It’s not the best slasher remake of all-time, but Nelson McCormick’s remake of the ’80s cult hit ends up a winner thanks to a solid, yet predictable script and enough action to stab with a knife.
And believe you me, there’s plenty of stabbing in this film.
Just from the title and promotional art alone, it’s obvious that this is a horror flick and it’s even more obvious what the plot’s going to be like: some lunatic, yet good-looking and charismatic psycho works his way into a family and eventually tries to kill them.
Big whoop, right?
Well, with an intriguing beginning, where we see the transformation of David Harris [played chillingly by Dylan Walsh, you know, the dude from such TV shows such as “Gabriel’s Fire†and “Brooklyn South wait you don’t know him? Well he is married to Melora Walters, the hottie who played Wanda Henrickson on “Big Love†and if you don’t know her, then…], this film starts off shockingly and has enough cool moments that make up for the mediocrity of the majority of the film.
With “Gossip Girls’†Penn Badgley co-starring as Harris’ step-son Michael, there’s also plenty of eye candy for the ladies and ironically enough, these two work pretty well on-screen together. Seeing them match wits and spoil each others plans actually gets downright interesting at times. Curious as to how his step-father was before he met his mother and just being a wise-ass teenager, Badgley uncovers the entire plot step by step, inch by inch, all the while his mother, the always cute Sela Ward and hottie girlfriend Amber Heard [who is rumored to be the new Mystique in the upcoming X-Men flick] telling him he’s crazy.
Little do they know that they’ll eventually be fighting for their lives in what turns out to be a pretty gruesome and scary, yet hilarious flick.
Lets just put it this way, you’ll be screaming at the TV the whole time.
Seeing Walsh take care of whoever steps in his way is a fun viewing experience, especially if you get off on seeing old ladies being thrown down a flight of stairs. It’s the kind of film that tries to be realistic, but fails miserably and induces laughs, rather than shock. Nevertheless, it ends up being something that you can watch all the way through and not feel like you wasted your time.
Considering the fact that many of the new flicks on the Instant Queue lack this appeal entirely, this is a motion picture that suits the midnight munchies and blues just fine.
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