It's hard to believe that the man who 30 years ago gave us what is probably the best horror movie ever done, the powerful Texas Chain Saw Massacre, went through 30 years of movies with mixed results. Fortunately, Tobe Hooper returns with a decent movie that finally manages to live up to the enormous fame of his legendary debut.
Reimagining an obscure 70s movie, Hooper sets his story in present day Hollywood, where a young married couple moves to the Lusman, an old building. Angela Bettis, the actress who surprised the world in "May", stars as Nell, who is not happy with his husband choice of moving to the Lusman. She'll find a contrived plot and gory killings as Julia, her neighbor and new friend suddenly disappears without a trace.
Bettis carries the film with grace, and power. This young woman definitely has a bright future in films. While the rest of the cast is average in their performance, Hooper's direction is the star as he turns the building into another character. The locations are awesome and the atmosphere Hooper uses is very creepy and filled with tension.
The movie flows well as a mixture of a "whodunit" mystery and a gory slasher. The gore is an important factor here, and it is well delivered. Probably he is not a great director, but Hooper knows how to pull up great murder scenes from his actors.
The flaws of the movie lay in the script, it is filled with enough plot holes to be a problem. Fortunately, it's creepy atmosphere and the high tension it creates almost make up for this big flaw, although it is still noticeable.
Tobe Hooper may be an uneven director who had a very lucky debut with "Texas Chainsaw Massacre", but here he gives us a very entertaining movie that really makes up for the 30 years of average movies he did. A very pleasant surprise. 7/10
Reimagining an obscure 70s movie, Hooper sets his story in present day Hollywood, where a young married couple moves to the Lusman, an old building. Angela Bettis, the actress who surprised the world in "May", stars as Nell, who is not happy with his husband choice of moving to the Lusman. She'll find a contrived plot and gory killings as Julia, her neighbor and new friend suddenly disappears without a trace.
Bettis carries the film with grace, and power. This young woman definitely has a bright future in films. While the rest of the cast is average in their performance, Hooper's direction is the star as he turns the building into another character. The locations are awesome and the atmosphere Hooper uses is very creepy and filled with tension.
The movie flows well as a mixture of a "whodunit" mystery and a gory slasher. The gore is an important factor here, and it is well delivered. Probably he is not a great director, but Hooper knows how to pull up great murder scenes from his actors.
The flaws of the movie lay in the script, it is filled with enough plot holes to be a problem. Fortunately, it's creepy atmosphere and the high tension it creates almost make up for this big flaw, although it is still noticeable.
Tobe Hooper may be an uneven director who had a very lucky debut with "Texas Chainsaw Massacre", but here he gives us a very entertaining movie that really makes up for the 30 years of average movies he did. A very pleasant surprise. 7/10