Saturday is Horror Day #227 - Locked

 Locked

Eddie Barrish (Bill Skarsgärd) means well. He generally has good intentions. But somehow things always seem to get in the way. Such as when it's his turn to pick up his daughter Sarah (Ashley Cartwright) from school but his car is in the shop and he doesn't have the money to pay for it to be fixed and the shop owner refuses to take his word for it that he will pay him or extend him credit.

Eddie is at the end of his rope and desperate. His ex has warned him what will happen if he doesn't fulfill 

his duties as Sarah's father. His promises are empty and she is fed u with them. He does everything he knows how to do to get the almost $500 he needs... and then he spots the luxury SUV sitting alone in a parking lot.  Looking vulnerable. And it's unlocked. What else is a guy to do but take it?

But life is not quite so easy....

Eddie finds himself, to his dismay, locked inside the car. Panicked - and on a time schedule - he tries to get out, but to no avail. Then the screen begins to light up with a call, one that is marked Answer Me. He ignores it the first few times, but finally he's forced to answer it. To his dismay, he discovers himself speaking with the car's owner,  William (Anthony Hopkins), who tells me he is tired of having his car stolen and the police doing nothing about it. So he's taken matters into his own hands. And now, if Eddie wants out, he's going to have to play William's game.

I have to confess that when I saw that this film had both Bill Skarsgärd and Anthony Hopkins, I knew I wanted to see it, no matter what it was about. And I'm glad I did. It's a psychological thriller about two men at the end of their ropes. Eddie is just the unlucky one who falls in the fed-up William's trap. Seriously, who would leave such an expensive vehicle unlocked, alone in a parking lot? But Eddie is desperate, so he isn't using what common sense he might possess. Eddie goes through an ordeal in his attempts to simply exit the car, and William is relentless in his methods - including taxing Eddie, and withholding food and drink, torturing him with music, etc. I was never sure how things would work out, and I found myself very invested in finding out. Both men do an excellent job of portraying their characters. Despite one reviewer who blared something about Pennywise vs Hannibal Lecter, that is far from the case. Eddie is no Pennywise and William no Lecter. I found the movie very enjoyable, I'll give this film 4 Stars.

Saturday is Horror Day #100 - Smile, Silence of the Lambs

 I'd like to start by saying welcome to the 100th post of Saturday is Horror Day! Little did I know when I first began to write this weekly adventure into the horror genre that it would last this long, but here we are. My first review is for the movie Smile, but I am going to look for something I like better before I post this for a second review. Thanks for taking the journey with me, hope you are enjoying the reviews and plan to continue to ride along!

Smile

Psychiatrist Rose Cotter (Sosie Bacon) has a disturbing encounter with a patient who insists that she is being stalked by an entity who changes faces and forms, but has only one constant - its smile. Trying to probe further into the young woman's problems, their session comes to a chilling end, traumatizing Rose.  Having witnessed her suicide, not only can Rose not get it out of her mind, but she is beginning to see strange things herself. The more she sees, the less people believe or trust her, and she is about to become a part of the same institution where she works, except for viewing it from the inside! Will no one save her from the creature who smiles?

I will admit this was a creepy film, but not anything extraordinary. Decent writing and acting, but a not 

overly complex plot which isn't even fully explained. I never did understand who or what the creature was. Nonetheless it's worth watching at least once. If for no other reason, than to see Kal Penn as Rose's boss. Also, Robin Weigert plays Rose's therapist. A good evening's entertainment. I'll give it 3.5 Stars

I decided to rewatch one of my favorite films for this post, hope you enjoy it too!

Silence of the Lambs

FBI trainee Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) is called into the office of her supervisor, Jack Crawford (Scott Glenn), the last thing she expects is to receive an actual field assignment. He tells her that they are doing a survey among a number of known and incarcerated serial killers for a study. Most of them have been cooperative, but one in particular has not and he wants Starling to approach him with the survey and to see if she can get answers out of him. Clarice is surprised that this seems to take priority right now, what with the killer Buffalo Bill on the loose - so-called because he likes to skin his humps. But what can she do but obey? So off to Baltimore she goes.

Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) has been incarcerated at the Baltimore Hospital for the Criminally Insane for a dozen years. He is held securely behind a wall of glass at the end of the hall. The director of the hospital, Dr. Frederick Chilton (Anthony Heald) is not only obnoxious but ambitious. He's miffed when Clarice snubs his advances and his assistance. Dr. Lecter becomes intrigued by Clarice and her naivete and toys with her. But when another inmate disrespects her, he gives her some actual information.

Clarice follows the clues Lecter obliquely gave her and discovers a severed head in the back seat of an 

old car in a storage unit. Crawford takes her with him unexpectedly after the discovery of another corpse in West Virginia, and she suddenly realizes she has become part of the Buffalo Bill case. In the meantime, Catherine Martin  (Brooke Smith), daughter of Senator Ruth Martin (Diane Baker) is kidnapped, and finds herself at the bottom of a well, being told to put the lotion on her skin.

Jealous of Clarice's continued association with Lecter, Dr Chilton bugs his cell and learns some interesting information that Crawford has fed to Lecter through Starling. But Chilton decides to make his own deal with the distraught senator in hopes of fostering his own career. However, he'll learn soon enough what it means to make an enemy of Hannibal Lecter. Clarice is racing against time, as Buffalo Bill is known to kill his victims after three days. But why? And what is the meaning of the marks on their backs? And why a death's head moth?

Tick tock, tick tock...time is ticking, Clarice...

Based on the novel by Thomas Harris, Silence of the Lambs is a magnificent thriller that keeps you guessing to the very last minute. Jodie Foster shines as Clarice, the naive young woman whose greatest desire is to be in the FBI, and aspires to be a profiler. Scott Glenn is her supervisor, Jack Crawford, who takes a chance on a trainee to entice Lecter into helping with the Buffalo Bill case, although he doesn't tell her that. Ted Levine is incredible as Jame Gumb (I am a huge Ted Levine fan) and his dance is pretty amazing. But the star of the show, without a doubt, is Sir Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter, one of the most fascinating characters to be found both in the book and on the silver screen. Prior to this, there was a film of the novel Red Dragon, called Manhunter, which starred Brian Cox as Lecter. But once Hopkins assumed the role, it became his.

Direction, acting, writing - this film has it all. And it stands up to repeated viewings. I don't think I'll ever get tired of this. I'll give this film 5 Stars.