::: Star Campus :::

Movie Review

See No Evil

Shamma M. Raghib

Genre: Horror / Slasher (something like Saw but a lamer version)
Duration: 1 hr. 40 min.
Starring: Glen Jacobs (WWE Superstar Kane), Joe Cappelletti, Craig Horner, Tiffany Lamb, Penny McNamee, Director: Gregory Dark
Rated R for gore and strong violence Campus rating: 5/10 (Not recommended for under 18 viewers)

In See No Evil, psychopath Jacob Goodnight works out his violent tendencies by murdering the hapless homeless who wander into his territory. Armed with a meat cleaver and long nails, which I envy, he excavates their eyeballs and pops them into pickle jars!

The story evolves when a busload of teenage criminals are sent from the local detention center to cleanup the abandoned Blackwell Hotel. Among them is the cop that shot Jacob in the head. When one teen of the group is captured by Goodnight, the rest of the teens search frantically for her, only to find that they are all prey for an unstoppable force determined to kill them all.

In "See No Evil" the director, Gregory Dark, and the writer, Dan Madigan, ensures no sympathy for the foulmouthed victims, who spend most of their pre-mutilation time drinking, taking showers and talking.

After watching the movie, and closing my eyes at times, I have to say that the cinematic approach to the movie was indecent cameras from walls, motion crawling over roaches and cameras exploring deep into eye-sockets, it seemed to me as a very amateurish horror movie. I have to admit however, that director Dark has shown us the most inventive method of death using cell phones. Parents please don't try this at home! Among the actors, Kane is probably the main attraction since he is a WWE wrestler. I am not sure he has the proper acting skills required for a horror flick . . .except for the frequent grunts, confused looks and eye gouging and axe swinging. He's a hulk, but instead of imposing, he comes off as a junior high bully with an eye socket fetish.

I wondered why the first 3 victims are dispatched of way too quickly. It's almost as if the director realized he was running short on cash to pay the actors and so he killed them off like any hindi serials.

Where in most slasher movies, the deaths are separated by 4 or 5 minute set up scenes, Jacob buzzsaw's through the first 3 victims pretty quickly before he slows the pace down a bit with the remaining 5 or so kids. The deaths themselves are gruesome but nothing really awe-inspiring or unbelievable.

“See No Evil” wastes no time wreaking havoc once the kids arrive at the hotel- and this is what I liked. Kane was pretty much okay as Jacob Goodnight, high blood and gore factor, a few likeable characters amongst the kids, however the film's main basis is pretty silly. Even after all this, if you're looking for plain and simple on-screen carnage and mayhem without the complicated plot, then you'll love "See No Evil".