Mercifully it is only 87 minutes long.
Poorly written, poorly directed, unevenly acted, and generally implausible despite being based on a true story, the movie is alternately painful to watch, boring, and insulting to the viewer.
There are a few decent performances. Bruce Dern, James Earle Jones, and one or two others are OK, and Onata Aprile as the little girl did a very good job. Beyond that the acting is shallow and weak. In a movie with almost no story where people are being senselessly terrorized the viewer needs some depth of meaning or character to make the terror watchable. None here.
The movie doesn't ring true, as if the creators are from another planet and have no real sense of how people actually behave. The movie did inspire me to learn about the actual case in order to try to understand what may have actually happened.
The movie makers repeatedly commit two unforgivable sins too often found in action and horror films. One, when given the chance to thwart the aggressors and gain control the victims are inept. Lacking imagination, the movie makers simply hope the viewer will not notice.
Second, villains and criminals, even dumb ones, generally act in a way that will minimize the possible consequences of their actions and achieve their goals with the least risk and effort. Not here.
The ending was slightly satisfying, so I added an additional star to my rating.
Poorly written, poorly directed, unevenly acted, and generally implausible despite being based on a true story, the movie is alternately painful to watch, boring, and insulting to the viewer.
There are a few decent performances. Bruce Dern, James Earle Jones, and one or two others are OK, and Onata Aprile as the little girl did a very good job. Beyond that the acting is shallow and weak. In a movie with almost no story where people are being senselessly terrorized the viewer needs some depth of meaning or character to make the terror watchable. None here.
The movie doesn't ring true, as if the creators are from another planet and have no real sense of how people actually behave. The movie did inspire me to learn about the actual case in order to try to understand what may have actually happened.
The movie makers repeatedly commit two unforgivable sins too often found in action and horror films. One, when given the chance to thwart the aggressors and gain control the victims are inept. Lacking imagination, the movie makers simply hope the viewer will not notice.
Second, villains and criminals, even dumb ones, generally act in a way that will minimize the possible consequences of their actions and achieve their goals with the least risk and effort. Not here.
The ending was slightly satisfying, so I added an additional star to my rating.