The Good: The movie is well acted by all. All of the actors did a great and realistic job of conveying the situation of being locked up in a 'new age', yet old-school insane asylum. The twist at the end helped tremendously. Though it wasn't entirely inspired by originality, it justified the past 100 minute viewing experience with a pretty good 'Gotcha' ending. Pretty good mind you, not great.
The Bad: Thought there are a few effective shock moments, the suspense or feeling of dread just isn't there. The competency of the story and actors are all there, but I'm sorry, the movie just isn't scary. Even the main 'villain' doesn't come close to mustering internal fear like they should. The direction, acting and script were all very good, but the execution of fear and horror were just not there.
Overall, a pretty good movie. John Carpenter still isn't what he was back in the late 70's or early 80's, but this was a nice entry into his portfolio (hopefully, Comeback). The ending does save this movie for the most part as it adds an interesting way of looking at everything that just unfolded. However, as a 'Master of Horror', this movie just doesn't deliver enough of the goods for it to be a classic, or be worthy of the person whose name precedes the title.
I give it 7 stars. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.
The Bad: Thought there are a few effective shock moments, the suspense or feeling of dread just isn't there. The competency of the story and actors are all there, but I'm sorry, the movie just isn't scary. Even the main 'villain' doesn't come close to mustering internal fear like they should. The direction, acting and script were all very good, but the execution of fear and horror were just not there.
Overall, a pretty good movie. John Carpenter still isn't what he was back in the late 70's or early 80's, but this was a nice entry into his portfolio (hopefully, Comeback). The ending does save this movie for the most part as it adds an interesting way of looking at everything that just unfolded. However, as a 'Master of Horror', this movie just doesn't deliver enough of the goods for it to be a classic, or be worthy of the person whose name precedes the title.
I give it 7 stars. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.