The Trailer:
Cast: Joey Lauren Adams, Thorsten Kaye, Amaury Nolasco, Elizabeth Gillies, Jeremy Sumpter, Keke Palmer, Parker Young, & Paul Iacono
Synopsis: When a group of friends plans for an outdoor adventure go awry, they are left stranded in a remote woods with a hungry predator on the prowl.
Being produced by Chiller, I didn't expect much from this movie. And somehow, I think my low expectations are what lead me to be so impressed by the movie. Animal is not Oscar-worthy, obviously, but it does have some good moments that actually made me jump. Therefore, it's okay in my book. Don't mistake me, though, there is a lot wrong with this movie... like a lot! For starters, the monster, animal thing; at about twenty minutes in we get a crystal clear view of the animal.And I, for one, like there to be a little more mystery to a monster when it comes to monster movies. Anyways, this first viewing almost seems like a blip, though, because throughout the rest of the movie the animal is shown only in shadow, or slightly hidden behind a door or something of the sort. He is never shown fully, again, until the end of the film. My gripe is: why did they show him in full at the beginning of the film and then spend the rest of the film trying to hide him? I would've preferred that we see only glimpses of the animal throughout the film and then in the end, get a full view of him, but alas I am merely a reviewer. Also, after seeing how massive and muscular the animal looks, we are supposed to believe that he can't break into cabin windows that sparsely boarded up with flimsy wooden planks? Sure, but here we are viewing the animal struggle with their boarded up barricades, and yet, later he breaks through them like nothing! Yeah, okay screenwriters. There is also misguided logic, that I'm not quite sure if it's meant to throw us off or show how intelligent the animal is. Carl (Thorsten Kaye) says that he believes the animal loses energy after feeding, but later we see the animal feed and then attack right after. So, was that logic just a red herring? Or was it to prove that the animal knew how to manipulate the group into thinking that they understood it's habits? Who knows! Whatever! Moving on. The thing I appreciated most, and was impressed by most in this movie is that the characters aren't overtly stupid. Yes, this is a cliché cabin-in-the-woods movie, but the characters aren't clichéd. For the most part they all make logical, sound decisions for the survival of the group and rarely stray into idiot territory. There are only a few hiccups in their plans and logic, but they can all be mostly overlooked. There are also some profound moments of realization for some of the characters such as when Sean (Paul Iacono), after having a close call with the animal, admits to Mandy (Elizabeth Gillies) and Alissa (Keke Palmer) that there are secrets he has kept that he doesn't want to die with. I though that moment was a true moment of poignancy and human awareness in the face of death that I wish would have been more prominent throughout the film. I mean since we saw the animal in the beginning, the focus shouldn't have been on the animal at all, but rather the struggle this group of friends face knowing there is inevitable death ahead of them.
All in all, the movie wasn't fantastic, but for being a Chiller movie I was impressed. There were a lot of areas where it could have been improved, but I liked it anyway. And the production is solid. The animal looks realistic and not heavily CGI"d, which I'm sure it was but you can't tell. The actors did good. It's not a horrible movie,
Would I watch it again, though? Probably not.
No comments:
Post a Comment