Smell the Movies
Smell the TV
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
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| Year: | 2009 |
| Country of origin: | USA |
| Director: | Ti West |
| Genre: | House of horrors |
| Starring: | Jocelin Donahue, Tom Noonan, Greta Gerwig, Mary Woronov |
| Rating: | 4/5 |
| IMDB link: | http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1172994/ |
| Tagline: | Talk on the phone. Finish your homework. Watch T.V. DIE! |
| Favourite line: | "It's gonna work in spite of you, you little bitch." |
Skillful and intelligent throwback to prime late seventies and early eighties horror, this is almost perfect.
The plot:
A student at college is desperately sort of money, and worried she will not be able to pay her next rent. In sheer desperation, she applies for a babysitting position but, when she arrives at the house, is told that she will not be babysitting a child, but an old woman. Dubious, her need for cash over-rides her understandable reluctance. Left alone with the old woman on the night of an eclipse, things begin to take a turn for the sinister as the lunar eclipse approaches....
Beautifully shot, with strong performances from lead Jocelin Donahue and, in particular, the always creepy Tom 'Cain' Noonan, this is retro to the point of plagiarism, and that's no bad thing at all.
The atmosphere right from the off is eerie, and this only builds as the movie progresses, though one criticism is it takes a hell of a long time to reach the pay-off but, when it arrives, it is more than worth the wait.
One point taken off for a spoiler within the opening credits of the film itself - the write-up that appears on screen at the start kind of gives the game away about what is actually happening in the house and erodes some of the mystery, which is a shame - this is nevertheless a fine example, in this era of bland Hollywood horror that is about as frightening as candy floss, of how to make a solid, edgy, damned scary film.
Liked it.
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