Genre - DramaYear Released - 2008
Running Time - 98 minutes
Directed by Trygve Allister Diesen (?) and Lucky McKee (May and Masters of Horror's Sick Girl)
Written by Jack Ketchum (The Girl Next Door, The Lost, and coming in 2010 - Off Season, and in 2011 - Right to Life) and Stephen Susco (who wrote the screenplays for the terrible American versions of The Grudge 1 & 2 - nothing against Stephen - I didn't like the Japanese versions either)
Cast Includes:
Brian Cox (the 1st actor to portray Thomas Harris' Hannibal Lecter - in Manhunt, he also played Stryker - the man who created Wolverine, in X-Men 2 - he was also in Braveheart & Troy)
Noel Fisher
Kyle Gallner (Flash, from TV's Smallville)
Shilo Fernandez
Rating: 5 Skulls
Plot Summary:
Avery Ludlow is a simple, affable man driven to extremes when a group of teenage miscreants kill his beloved dog, Red.
When it becomes obvious that the boys won't be held accountable for their senseless act, Ludlow takes matters into his own hands.
Review:
As with any book, it is extremely difficult to translate raw emotions into film, however the last three movies to be released, based on Jack Ketchum's novels (The Girl Next Door, The Lost, and now Red) have all come pretty darn close!
If you have read Jack's novel (Red) then you will understand, right away, that Brian Cox is perfectly cast! He made this movie what it is! When Avery recalls one of the most tragic events from the novel, you are completely enraptured - Cox is so powerful that you may just cry!
As for other casting - Tom Sizemore (Point Break, True Romance, Natural Born Killers, Saving Private Ryan) and Ashley Laurence (Kirsty from Hellraiser 1 & 2) as Danny and Harold's parents. Robert Englund (Freddy Krueger, 2001 Maniacs, Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer) and Amanda Plummer (So I Married an Axe Murderer, Pulp Fiction, The Prophecy, Satan's Little Helper) as Pete's parents. What great choices! Being that Lucky McKee was involved in this movie, I am surprised that Angela Bettis did not make an appearance though! (However, there was a scene where there is an animated show on the television, and it looks just like the show that Lucky imagined, in Bettis' Roman - I could be wrong on that though. . .)
Also, Jack Ketchum's cameo as the bartender - very cool, but I digress. . . :-)
Right away, you will literally hate the character of Danny! You will hate him with a passion, while at the same time, feeling extremely sorry for Avery.
All Avery wants, is justice to be served - this movie's moral is that no matter the actions you choose (whether good or bad) all will have a consequence, and those consequences may sometimes end in tragedy. Another moral is, no matter what the case - always tell the truth!
Jason
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10 comments:
Great review! I'm a longtime Ketchum fan, and I've been dying to see this movie for a while, but I still haven't gotten around to it. It looks great. You can even tell right from the trailer that Cox is gonna be great in this role, and from what you said it seems like he is, just as I expected.
Nice write-up. I've actually heard good things about this one--good to see Sizemore getting career back on track...seemingly anyways.
I managed to catch it on one of the HD channels which was wonderful since it was a film that was never released anywhere near me. I am a big Lucky McKee fan simply because of May which I love (I was even May for Halloween one year, cooler and all). But this was a very good film and sadly it is one that I dont think a lot of people know about or would randomly pick off the shelf. But they should. Great review.
I'll have to add this one to my movie list. Tom Sizemore is always a favorite of mine, no matter how weird he gets:)
Bearded Weirdo,
I too have been a long time Ketchum fan, and I always end up looking forward to the film adaptations to his novels, as they (so far) have all been excellent choices (director wise, etc.)
J
Thanks Rev!
Sizemore was a great choice to play Danny & Harold's father ~ you'll see why! :-)
J
Smirking Revenge,
You ROCK!!!!!
May as Halloween?!? That is GENIUS!!!
[even with the cooler!!] AWESOME!!! :-)
You have got to send me a picture of that!!
I think that you are correct in the fact that not a whole lot of people know about this film (it was just released on DVD, on Tuesday) so hopefully word will spread!
J
Jenn,
Come back and let me know your thoughts, after you have watched it!
J
In response to your comment about you being a Ketchum fan as well, I do have to say that, although I enjoyed the movie adaptation of The Girl Next Door, I must admit I was kind of let down. It's a good movie. Not bad at all. But, I mean, that books has such an incredible, indelible impact that it's practically impossible to recreate on celluloid. Good movie. But I was just disappointed in the sense that, really, it is a mere shadow when compared to the power of the book itself. I've actually refused to let any of my friends watch this movie until they read the book FIRST, so they can get an understanding of the pure profound emotional brutality that the novel is capable of wreaking on your psyche. I'm sure, however, that if someone has not read the book before seeing the movie, it's probably much better and much more powerful.
I totally agree with you William
[99.9% of the time a movie will never live up to the power of the book that it was based upon!]
If a movie is based on a book that interests me, I always try to read the book before seeing the movie [this is generally a set-up for disappointment though]
Still, so far, I have enjoyed each of the Ketchum adaptations, and I am looking forward to Off Season!!
J
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