Why bother with something original when you can just mash little bits of this and that and arrive at something that might put a few butts in the auditorium style seating? And here, writer / director Kevin Greutert has pretty much done exactly that. The film ambles along as a seemingly unending stream of lazy ideas that clearly call out to their source. Little bits of “The Ring”, a sprinkle of “Rear Window”, two dashes of however many horror films of late that have shown the inside of a car during a crash and you’ve got this movie. All the while, the filmmakers are trying desperately to keep stirring the mix on the stove, waiting for it to boil.
To be fair, there are also some pretty well worn premises around voodoo and swamp culture that carry some of the weight. However, at the end of the day, there’s just too much dead weight to carry. As a fan of horror, I think I’ll be forever searching for those few films that hit all the spots in the dark corners of my fear. The few that can take something like this and make it new and scary and make me want to keep the lights on at night. I know I’m getting older, but I still dig it. A nice dark theater, a character that I’m right alongside with and an investment in them that makes me tense up in spite of myself.
These guys kept teasing at it and deliver some fun. But, they never get across that river, the one that makes a horror film a classic. That is, of course, a high bar, but shouldn’t it be? What fun will horror films become otherwise?
LOS ANGELES FILM REVIEW 