(2009) **1/2
I'm torn between "No big deal if you miss it" and "Good, watchable" on this one. I'm cranky and tired right now (and have to go coach 6 year old soccer practice in a half hour) though, so I'm going to go with the former.
Maybe this will get us talking about what a sick bastard JPX is again, as it's another movie with a rape scene as a central plot element. However, in this one it's not a zombie girl, but indeed a young teen who's already been uncomfortably sexualized early in the movie. And in this case, it's not so much a "rape movie" as it is a revenge fantasy. As a parent, what do you do if you find the bastards who raped your daughter?
I was expecting this to be a lot worse than it turned out, actually. Both Goldwyn and Potter are pretty strong here, and I like the actor who plays the lead baddie--he had a great run on Deadwood. And there's a crispness to the storytelling keeps things moving well along, even if it's all typically predictable and unbelievable. And that does tend to take away from the horror aspect here--it's more about violence and torture than frights, but my sense is that it doesn't quite go as far as the true torture porn stuff like Saw or Hostel. Maybe I do those a disservice by dismissing them out of hand though.
I should note there's an idiotic final scene here that deservedly cost the movie a half star all on its own.
