20131213: Thriller Review--Night Vision

Night Vision

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. Canadian live action feature length film, 2011, NR, 84 minutes, thriller.  Spoken word is in English.
2. IMDB: 2.6/10.0 from 403 audience ratings.  Aspect is 1.78
3. Rotten Tomatoes: not even a stub web page.
4. Netflix: 2.8/5.0 from 29,213 audience ratings.
5. Directed by: Nathaniel Warsh.
6. Starring: Ali Adatia as Lance, Darryl Dougherty as Spencer Harrison, Noelle DuBois as Alison.


2. Setup and Plot
1. TV producer Spencer Harrison and a small entourage ride a limousine to his house.  On the way, Lance tries to pitch yet another re-write of the cookie-cutter reality show genre.  Spencer will not have it.  Spencer gets off at his house, and says good-bye to the rest.


2. Spencer meets a woman (Alison) coming out of the bushes next to his house.  He's right to identify her as an unwanted trespasser, but she charms him with the promise of sexual possibilities.  He misses all the cues that she gives off; she aims him harm.  They drink water like it's water, which is not much acting.  The correct thing to do is drink water like it's vodka.  In any case, with the rising hostility, they are slinging down drinks.  She finds his remote-controlled hidden movie camera and turns it on before that become intimate.


3. He kicks her out, but she takes the tape of the proceedings.  She tells him he will regret it.  He hears something in the night, then patrols his house.  He finds that his 800 USD extra sharp knives are missing, even though his security system is armed.  Sigh.  He threatens to call the cops; the lights immediately go out.  She gets a cord around his neck, and squeezes until he passes out, with the help of a little tap to his head.


4. When he wakes up again, she lets him know he is in for a bad time.  Referring to her dress, she says, "It's your favourite colour, red."  The problem is that the dress is grey.  Also, inevitably, they knew each other before.  She was a telephone stalker, who got angry that he changed his number.  She lets him know that his life is at risk.


5. Why would anyone care about this situation?  She is crazy, he is arrogant, and his friends are not quite what he thought they were.


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: Intense encounter between TV producer and his telephone stalker.
2. One star of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 10/10 Nicely shot.


2. Sound: 8/10 A bit too quiet, even with my sound all the way up.


3. Acting: 0/10 So bad.  Noelle DuBois was just terrible; I hope never to see her again.  Darryl Dougherty was not much better.


4. Screenplay: 3/10 Nice fifteen minute short, but 84 minutes is just two long.  This would have been better as one segment of a horror anthology.