.
The film is shocking. Badly acted, terrible script, dated visually, especially for such a recent film; overall, a pretty poor effort.
The film centres around the discovery of the body of a girl who had been missing for several days. At first it's unclear whether the girl is the daughter or wife of a local redneck. It emerges she is both his wife and a local prostitute. It took me about 15 minutes to work out this was the case as it wasn't clear at all. One by one various other people in the small town get killed and all along you know it's the local barber 'Dex' who's doing it. That removes all possible elements of mystery and suspense.
A bizarrely wooden McDowell plays the lead and the supporting cast do little to get the viewer interested in the film. In fact I can honestly say that I didn't care a single bit about any of the characters who were killed by Dex. What is interesting though, is how much McDowell seems to borrow from Anthony Hopkins' Dr. Lecter; his intonation, eerie stares and stiff bearing are all borrowed. Unfortunately, he does a terrible job and just comes across as a little bit unhinged, but in no way lives up to the great performance he mimics.
What also mystifies me is the certificate. An 18? Why? There was one scene of a half naked corpse, there was one little bit of blood and some relatively bad language, though nothing I've not heard in a 15. From what the back of the DVD cover promised I was expecting a riot of blood, violence and overall a visceral experience.
What I go instead was a camp, poorly realised attempt to rekindle some of the embers of past great serial killer films.
I suppose one element of the film I liked was that it was always dark. If the blurb of the film was to be believed, it was going to lead into some pretty good madness scenes or people not being able to take it. A sort of inverse version of 'Insomnia' if you will. Alas, this was not the case and the only indication we got of the darkness having any kind of effect was an FBI agent who made a couple of passing comments about it.
The best advice I can give to anyone who fancies watching this is to avoid it and get Silence of the Lambs instead.
The film is shocking. Badly acted, terrible script, dated visually, especially for such a recent film; overall, a pretty poor effort.
The film centres around the discovery of the body of a girl who had been missing for several days. At first it's unclear whether the girl is the daughter or wife of a local redneck. It emerges she is both his wife and a local prostitute. It took me about 15 minutes to work out this was the case as it wasn't clear at all. One by one various other people in the small town get killed and all along you know it's the local barber 'Dex' who's doing it. That removes all possible elements of mystery and suspense.
A bizarrely wooden McDowell plays the lead and the supporting cast do little to get the viewer interested in the film. In fact I can honestly say that I didn't care a single bit about any of the characters who were killed by Dex. What is interesting though, is how much McDowell seems to borrow from Anthony Hopkins' Dr. Lecter; his intonation, eerie stares and stiff bearing are all borrowed. Unfortunately, he does a terrible job and just comes across as a little bit unhinged, but in no way lives up to the great performance he mimics.
What also mystifies me is the certificate. An 18? Why? There was one scene of a half naked corpse, there was one little bit of blood and some relatively bad language, though nothing I've not heard in a 15. From what the back of the DVD cover promised I was expecting a riot of blood, violence and overall a visceral experience.
What I go instead was a camp, poorly realised attempt to rekindle some of the embers of past great serial killer films.
I suppose one element of the film I liked was that it was always dark. If the blurb of the film was to be believed, it was going to lead into some pretty good madness scenes or people not being able to take it. A sort of inverse version of 'Insomnia' if you will. Alas, this was not the case and the only indication we got of the darkness having any kind of effect was an FBI agent who made a couple of passing comments about it.
The best advice I can give to anyone who fancies watching this is to avoid it and get Silence of the Lambs instead.