Michael Elliott
Senior HTF Member
Serial Slayer
:star:1/2/:star::star::star::star:
Studio: Lions Gate
Year: 2004
Rated: R
Film Length: 79 minutes
Aspect Ratio: Standard (4:3)
Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles: English, Spanish
Retail Price: $24.95
A small neighborhood in Los Angeles is struck in terror when a maniac starts climbing on people’s roofs and shooting them with a crossbow pistol. The town is in a panic and the police don’t have a clue to what’s going on because the killer doesn’t have a motive and no clues were left at the crime scenes. Thankfully three girls decide to throw a slumber party and the killer just happens to show up. With the darkness falling, the three girls must find a way out of the house.
You might remember this movie under its original titles of Claustrophobia but no matter the title the film really isn’t worth troubling yourself with, although there are a few interesting aspect that die-hard horror fans might want to check out. The most interesting thing is that actress Judith O’Dea makes her first screen appearance since her role as Barbara in George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead. It’s somewhat shocking she didn’t do any films between these two but here she is incase you want to know what she looks like today.
The rest of the film really doesn’t have enough interesting aspect to get any sort of recommendation but I do think director Mark Tapio Kines could make a good movie given a good cast and a higher budget. The film was shot digital and to me this is a death kiss to many low budget films because it’s very hard to build any atmosphere and that’s a problem here. Another issue is the actual look of digital and for a low budget horror movie, the graininess and ugliness of video can always make for a more interesting movie but again, this here is lost when you’re shooting digital.
Outside of that, the basic story isn’t anything new and you’d be better off renting the campy The Nailgun Massacre or the cult favorite The Slumber Party Massacre since both films serve the genre a lot better. I’m sure while making these types of films the directors are aware of previous low budget films that made their debut on VHS back during the 1980’s. With that in mind, why on Earth are these direct to DVD titles coming out so lame? Fans of those 80’s classics enjoy them because while the stories aren’t the greatest, the film at least gives you some good gore and pretty girls taking their clothes off. I’m going to guess Scream made nudity politically incorrect but this film here isn’t going to be opening in two-thousand theaters. To make up for the budget perhaps these directors should start delivering the goods.
The performances are expected to be bad but the ones here are even worse than you’d expect from this type of film. None of the characters are written good enough to where you actually care for them so it becomes rather boring watching them talk and trying to survive when in fact you’re hoping they’ll quickly be bumped off. Another issue is that they don’t say anything interesting. Apparently the director (who was also the screenwriter) was trying to build up suspense in their talk but this doesn’t come through because the girls say nothing interesting. Throughout most of the film they simply say did you hear that? which gets old.
Even with all of that, I’d almost recommend the film due to the director being able to capture a few jump scenes. I won’t give the scenes away but there’s one involving a window that made me jump and that isn’t too easy to do. Another highlight of the film is the sound effects of the killer walking on the roof. This is a very simple effect but the director makes the most of it and it does manage to be a bit creepy. There’s really nothing new or original in this flick but I respect some of the effects the director was able to create.
VIDEO---The movie is shown in the Standard (4:3) ratio, which is correct for this film. Okay, after the Open Water debate I guess we should start off talking about how the film was shot. As I mentioned in the review, this film was shot on a digital camera and a more interesting aspect is that the director decided to film this with a PAL video camera so that he (in his words) could get better resolution. With that in mind, if you found Open Water looked bad then you certainly aren’t going to be impressed with this transfer. However, not everything is supposed to look like Star Wars.
I’m not going to judge how “good” a film itself should look but instead I’m going to judge how it was meant to look. The actual look from a digital camera is to be expected so I’m not going to criticize how the film was shot. As far as the transfer goes, Lions Gate has done a very good job in the fact that there aren’t any new transfer related issues going on here. I didn’t notice any scratches on the print nor did I notice any artifacts. Edge enhancement wasn’t noticed so there aren’t any problems due to the transfer itself.
AUDIO---Somehow we get a Dolby Digital 5.1 track, which sounds a lot better than I expected and this track plays a big part for the film. I mentioned in the review that the steps on the ceiling of the house are used to gain some creepiness and thankfully this 5.1 track shows that off pretty good. Those sound effects are mixed very well so that all your speakers pick up how the killer is walking. The running on the roof usually starts off in the center speaker, goes to the left Surround and then the left rear, which makes for a nice sounding effect. The rears are used throughout the film and come off sounding very well and it helps get more out of the film. There’s some minor digital noise that can be heard but this is due to how the film was shot. Dialogue remains in the center speaker and is clear throughout with no issues. The Surrounds are mainly used for the walking effects and the music score.
EXTRAS---Up first is an audio commentary with the director, which is somewhat more interesting than the film itself. If you hate the film then I doubt you’ll want to listen to the track. However, if you’re a young filmmaker wanting to learn how others are making movies then you’ll want to listen up. The director is constantly talking so thankfully there’s no dead space. The director talks about everything from the script to the filming to the actual editing. It’s also interesting to learn how he got the film sold and what extra scenes needed to be added.
OVERALL---I really didn’t enjoy this direct to DVD horror film because there simply isn’t too much to enjoy. Perhaps young directors should pay better attention to those films from the 1980’s to see what horror fans want. However, the appearance of Judith O’Dea and a few jump scenes make me recommend this as a rental as long as you don’t spend over a couple bucks.
Release Date: Out Now
