Reviewed by Geno McGahee
I have heard of this movie and just how disturbing it was for some time, and I finally got the opportunity to sit down and watch it. It surely was disturbing to a certain degree, especially one penis removing scene that lets your imagination run wild. The horror world should watch this penis scene and learn that less can be more…not saying that they should cast strictly actors with small junk. You are not following me. Sit there and think. Use your noggin. OK, by not showing the severed penis and just showing the sweat on the brow and the noises of the skin being cut was more effective than showing the penis hitting the floor. I wanted to close my eyes even though they did not show a thing. That is how great that scene was.
Well, this flick tackles a problem with America: Internet Predators. We’ve all seen those Dateline specials where they capture guys that are going after young kids that they met on the Internet. They usually show up with alcohol, rubbers, and flowers for the 12 year old girl/boy that they have spoken to on line. When they discover it was a cop and that they are now joining the ranks of registered sex offenders, their facial expression says it all. I do not understand older guys going after kids. What the fuck is wrong with these people?! I know that PETA is focusing on human on animal rape, but this is a bigger fish to fry in my opinion.
I like how Dateline not only nabs these perverts, but they are sarcastic and patronizing when they talk to this creep. I even know a guy that I thought was an OK Joe that was locked up for going after young girls on line. I could not believe it! But this is life and people can be fucked up and go undetected. This movie addresses this issue with Jeff (Patrick Wilson) meeting what he thinks is a naïve 14 year old girl, Hayley (Ellen Page) at a coffee shop. He is in his early thirties and has met young Hayley, of course, on line.
As they talk, you realize just how young Hayley is and how much of a sleaze that Jeff is. This movie is very well written and you immediately dislike the older man and what he is planning on doing. He plays innocent, letting Hayley know that he was going to wait until she’s 18, but you know that it’s just part of the plan. He’s hoping to be perceived as the nice guy and when she accompanies him home, he offers her booze. He then begins to talk about how he does photography and has dealt with some big shots, trying to impress the young girl, and by all indications, it does. But this is not your average 14 year old girl.
This movie takes a great turn when Hayley drugs Jeff and ties him to a chair and begins the torture. Now, this movie is not excessive torture. This is not a torture film. I hate torture films. What the fuck is with torture films? I look at torture as icing on the cake…if a movie is well written and interesting and incorporates torture here and there, it’s OK, but so many of today’s “horror” films rely on torture and dummies eat it up. Look at the popularity of the SAW series. That says it all.
Jeff soon realizes that Hayley is not to be toyed with and begins negotiating his release, but he has some skeletons in his closet that she plans to expose. On top of being a chicken hawk, he may also be responsible for a murder or two. Because the legal system sucks, Hayley decides to take law and his junk into her own hands and castrates him, or at least makes him and the viewer think that she does. I was freaking squirming in my seat. If my junk could talk, it would say “shut this shit off Geno.”
What I enjoy about this movie the most is that this is classic writing. There are no explosions or excessive gore. This is a dialogue driven movie, delivered by very talented actors. We have, for the most part, two people in this entire film, and you are immediately glued to the screen, although if you are a man, you might want to turn away for the castration scene. I have a hard time (no pun intended) watching penis torture scenes. I could never watch I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE because of that bathtub scene, where she cuts off the rapist’s prick. Now, that’s an OK thing to do to a rapist, but couldn’t she just talk about it after the fact? “What did you do yesterday Betty?” “Well, I cut off a guy’s junk in the bathtub.”
This movie reminds me somewhat of FUNNY GAMES, but at least Hayley has a good reason for doing the terrible acts to Jeff. She is very chipper and uses a lot of fake emotions to amuse herself, much like the duo in FUNNY GAMES. I actually enjoyed both performances very much and I have to recommend this. This was written well, the acting was fantastic, and it sends out a message: kill all pedophiles. I can’t argue with that.
Scared Stiff Rating: 7.5/10…keep that scalpel away from my junk!