Normally, I would not recommend reading a book before watching the movie. It just spoils what might be a great movie. With this one, however, it might help answer some questions.
This film had great potential as the pilot for a series. If it had continued, I think it would have been much better and made more sense. The theme and feel was right up there with the Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and other horror-genre series. Having read Dean Koontz's book, I knew what was going on, but if I had gone in cold, I would have said, "Huh?" at the end.
This is not a stand-alone story. It's just the beginning of a much more complicated one. I saw no indication anywhere, except here and in Mr. Koontz's book, that once he had pulled out of the project, this was ever intended to be more than a movie. With that in mind, they should have given it another half-hour and wrapped up all the loose ends.
Two characters were in the book but left out of the movie, and I wonder if this is why Mr. Koontz pulled out of the project. They provided a lot of information about autism and some nice red herrings about the identity of The Surgeon, and they explained the necessity for some other characters. Anyone who has watched enough horror TV shows would have little trouble figuring out whodunit in this one. Without the other missing character, one has to wonder why they left Vicki and Carson's little brother in the story at all.
If you see the movie, read the book and get the questions answered. It will answer all of them except Victor's rib-thing, which was cool but totally out of the blue and not explained.
Now for the good part: Though the story left me flat, I enjoyed the acting. Adam Goldberg and Parker Posey have great chemistry together, and Michael Masden is an awesome bad guy. I really enjoyed Vincent Perez as Deucalion, but as a fan of Gerard Butler, I couldn't help thinking he'd have been perfect for the role. I had pictured someone older for Victor, but I was really won over by Thomas Kretschmann's performance. He delivers a Ralph Fienees-esquire performance that really makes you say, "Oh, yeah. He needs to die." The role of Erika 4 and 5 unfortunately didn't develop well enough to like or dislike. I thought Ivana Milicevic did well with what she had to work with; it just wasn't much.
This film had great potential as the pilot for a series. If it had continued, I think it would have been much better and made more sense. The theme and feel was right up there with the Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and other horror-genre series. Having read Dean Koontz's book, I knew what was going on, but if I had gone in cold, I would have said, "Huh?" at the end.
This is not a stand-alone story. It's just the beginning of a much more complicated one. I saw no indication anywhere, except here and in Mr. Koontz's book, that once he had pulled out of the project, this was ever intended to be more than a movie. With that in mind, they should have given it another half-hour and wrapped up all the loose ends.
Two characters were in the book but left out of the movie, and I wonder if this is why Mr. Koontz pulled out of the project. They provided a lot of information about autism and some nice red herrings about the identity of The Surgeon, and they explained the necessity for some other characters. Anyone who has watched enough horror TV shows would have little trouble figuring out whodunit in this one. Without the other missing character, one has to wonder why they left Vicki and Carson's little brother in the story at all.
If you see the movie, read the book and get the questions answered. It will answer all of them except Victor's rib-thing, which was cool but totally out of the blue and not explained.
Now for the good part: Though the story left me flat, I enjoyed the acting. Adam Goldberg and Parker Posey have great chemistry together, and Michael Masden is an awesome bad guy. I really enjoyed Vincent Perez as Deucalion, but as a fan of Gerard Butler, I couldn't help thinking he'd have been perfect for the role. I had pictured someone older for Victor, but I was really won over by Thomas Kretschmann's performance. He delivers a Ralph Fienees-esquire performance that really makes you say, "Oh, yeah. He needs to die." The role of Erika 4 and 5 unfortunately didn't develop well enough to like or dislike. I thought Ivana Milicevic did well with what she had to work with; it just wasn't much.