Adam Green and Joel Moore have already made one irritatingly haphazard movie. Whereas the inconsistencies of "Hatchet" could be explained away by saying it was all just tongue-in-cheek anyway, "Spiral" strives to be a "serious" movie and suffers from its multiple shortcomings.
For the first 30 minutes or so the movie is literally going nowhere and even after the first five minutes you're already tired of the annoying main character Mason. You don't feel for this guy. You don't hope all will turn out well for him and you certainly don't identify with him. And that's a bit of a problem when he is the character we should care about the most.
What else is bad? The annoying editing, for instance. The way Green and Moore throw in cheap shock cuts just so anything will disrupt the otherwise painfully slow pace of the story.
The Indie songs that underline certain scenes are as clichéd as they are out of place. I wonder what they were thinking when they were picking the songs.
The only good thing about "Spiral" is its twist. Make no mistake, it's not mind-blowing or exceptional, it's just something that finally takes the movie forward. Unfortunately, it's already too late by then, of course. The ending can not redeem the movie, but at least it keeps "Spiral" from being a complete failure.
Bottom line is, that Green and Moore have made a thoroughly mediocre thriller. Don't expect another "Hatchet". In fact, don't expect much at all, and maybe you're going to find something to enjoy in "Spiral".
For the first 30 minutes or so the movie is literally going nowhere and even after the first five minutes you're already tired of the annoying main character Mason. You don't feel for this guy. You don't hope all will turn out well for him and you certainly don't identify with him. And that's a bit of a problem when he is the character we should care about the most.
What else is bad? The annoying editing, for instance. The way Green and Moore throw in cheap shock cuts just so anything will disrupt the otherwise painfully slow pace of the story.
The Indie songs that underline certain scenes are as clichéd as they are out of place. I wonder what they were thinking when they were picking the songs.
The only good thing about "Spiral" is its twist. Make no mistake, it's not mind-blowing or exceptional, it's just something that finally takes the movie forward. Unfortunately, it's already too late by then, of course. The ending can not redeem the movie, but at least it keeps "Spiral" from being a complete failure.
Bottom line is, that Green and Moore have made a thoroughly mediocre thriller. Don't expect another "Hatchet". In fact, don't expect much at all, and maybe you're going to find something to enjoy in "Spiral".