 | Genre: Horror |
Yes, the main three characters are thieves, and are there to rob a blind old veteran of the money he was given when his daughter was killed in a car crash. While their flaws are given quite clearly, with grey morality at best and selfish behaviour in relationships, they have sympathetic qualities; Rocky is trying to escape her neglectful mother and neonazi stepfather, Money is trying to get Rocky a better life, and Alex is trying to escape a dead end life as all his friends move away.
The fact that the man trying to kill them is blind is used to it's full potential. In a well lit room, the tension builds as he tries to hear what the other characters and the audience can clearly see. The threat of his gun and his face as he tries to locate them stands in full view, and the characters hide with still silence in plain view; the low sound and high visibility for the viewer lead to a slow, heart stopping rise in tension.
And then, in the basement, a more classic horror trope is exploited as the blind man cuts the lights, putting the sighted characters in pitch darkness while he is unaffected. While later in the film, a loud noise renders the murderer unable to locate other sounds, this basement chase features gunshots without him having any trouble pinpointing their sounds. Firing a gun makes dangerously loud sound quite close to your ear, so him firing a gun in a concrete basement packed full of metal shelving should have caused temporary deafness and ringing ears; in fact, as a veteran, prolonged gun use even with ear protection should have caused the blind man moderate to severe hearing loss.
The discovery that the harmless disabled man is a cold blooded killer, happy to shoot intruders at close range and beat them to death for stealing, is a shocker despite being inevitable. The open of him dragging an injured woman down to the road is clearly a flash forward, but the build to it was not clear and a sad callback when she doesn't escape. The ending twists beautifully and closes with us not entirely sure what will happen next. If only the misogynist and distasteful kidnap and forced pregnancy moment was not included, this would have been a very decent film instead of another unwatchable Sam Raimi project. It might advise the characters not to breathe, but I advise viewers not to watch.
The fact that the man trying to kill them is blind is used to it's full potential. In a well lit room, the tension builds as he tries to hear what the other characters and the audience can clearly see. The threat of his gun and his face as he tries to locate them stands in full view, and the characters hide with still silence in plain view; the low sound and high visibility for the viewer lead to a slow, heart stopping rise in tension.
And then, in the basement, a more classic horror trope is exploited as the blind man cuts the lights, putting the sighted characters in pitch darkness while he is unaffected. While later in the film, a loud noise renders the murderer unable to locate other sounds, this basement chase features gunshots without him having any trouble pinpointing their sounds. Firing a gun makes dangerously loud sound quite close to your ear, so him firing a gun in a concrete basement packed full of metal shelving should have caused temporary deafness and ringing ears; in fact, as a veteran, prolonged gun use even with ear protection should have caused the blind man moderate to severe hearing loss.
The discovery that the harmless disabled man is a cold blooded killer, happy to shoot intruders at close range and beat them to death for stealing, is a shocker despite being inevitable. The open of him dragging an injured woman down to the road is clearly a flash forward, but the build to it was not clear and a sad callback when she doesn't escape. The ending twists beautifully and closes with us not entirely sure what will happen next. If only the misogynist and distasteful kidnap and forced pregnancy moment was not included, this would have been a very decent film instead of another unwatchable Sam Raimi project. It might advise the characters not to breathe, but I advise viewers not to watch.
