Review of Captive

Captive (II) (2023)
3/10
Unintentional Cheese?..or was it?
23 July 2023
I didn't hate this but didn't love it either. If you want a truly scary Vampire flick, this one ain't it. This one is pure non-serious camp and cheese. I wouldn't say for that reason that it's bad, because it still entertains. It's just lackluster.

It's not self-aware enough to be a horror-comedy, and not amusing enough to be an intentional one. It's billed on Tubi as a Horror Thriller. But it's not dark nor thrilling enough to ever be scary, or frightful, it doesn't even try.

And though there is a twist at the end that I won't reveal (i liked the twist), the acting is never convincing enough to consider this a true Thriller. But, - it does have a little bit of cheap fun while it tries.

This is mostly a film to showcase Scout Taylor Compton in a new role and she actually does quite well with the material despite it being a thinly written character along with the rest of the bag.

Everything about this movie is sub-par cheese. From the chunky metal-chords of the opening theme song, to the low budget CGI of the title card and unconvincing acting.

The film didn't begin to pick up my attention much until half way through the runtime. After the 30 something year old Scooby Doo gang is established It becomes rather tongue in cheek while remaining corny through out, but ultimately things do develop towards a twist.

Scout did well as the 'girl who wants more' who transforms along in-to more. But the film's limitations head to an interesting plot twist that deserved a better movie.

Overall this held my attention but the development was obviously low budget. The "action" scenes were shot and edited kind of poor. Certainly not the worst I've seen, but the music through out most of the film is beyond corn, and does indeed ruin all seriousness, and it really deflates an otherwise decent atmosphere. The music and editing deflates the efforts of the actors in some scenes. They missed the mark in many ways to truly deepen this as a genre film.

Had this been sharply edited, more artisticly shot, with better music, and the acting just a pinch more convincing, it could have been a modern masterpiece.

I would have to say Scout is the best part because she plays a dual role well here, and has fine-tuned her nuance. It's too bad they couldn't spend more money on production and gore because the aesthetic of their shooting location could have called for more.

This is a Charles Manson-y, Hollywood Hills-y, Cult-y Vamp flick that could have used a boost. But for Tubi's Cheesy portal of free specials.. it's okay. Check it out at your own risk. It does have Scout in a bathing suit and mini skirt playing one of her best kinds of roles. She was the stand out.
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