Thursday, October 13, 2011

2011 October Horror Movie Challenge Movie 36: Bereavement



This is one of those movies that seems to bring out the rabid polar opposite opinions among horror fans. One side loves the movie and one side hates it, and they meet in the middle and fight to the death. I'm not going to pretend there aren't any really annoying parts in the movie (here, let's sit in the kitchen and talk about how this little boy has a condition called CIPA which renders him unable to feel pain, and how it's totally dangerous to leave him unsupervised, and leave him alone playing in the yard while we're talking and not even look out the window to make sure he's ok for like, thirty minutes) but I don't think it's totally fair to say that everyone in this movie is "terminally stupid" (as one reviewer put it). Well, ok, maybe it's not a good idea to scream and cry loudly while you're trying to sneak away from a murderer's house (unless he's deaf, which this victim is so loud while she's making her stealthy exit that he could probably hear her even if he was deaf) but...I dunno, characters have to be dumb in horror movies or otherwise the movie would be five minutes long. And really, most of the people complaining haven't ever been trapped in a killer's basement before, so they can't say they'd be way smarter if they were ever in that situation.

The killer in this movie is creepy as hell. Even creepier than hell. I'm pretty sure I'd rather take my chances in hell than try to navigate life without pissing off this guy. Ok, later on in the movie the main girl makes some boneheaded moves. It's probably not a great idea to walk into some random stranger's house, even if you think you're trying to help the little boy you're following around (seriously, who the hell just waltzes into someone's house like that? I grew up in the country and we were never that stupid, so don't try to hand me that excuse). And what's up with captain angrypants, the uncle from hell who does nothing but run around and scream at everyone for the entire running time of the movie? Dude, chill the fuck out. Seriously. I was ready to jump into the screen and kill him myself.

I have to say though, this movie it a cut above the director's earlier movie, "Malevolence," and it shows great improvement. That movie felt like five different movies tossed into a blender, and it frustrated me because there seemed to be some promise in the story there, but it just never came together for me. I definitely liked this movie better and am looking forward to seeing more from this filmmaker in the future.

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