Overview
Finney Blake, a shy but clever 13-year-old boy, is abducted by a sadistic killer and trapped in a soundproof basement where screaming is of little use. When a disconnected phone on the wall begins to ring, Finney discovers that he can hear the voices of the killerโs previous victims. And they are dead set on making sure that what happened to them doesnโt happen to Finney.
"And how he throws! Almost got me!" ๐
Daniel from "Lost" in the role of the evil bukharik did not convince his father.
And Hawk is a maniacello... Well, don't make me laugh! If it wasn't for the mask, it would be like from Mr. Bullet, literally.
So, it's 1978 in the yard, children are starting to disappear in the town. The main character, an ordinary (almost) American schoolboy and his younger sister, are rapidly thinning the ranks of friends, and in the end he is kidnapped. Actually, I don't want to spread much more about the plot, since there are not so many moves there, but it's about the atmosphere and the presentation of the material.
Joe Hill, being his father's son, uses familiar cliches: alcoholic father, "shining ", maniac, a mixture of thriller, drama and mysticism, teenagers in the foreground. And Scott Derrickson, being an intelligent director, competently pumps up the tension and gives out a beautiful picture, stylized as a seventies plank. The characters are not to say that they differ in volume, but they do not cause irritation (which is extremely important for teenage heroes) and perform their functions. In general, this theme with typical characters-functions from a standard story about life at school is one of the most vivid impressions of the film. Let's just say that the main kid gets advice from less fortunate acquaintances on how to survive in a maniac's game, and here familiar types do an excellent job with their tasks and look quite convex. In addition, here Derrickson uses a move familiar from "Sinister ", his last landmark work, with a home video stylization. Here he has two goals: to introduce the viewer to another adviser and to help get to the villain's lair. And this chip looks cool.
Ethan Hawke embodied an interesting antagonist. Here, the general frostbite can be singled out and I will separately praise the designers responsible for its appearance: a chic mask will enter the pantheon of cult images from horror.
The film has, of course, drawbacks. For example, a certain understatement. We know about the maniac by the end of the film about as much as we did at the beginning. That is, shish yes, not a shish. However, as far as I understand, Derrickson and Hill are already working on a sequel, where there will be an opportunity to answer the questions left without guesses. A small timekeeping in general does not let you get bored and leaves a thirst for supplements. Well, the ending elegantly and adrenalinically shoots out of guns hung along the way. Literally several times I wondered, what is this for at all? And in the final you clap your hands.
In general, the authors have given out an excellent tense horror movie, the best in the last many months, which will give a head start to a host of films a la Claustrophobia. The questrum we deserve.
Rating: 7 very strange cases out of 10
P.S. It's curious that in this movie Stephen King is read in every detail, more than in films by Stephen King himself)
The film is not realistic, of course, BUT it does not perform the function of a documentary. It gives rise to a desire in the beholder to believe and hope, it becomes a metaphor. In the film, we are quite directly given to understand that every life that was taken away, helped others, became a step towards the capture of u6lyu9ka. We see that the culprit has been punished โ and this is what we want and need to see in reality.
It's worth a lot.
By the way, I would like to mention an important issue that was touched upon in the film in passing. More precisely, the film shows exactly the opposite, in contrast to what is happening in reality, the little girl is trusted by the police, her father begins to believe her. I take the testimony of the little man into account, they do not dismiss her.
Plot gaps do not allow me to put an emotional "5", but also less than "4" stars, I think it would be blasphemous to put taking into account the strong emotions that I received during the viewing process.
It seems that it was possible to extract from the Grabber the prototype of all the drunken aggressive dads who break the psyche of their own children. And in this sense, the example of the protagonist's father and his sister is exemplary. But here it's nothing more than a ripple on the water. Even in Sting, such allusions are usually drawn deeper. Although... maybe Joe Hill's mental trauma lies in this lackluster homage, and he is trying to reach us through the film?..
..It's just that my son only has enough talent to follow in his father's footsteps. A trail in the trail. Get your own "bramostockers" for this, and even shoot at the box office with such dubious projects. Which, by the way, is an even bigger mystery to me than the question of who is fucking Grabber.
The mask of the villain, God, it's so scaryโฆ Every time this damn maniac appeared, holding my breath, I watchedโฆ I was scared. You know, there are horror movies with horror stories and zombies, and there are those with maniacs and hunters who actually existed and still exist. To realize that this could become a reality... is terrible.... It's scary... I feel sorry for all the children who got into that room. โฆ their fear , but at the same time, each of them was fighting for their lives.
And the main actor, he played his role so well.
They say there is or will be another 2nd part, I will be waiting.
There were screamers a couple of times
This guy is a strange guy, he only abducted boys..
Finnie's sister is generally a great girl, if it weren't for her and her strange abilities, the police probably wouldn't have found them at all.
But there are also a lot of questions about this phone. Either he was imagining them because of his fear and how long he was there. By the way, I wonder how long he stayed there. Either he, too, like his sister, had inherited abilities from his mother and had heard the voices of dead children.
It's a pity that they all died, I hoped to the end that at least one of them was alive and just sitting next door.
Especially the phone thing, it's not clear exactly how it works, but it worked great here. Ethan Hawke was the best cast decision)
What a
hospitablemaniac, even left toilet paper on the tank ๐งปโ๐ปP.S. The horror movie that Finn manages to watch before the abduction is called "Tingler". Judith Evelyn's character gets hit on the head with a hatchet there, too, but I don't recommend watching it.
What a mystery. If it had been removed, it would have been even better. And so, it turns out, everything happened and everything was resolved magically. This nullifies the merits of the heroes. Their actions are dictated by higher powers, not by them. It's so uninteresting.
Joe Hill clearly borrowed this unfortunate technique from his father, Stephen King. He is also a fan of piling mysticism where it would only be better without it. But at least King reveals his antagonists, and that's not here either. Maybe it's in the book, though. I haven't read it. I judge by the film, where everything is very superficial and mediocre. No full-fledged thriller, no mystery, no horror. Don't get that. All on top