Since the makers of "Livid" made quite an impact in the world of horror movies with their debut "Inside" I guess I was not the only one eager to see what they would come up with next. I did not expect another "Inside", so the fact that the basic plot was a recooked stew of horror movie clichés (old decrepit house, evil old lady, kids breaking in and acting dumb, takes place at Halloween...) mashed into a ghost story was not what is my problem with this movie. There even was a surprise after the movie starts out like a rip-off of "The Grudge" with very "Silent Hill"-style visual ideas and turns into a mix of ghost horror meets modern fable. The visuals are great, the lead actress has a great aura, the sound design is as cool and fear inducing as in "Inside" ... but the plot is a total mess. There is so much unexplainable and random happening, lots of cool visual ideas that just don't make any sense and the lead characters act really dumb from the beginning on. So what is the plot? Girl starts new job as a nurse for elderly people, comes into an old house with an evil older woman lying in a bed with an oxygen mask and blood infusions and hears about a treasure which the rich old hag must be hiding. Girl and friends decide to break in and steal the treasure and end up in a creepy house with strange ghosts and the evil old ballet teacher killing them off with her electric zombie vampire daughter, some zombie ballerina kids and lots of creepy toys.
Nothing is explained and comes together... why are the woman and her daughter strange vampire creatures that can't go out in daylight... and even worse not at nighttime? Why does the girl play with creepy electric toys with stuffed animal heads, how come Mrs. evil Ballet teacher is so obsessed with making her daughter dance until she literally breaks, why is the woman not just an evil vampire but also very good in fixing mechanic spines, why is the lead nurse obliged to serve from childhood on, why are little killer ballerinas introduced and never mentioned again, why are people turning into zombies after being killed, why are there blue flames in the fields and why is the house spinning in space, why did the girl take the "wrong book" when she didn't even take one or look closely at it?
Its a shame... the ending is a total cheese-fest and doesn't resolve any of the question but rather ends more on top. The movie is like a random Frankenstein monster built of very obvious parts ripped from other top horror movies. They even go for copying themselves when some frantic neck stabbing with Scissors is re-introduced from "INside" with less blood fountains and some gory scenes (particularly the jaw-tearing scene) seem thrown in gratuitously to not totally let down the "Inside"-Fans. Storytelling is a mess, editing is equally disjointed and the flashback transitions felt really lame... two scenes were near ridiculous, one being the cheesy ending of course and the other when the old hag screams for her daughter to dance... that felt like misplaced satire. The good visuals, acting and sound design and the creepy location and strange mechanic toys felt wasted on a bad script. After all an average movie with a lot of shadows and a lot of light ending in utter mediocrity... high expectations lie shattered.
Nothing is explained and comes together... why are the woman and her daughter strange vampire creatures that can't go out in daylight... and even worse not at nighttime? Why does the girl play with creepy electric toys with stuffed animal heads, how come Mrs. evil Ballet teacher is so obsessed with making her daughter dance until she literally breaks, why is the woman not just an evil vampire but also very good in fixing mechanic spines, why is the lead nurse obliged to serve from childhood on, why are little killer ballerinas introduced and never mentioned again, why are people turning into zombies after being killed, why are there blue flames in the fields and why is the house spinning in space, why did the girl take the "wrong book" when she didn't even take one or look closely at it?
Its a shame... the ending is a total cheese-fest and doesn't resolve any of the question but rather ends more on top. The movie is like a random Frankenstein monster built of very obvious parts ripped from other top horror movies. They even go for copying themselves when some frantic neck stabbing with Scissors is re-introduced from "INside" with less blood fountains and some gory scenes (particularly the jaw-tearing scene) seem thrown in gratuitously to not totally let down the "Inside"-Fans. Storytelling is a mess, editing is equally disjointed and the flashback transitions felt really lame... two scenes were near ridiculous, one being the cheesy ending of course and the other when the old hag screams for her daughter to dance... that felt like misplaced satire. The good visuals, acting and sound design and the creepy location and strange mechanic toys felt wasted on a bad script. After all an average movie with a lot of shadows and a lot of light ending in utter mediocrity... high expectations lie shattered.