This review is for the new edition of this film, rereleased this year with a new audio track ...wildly transformed, much in the way how Mystery Science Theater 3000 has transformed older films with a new audio track. For those not familiar with MST3K, while watching these old movies, they would sometimes improvise new lines that the characters could be saying, providing new perspective to the movie (and with some hilarious results, I might add).
With this movie, all-new lines have been added ...although not exactly intended to be funny like MST3K, but definitely providing a fresh new perspective on the characters and the plot.
I watched with my mom and brother, both entertained. While my mom generally prefers true crime stories, the initial premise of this movie was believable enough to be intriguing and chilling: When people rent out rooms in their house, or a guesthouse, how well can we really trust ...bringing a complete stranger into our home, into our daily life? That stranger could turn out to be a total creep -- a straight up serial killer -- for all we know.
Admittedly, this movie could use a bigger budget ...for better special effects, and to show more of the main villain's technical prowess (he's a computer genius, a mad scientist in the vein of Victor Frankenstein, so it would be cool to see more of his scientific inventions). But overall, the film has the charm of an old school slasher: Some bloody, gruesome scenes. Unsettling flashbacks from the villain's childhood (he is a tormented dude, after all). And the banter between characters is light, and busy enough, to keep us entertained. And, of course, the all-new voiceovers tend to bring a greater, more layered depth to the story.
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