Back of Box:
Nine friends seclude themselves in an old, isolated Scottish mansion for a birthday party weekend bash. Cut off from
the outside world by a snowstorm, they explore the old mansion and stumble across a book containing a history of the old estate.
Formerly belonging to an old Scot patriot, the house was taken away from him and his eyes were gouged out. Though they
pay no attention to the gruesome chronicle, strange behavior soon invades the group and one by one they disappear.
Plot: The set up is
pretty simple. A bunch of classmates get together for a little birthday celebration and people start dying. Ground
breaking it is not, but the supernatural aspect added a little spice to the mix. It kind of played out like a bad game
of Clue, but I thought it was fun enough.
Acting: It's funny
to me that everyone in the cast had an accent but Paris Hilton. I guess Paris was the foreign exchange
student or something, but she doesn't last long so...awesome. I found most of the characters to be fairly
one dimensional, but likeable and smarter than your average slasher victim. The fact that the cast of this film was
gorgeous, in general, helped and the Clue aspect in this section added a little something too, right down to the
different colored outfits.
Gore: Body Count (10)
Ten is definitely a respectable body count, but sadly this section fails. Stabbing was the theme here and normally that
works, but not when off screen is the preferred method. Mix that with a sparce amount of fake blood and you get one
big let down.
Suspense: Jump scares
are cool when done well, but they aren't very good in this one. Not at all actually. This films also suffers
from the "could've been" syndrome. A lot of scenes had some great potential and the majority of those scenes start
off well, but all of them lost momentum half way through or even sooner. Suspense was usually lost in the
dialouge or by awkward decisions the cast or director made.
Directing: The camera
direction in this one was very clean and well planned. When the camera keeps things neat, in the horror genre,
things tend to lose their impact, but the film managed to hold a very creepy feel. There were a
lot of lurking shots that really added to that "someone is watching" effect which is essential (In my opinion)
when working with the supernatural. I can't say the film, overall, is very effective, but I think Andrew Green definitely
belongs in the horror genre. The only note I have for Andrew is work on you're acting direction.
Tech: The sound manages
to stay even throughout, which is nice (I hate constantly having to play with the volume on my TV when watching a flick).
The lighting worked extremely well with the setting. The house they found for the film was perfect and the lighting
team did wonders with the shadows, using every dark corner to their advantage. The soundtrack wasn't anything special,
but I'll give it passing marks (Music is usually the least of my worries, unless it's really good or really bad).
Other: One gripe I
have with this film is the lack of nudity. There's a bunch of beautiful people getting whacked, in a creepy mansion,
in the middle of nowhere and we don't get a single nipple or ass shot. Usually it's not that big of a deal, but Paris
Hilton's a whore. She got famous because her homemade porn tape "accidentally" leaked to the public and now that she's
trying to do the acting thing for real she's too good to show off her goods? That bitch needs to stop trying to act
and take her top off (Maybe then people would start taking her a little more seriously). On a positive note,
though, I think the setting is amazing and I always love snow in horror films.
Final Word: Boring is the first word that comes
to mind when I think of this film. It's not even fun to drink to. The film has it's moments, some decent
performances, and a director that actually does a good job, but none of that helps it from falling flat on its face.
I'd say it's avoidable, at best, unless you enjoy seeing Paris Hilton get murdered (I know I do).
