Thursday, February 27, 2014

Review: Banshee Chapter (2013)

The true events behind this film are much more fascinating and terrifying than the end product unfortunately. There are definitely some creepy moments but the main investigative story fails to be compelling. You've got a female reporter trying to find out what really happened to her friend who she may or may not have been in love with (probably should've opted for the latter since it's hard for the audience to get invested in a relationship if the girl doesn't even know how she feels about the guy). I know this movie didn't have a huge budget, but it's also too small for its own good. You barely get to see any monsters or experiments, and the ending just made me go, "That's it?" Ted Levine who we all know as Jame Gumb from The Silence of the Lambs is excellent and helps liven things up a bit, but he doesn't get that much to do. They mostly wander around, attempting to solve the mystery, but there isn't any ticking clock or narrative device to build momentum. Making a horror film based on these real events is a brilliant idea if only they could've mined it for its true potential. It's ok but not as good as it could've been.