Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mel O&#039;Drama" data-source="post: 418432" data-attributes="member: 23">Don't Look Back (2020) A.K.A.  Good Samaritan <img src="https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.squarespace-cdn.com%2Fcontent%2Fv1%2F593c8320e4fcb5a7cbab9b90%2Fdcef6bf4-70ff-4cbb-8896-6bd96e58ac25%2F79thbroadway_dont_look_back_movie_poster.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=81e0dd015207697b6a0c7f96a729be6c7fd92b4429efc62020a525bd019965ea&ipo=images" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="width: 603px" /> Usually I don't look up any information ahead of time, but I somehow ended up doing a quick search to get a sense of this one when I was narrowing down my choices. I'd read there was some Final Destination connection, and scrolled past many scathing reviews that said it was an el cheapo Final Destination knockoff in order to find out about the title as there seemed to be two. Perhaps most weirdly of all, I saw Josh Bowman's name in the credits. Then as I watched the film I found myself thinking he hadn't changed that much since Revenge, and still had some of the same mannerisms. During the end credits, I tut-tutted that they'd got the character and actor credits in the wrong order for him. Only afterwards did I realise that, in actual fact, the character was named Josh Bowman, and was played by one Skyler Hart. I think I've just about caught up now. As to the film itself, I enjoyed it. Yes, expectations were low, but even so I thought it was fine. It's written by Jeffrey Reddick who wrote and created Final Destination, and the similarities are there to be seen. Once again, a group of people is present when Something Horrible happens. Once again, they later begin to die, one by one. Once again, it's all about signs, omens and portents, and our protagonist begins to display something akin to precognition, putting herself at the scene of every death and making herself look sketchy in the process. Once again, authorities are dismissive, and the group begins to come together to try and beat the odds. The familiar elements don't make this a bad story. Frankly, I'd probably rather watch this film than a number of the Final Destination sequels and scenes. Don't Look Back shifts the focus from prolonged death tableaus back to the characters' fears. The gore and kill porn is toned down, meaning the story has fewer places to hide. It might not be a great, clever or even original story, but there has been far thinner in the FD franchise. The production values do occasionally let the film down. It's not a bad-looking film, but neither does it feel like an epic. This adds a degree of intimacy, which is a good thing, but the direction also lets it down at times - this was Reddick's directorial debut and, perhaps understandably, remains the only film he has directed - and there are schlocky jump scares in place of true suspense. Where this film really has it is the casting and performances. In particular lead actress Kourtney Bell is terrific, which gives the film its substance. All the other characters are utilised well enough that all of them work. Unusually for me with a film in this genre, there aren't any performances that grate or irritate. Only on one occasion does an actor do that Chad Michael Murray thing of saying a sentence, waiting a beat and then saying the character's name like an afterthought (it's in the trailer). But then his character is beaten to death a few moments later so it never becomes problematic. That death is the film's Something Horrible, and I found the idea of Evil Triumphing Because Good Men Do Nothing a fascinating concept for the film to centre around. Sadly, today, all too many people respond to an emergency or horror not by offering aid or summoning help, but by taking out their phones to film it. Watching this, I found myself wondering what I would do in a situation like this. Certainly, it takes a lot of bravery (some would even say stupidity) to intervene today. And then there's the trauma response of being immobile with horror. This is what we see in the film's protagonist, Caitlin, due to her being traumatised by a beating she herself received just months earlier (where she witnessed her own father's death. Even by Final Girl standards, this poor young woman has been through it). When the film focusses on Caitlin's guilt and recovery and trying to reconcile things, it's great. And I can't say the mystery element was entirely predictable because I hadn't correctly guessed whodunnit (even though they were a fairly obvious choice, one of the red herrings just seemed far more suspicious to me, and I bought into that). I can see why someone expecting Final Destination would find this dull or poor, so it's a shame that pushing this connection invites unfavourable comparisons. There's very little of the graphic stuff that one would expect in this kind of film. For my money, I think it would be improved with less attempted horror than what we got. Remove the cheap jump scares with visions of zombified bodies appearing next to people, brush up the anti-climactic ending and this is actually a decent and atmospheric little thriller.</blockquote>

Verification: What month follows July?

Poison your name this Hallowe'en

There's plenty of time to choose your spooky October username

Click here for more details

Reply to thread