I was really looking forward to this, but Christ almighty, what a disappointment. The film promises a lot, but doesn't deliver a single scare. What it does deliver is patchy tension and a slasher climax. I kept hoping every step of the way, but the pace lagged just enough to let me dwell on the plot holes.
The start is good, with the 5 house inmates cleverly introduced through clips of their audition interviews. And the almost 6 months spent in the house is conveyed through a quick clockwise 1/4 screen split of various scenes. But then we're introduced to the everyday interaction of characters who are already tired of each other. The solution is to introduce an outsider and see what mayhem he can cause. But the 6th character is used just as a plot device, and all that ensues is a seduction scene and suggestions of an off-screen death. The plot is resolved by revealing the least likely character as a psychopath traitor. So what? In the very end the last victim was left alive in a cell - why? For the sequel?
The frequent loss of focus through the webcams is irritating, and the whirring camera-focus noises are done way too much. The night-vision effect, with glinting pupils, is overused; and Emma's gun-toting scene is a continuation of the Silence of the Lambs cellar sequence.
Charlie was sexy - whoopee! Emma was a Mia Farrow look-alike. The male actors didn't register.
Great concept. Just so irritating to have to carp and carp and ... hey, after 2 hours viewing I'm allowed to have a go. Maybe the Japanese will run with this concept and score with truly disturbing scenes.
The start is good, with the 5 house inmates cleverly introduced through clips of their audition interviews. And the almost 6 months spent in the house is conveyed through a quick clockwise 1/4 screen split of various scenes. But then we're introduced to the everyday interaction of characters who are already tired of each other. The solution is to introduce an outsider and see what mayhem he can cause. But the 6th character is used just as a plot device, and all that ensues is a seduction scene and suggestions of an off-screen death. The plot is resolved by revealing the least likely character as a psychopath traitor. So what? In the very end the last victim was left alive in a cell - why? For the sequel?
The frequent loss of focus through the webcams is irritating, and the whirring camera-focus noises are done way too much. The night-vision effect, with glinting pupils, is overused; and Emma's gun-toting scene is a continuation of the Silence of the Lambs cellar sequence.
Charlie was sexy - whoopee! Emma was a Mia Farrow look-alike. The male actors didn't register.
Great concept. Just so irritating to have to carp and carp and ... hey, after 2 hours viewing I'm allowed to have a go. Maybe the Japanese will run with this concept and score with truly disturbing scenes.