Polished B-horror of a serial killer nature, but not much fun. Stock standard build-up and introduction of genre-typical characters. The innocent, self-effacing loser who is in love with the reluctant gentle heroine, Elena (Emma Fitzpatrick) whose best friend is the slut. The asshole ex-boyfriend, and we all know what happens to the despicable character.
Looking for a party and they find a rave. Nice design of the monster’s weapon, however. The rigged building as death machine is cool. Not as interesting as the machines in Saw. The deviant art in The Cell is more visually interesting than the Masked One’s art collection.
Low-level violence – a few bloody corpses, lots of splatter.
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A gross face-crushing moment delivers some gore, but it’s only just seen, before the gentle heroine is collected. The tortured thief, Arkin (Josh Stewart) escapes cleverly, yet predictably.
In the hospital, it gets a little spooky. Lucello (Lee Tergesen – the bullying older brother from the ‘90s TV version of Weird Science) leads a team of assassins to hunt the monster, using Arkin as bait.
This young girl’s fears are not traumatic, yet she is forced to witness torture and murder. The height of her panic is short, sharp breaths. She is smart enough to figure out how to escape the trunk, but the monster expects her to.
The real fun is in watching Arkin help the assassins in their hunt. The writing of this story is weak, though the production is fine and the acting is regal. All of the assholes will die, that’s a given.
This triumphant maze is well more intelligently constructed than the dumb story, which is also, for the most part, not scary. The fears are not intellectual, they are blunt instruments.
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Trickery is inserted in the form of a false innocent.
The surprises are strong, but they follow a predictable path.
Arkin is quick-witted, tough, reasonable, with a powerful survival instinct. He and Elena would make a great team if they had more scenes together, as they are the film’s only interesting characters.
The tension builds, (one hour into the film,) finally it’s getting a little scary. Arkin tries to find a way out, while in another part of the house, Elena hides from the Masked One.
He has a method, his collection is not random. It feels disappointing, all the crazy traps and drugged zombies, with no brilliant scheme tying them all together.
If the story was more intricate, the film could capitalise on a common fear; A building that is so deviously designed and solidly escape-proof, that no matter how many doors you open, you will never get out.
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There is a very nice scene where Arkin breaks his arm on purpose, to escape a trap.
The fight scenes are gripping and bloody, but the blood and violence aren’t up close and specific. The violence all happens fast and from a distance, it’s too easy to disassociate.
The ending provides a certain amount of satisfaction. The film is typical, not great, kind of trashy, B-horror. It is what it is. A terrible movie, but it had potential. If you’re looking for a dumb slasher, that’s exactly what you get.
the joy of eating and the folly of thinking 