Ed's Review Dot Com

Universal Pictures, Platinum Dunes, Blumhouse Productions,

Lena Headey, Ethan Hawke, Max Burkholder, Edwin Hodge, Adelaide Kane, Tony Oller, Rhys Wakefield, Tom Yi

The world has grown bigger and badder, and the population of rowdy trouble-making gangs and punks has risen to a level where the government has determined that for a 12 hour period once every year, there should be a night called “The Purge” where the baddies can release their pent up energy and enjoy stealing, killing, raping, and just about any depravity without any interference. Hospitals and ambulances do not respond, the Police are all holed up safely at home, and there are no emergency services of any kind, and everything is legal. One suburban family is relatively well off, and they’ve installed a security system that is impenetrable. It turns out the husband sells such systems, much to the dismay of the rest of the neighborhood who feel like they have given all the money in the neighborhood to him for similar security systems. But though they think they’re safe, when a man arrives screaming for help, they accidentally take in the target of a gang of bullies. The situation escalates as they decide how to deal with the situation that none of them make live through the night to witness.

The Purge is one of those movies that appeared interesting to me when I saw the previews. Then it came and went like a flash. I saw a preview for the sequel, The Purge: Anarchy, and it made we wonder if the original had ever come out. I found that I had totally missed it somehow. I wanted to see it for curiosities sake prior to seeing the sequel. So I dropped it into my queue. I was pleasantly surprised by this film. It’s short, and to the point, and the concept is rather unique. The Purge is suspenseful and really creepy. It’s edge of your seat suspense. It’s not really overboard on the horror element, but has lots of scenes of people sneaking around and hiding out. The acting is pretty good. Lena Headey and Ethan Hawke are really good, and the whole setup is filled with dread. I was happy I took the time out to watch this film, as it was rather unique in the way it dealt with the subject. It certainly is a long night waiting for the dawn.

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Legendary Pictures,

Perdita Weeks, Ben Feldman, Edwin Hodge, François Civil,

Scarlet (Perdita Weeks) is following in her father’s footsteps searching out relics of ancient human history. In the middle east she finds a key piece of information to lead her to a precious stone in the catacombs under the streets of Paris. She meets up with her friend George (Ben Feldman) and connives to bring him along with some local guys she finds who know they way into the catacombs. Papillon (François Civil) is the leader of a group who have been down in the catacombs many times before. But things get very complicated as an ancient evil is present in this undiscovered are of the ruins that is the gateway between earth and hell.

This was a scary movie. But I do have to admit that the times I jumped were from the soundtrack and the sound system, not from the suspense of this kind of silly horror fest. Granted it has lots of scary scenes….in a world full of bones, but as they go through the same corridors time and time again, it starts to look really familiar. Truthfully, it was kind of fun to get the adrenaline rush of loud sounds making you jump, and people pay huge prices to walk through the haunted mazes this time of year for that, and this is full of that kind of jump in your face scares. But the story is pretty weak and falls into silliness time and time again. After an hour and a half of struggling through the maze of this underground horror tunnel we are hit with a sudden and quite unfulfilled ending that makes us wonder what just happened. The cast is likeable enough, but they don’t have enough experience to pull this off, and it shows. Additionally, there’s not much of a budget going, and this is another example of a film that was released to theaters prior to being shown to the critics which is always a bad sign. I expect the audience here is the teen set who like the easy jumps and screams and doesn’t mind the lack of substance to the story. They took on a really deep and difficult subject and blew it off with trivial explanations of what is going on. It’s just not that great of a film to deserve your big bucks at the theater, and I was really happy I took this in at the matinee to save myself a few bills. I can’t highly recommend this except for the exact audience for which this is intended. Otherwise, wait for it on video.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Occupant Films,

Amber Heard, Anson Mount, Whitney Able, Michael Welch, Edwin Hodge, Aaron Himelstein, Luke Grimes, Melissa Price, Brooke Bloom

Mandy Lane (Amber Heard) has turned into a beautiful girl. Orphaned and raised by her aunt, Mandy is not only beautiful, but very selective. But all the guys want to get her. Some friends plan a weekend outing on a secluded ranch owned by one of the boys, and they are delighted when Mandy agrees to join several other girls and go to the ranch. No one is home except for a rough ranch hand who doesn’t seem too happy to have all the kids around, but Mandy takes a liking to him and tries to invite him into their Truth or Dare game, but when bodies start piling up, it looks like no one is going to end up with Mandy, and perhaps no one will survive the trip.

This is a 2006 movie that is just newly released on DVD, and apparently had a brief theater run. I’m not sure why this was held so long before release in the US. It has been available for some time in other countries. This is a horror film, most of all, but it starts out like one of the teen movies that are so common. It takes a dark twist in a hurry and ends up with a bit of a surprise ending. Some of you may see it coming, but I was caught by surprise. The acting is way better than normal in this type of film, and though the formula is familiar, it does a pretty good job of making it fresh by the surprises along the way. The film is not the most bloody and gory movie I’ve seen. It has a few moments of gore, but it’s not a heavy handed as some of the genre. It is definitely not a movie for kids though, and deserves the R rating it earned. If you’re a fan of horror films, this is definitely not a classic, but it’s well worth the effort.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog