20131010: Horror Review--12/12/12

12/12/12

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. American live action feature length film, 2012, rated R, 85 minutes, horror.
2. IMDB: 1.9/10.0 from 257 users.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 'No reviews yet,' and 7% liked it from 126 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 2.4/5.0 from 104,494 audience ratings.
5. Written and directed by: Jared Cohn.
6. Starring: Sarah Malakul as Veronica Delgado, Jesus Guevara as Mahari, Steve Hanks as Detective Barnes, Carl Donelson as Carlos Delgado, Laura Alexandra Ramos as Gabriella Martinez, Samantha Stewart as Officer Vokel.


2. Setup and Plot
1. The film opens with a human sacrifice in some dark underground cultist den.


2. Then it jump shifts to a difficult birthing (Veronica, Carlos) in a modern hospital in Los Angeles.  Mahari, the murderer from the first scene shows up; where did that come from?  He disappears after murdering another woman who was trying to breastfeed her newborn.  The arrogant physician goes to C-section after kicking out Carlos.  This newborn is not delivered; he escapes.  Even better, the 'newborn' never moves, but somehow kills the physician and the attending nurse.  Someone else closes up Veronica, and she seems happy and calm while breast feeding the monster that just killed two people.


3. What a fine beginning that was.  Mahari, still in physician's garb, tries to enter the crime scene, but the cops prevent it.


4. Six days later, Carlos, Veronica, and Sebastian go home.  Soon odd occurrences start: the flies, the dead rat, Sebastian getting between Veronica's legs, Carlos pouring a kettle full of boiling water down his own throat, and Mahari shows up to try to steal Sebastian.


5. When the cops show up, Child Social Services take Sebastian. ("We're the good guys, Mrs. Delgado." )


6. Veronica goes to stay with her sister Gabriella Martinez.  On the way to the baby lockup, CSS Officer Vokel gets killed by her seat belt.  Barnes returns Sebastian to Veronica, saying a judge ordered it.  Gabriella lets Barnes know she's still sore about CSS taking her child Brittany from her.


7. The weird events start up again, of course.  Barnes lets them know that Mahari is on their radar; he's a Mayan prophecies doomsayer.


8. Sebastian kills Gabriella.  This was entirely unbelievable.  Mahari kills a variety of people.  Sebastian goes off on his own.  The dead rats and dead birds continue to be produced.  The murders continue.


9. Does this thing ever reach some sort of resolution?  About 60 minutes in, the fall into random events with no particular narrative, motivation, or logic is next to complete.  Unfortunately, the film continues.


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: Numerology plus Mayan 2012 bovine scatology.
2. One star of five; two black holes for SFX and screenplay


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 5/10 Jerky camera movement; some of it so out of focus and badly framed that one would think the Blair Witch was nearby.


2. Sound: 5/10 Overbearing in some spots, quite weak in others.


3. Acting: 4/10 OK given the screenplay, I guess.


4. Screenplay: 0/10 The birthing scene was a motivational mess.  I suppose births have been handled that badly, but I certainly hope not.  The C-section birth has all the realism and logical soundness of a Chucky movie. The later actions have the same sort of problems with credibility.  The badness just never ends.


5. SFX: 0/10 Hideous.  Insulting to almost any sensibility.  The scenes with Sebastian are ridiculous.