The Super

After seeing the trailer for this on Netflix I thought it looked interesting. It started very well, building tension and developing the story. Val Kilmer is fine (though a little hammy) in his role as a creepy janitor, although much of his dialogue appeared to have been (badly) dubbed from an early point in the film. I won't spoil it with details, but suffice to say that the last half an hour doesn't make a lot of sense, is a bit cliched, has some dialogue obviously overdubbed with different dialogue (maybe they decided the film wasn't worth the effort of re-shooting the scenes?) and doesn't satisfy with the ending, which had me scratching my head a bit, wondering how it explained some of the earlier scenes. So a mixed bag; Some good scenes early on, a decent cast, nicely shot, just don't expect to feel it was really worthwhile at the end of it.

A widowed father takes a job as a building super in the hopes of stabilizing the lives of his troubled daughters following the death of his wife. The body count rises as the building's tenants are picked off one at a time for the most anti climactic reasons ever.

The most disappointing thing about the movie is how much potential it wasted. What starts out as a suspenseful tale of a newly single dad trying his best to protect his family quickly degenerates into a cheap, gory mess of a movie that seems like it was written by two different people. It ultimately reaches its climax with bad voice overs, nonsense motivations, and what might probably be the stupidest decision made by any woman in a horror movie in a decade.

With the exception of the oldest daughter, the acting is quite good, including a creepy turn by Val Kilmer, and the big bad, who does a great parody of Patrick Bateman. The poor man's Laura Linney does well with what she's given, but I spent a good portion of her scenes wondering what her point was. Ultimately the shift in tone is too glaring, and by moving the focus away from dad as a protector only kills the momentum.

This is one of those movies that could be a fantastic entry into its niche genre given a more coherent script and better direction. While I wouldn't call this a time waster, I will have forgotten about it pretty much right after I click the SUBMIT button.

This was a good movie, but it really was on the precipice of being something so solid.

The production as a whole was creepy and atmospheric. It started off with a bang and kept you engaged throughout. The acting was passable for sustaining the action and the story, no one stood out negatively. The story was intriguing, genuinely spooky and it had a good pace to it. You understood exactly as much as they wanted you to understand while keeping you almost entirely in the dark until they wanted to let you in.

Unfortunately, this is where it started to fall apart. While the twist was certainly unoriginal and most definitely something you've seen before, on paper, said twist had a slight extra twist to it that could have made it passable... but the execution made it feel so silly and cliche. With almost no tact or finesses they were just like "guess what, here is the twist" and it really felt rushed and underdeveloped. Also, I don't know if they decided to change the script after filming or someone screwed up or what, but there is a scene towards the end with some GNARLY ADR... idk what they were trying to cover up but woof... Not to mention the very last scene is a tad unfulfilling as well.

Now, personally, I would not let that deter you as I still really enjoyed this for what it was. Im a little surprised by all the scathing reviews. While it wasn't perfect and the ending was eye-roll worthy, it was still quite entertaining and creepy. I'm giving this a 6.5 rounding down to a 6. If you are going to get caught up on any of the negatives listed, maybe it's not for you... but I would recommend.

With this movie i have been seeing a lot of, you either love it or hate it kind of ratings...

But i will try to stay objective and analyse it for what it is. A thriller, as far as the suspense goes, it has its moments, but nothing ever too fancy or unexpected, the acting is fairly ok, and the story does grip you into it, in the beginning, however as the movie progresses it just starts getting a bit predictable, and even slightly boring as you already know what will happen next.

The plot twist, well, i have to be honest did i see it coming? not a chance, was it all that great? not really, i would say average, doesnt take or add anything to the movie, it is just another twist like so any others you have seen before.

Having said that, is it an awful mess like some have been implying? not at all, it is enjoyable for what it is, and if you dont go into it expecting something magnificient like Se7en (deadly sins).

I can say i enjoyed it, went in with absolutely no expectations, knowing beforehand, that starring Val Kilmer could go either way, and it turned out it was not bad at all.

Will i be recommending it to all my friends and thinking of this "masterpiece" on the coming days? not really...It makes for a nice sunday flick, and that is all it is, and i dont think it even aspires at anything more than that.

This movie tried, but it failed.

It seems like they wanted to re-write part of the ending so they just re-dubbed different dialogue over the old lines, it's glaringly obvious.

The "twist" ending is so ridiculous, you'll be rolling your eyes for the last 15 minutes and it's just been done so many times, and much better elsewhere.

Don't bother. The movie starts out good, then is a boring hour with a ridiculous ending.

I'm easily entertained, but this movie is a mess.