Hey, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab.
This is the second review someone’s sent us of this, and it’s still one of those titles no one seems aware is coming anytime soon. Check this out:
Psyclops here with an early screening review of THEY, the new horror film produced by Wes Craven.
I had never heard of this movie before, knew nothing about the premise or the actors involved, didn’t even know it was in production (I tend to visit sites like this on a regular basis so I just assumed that nothing flies under the radar anymore). I was surprised by this movie, in both a good way and a bad way. I was surprised because the film started out great and actually scared the shit out of the audience. It had a great premise, decent actors, some really good scares and some frightening creatures... and then it had to go and ruin it with one of the worst endings I’ve seen in a long time.
Okay, I’m getting ahead of myself, here’s the basic set-up. A group of people who suffered traumatic night terrors as children are being hunted by mysterious things that go bump in the night (literally). It starts off with a bang. It opens on a dark and stormy night, a little kid cowering under the covers, hiding from the typical childhood fears (boogeymen, werewolves, whatever used to lurk under your bed when you were a kid). Then, he builds up the courage to peer over the edge of his blanket, stare into his half-open closet... and see a monstrous shape moving around in the darkness. Bang. That did it, I was hooked from that moment.
The rest of the story follows this girl named Julia, a college student who is suffering from reoccurring night terrors after witnessing the suicide of a childhood friend. I don’t want to give away too much but I will say that things get weird, the mysterious beasties show up and the movie becomes a ‘fight for survival’ type of monster flick that comes to a screeching halt with one horrifically bad ending! I’m serious, this ending pissed me off and ruined the movie (which I would still recommend because of the first 90 minutes that kicked ass). You don’t start out with a great beginning, maintain the suspense, the mystery and then disregard everything that has come before by tacking on such a lame finale.
Now, I do know that they screened the same movie at two different times tonight. Judging by the constant ‘How would you rate this ending?’ questions that made up a majority of the questionnaire forms after the movie, I would bet that they screened two different cuts with two different endings. I guess we got stuck with the crappy one. Jesus, I hope it was the crappy one. I couldn’t imagine it getting much worse. Anyway, cool effects with spidery monsters that screech and chirp in the dark (much like the aliens from PITCH BLACK). A lovely female lead who can actually act instead of just screaming all of the time and a surprisingly decent performance from Marc Blucas (Riley from ‘Buffy’!) as the concerned boyfriend.
-Psyclops
I love good monster movies. There’s still time for Dimension to tweak this film. Let’s hope by the time it hits screens, it’s a monster movie worth enjoying.
"Moriarty" out.
