 |
Red Rover |
|
|
  |
| Use the darkbrown scrollbar to the right to scroll down for the review. |
Will's dad
has just passed away so he decides to
bring his sister, Kylie, out of the psychiatric
ward to treat her himself since nothing has seemed
to work on Kylie. They go to a remote island on
the Scottish coast where they've inherited a
house to be able to perform the treatment in
peace and quiet. At first it seems as if the
treatment is having a good effect on Kylie but
soon things take a turn for the worse as Kylie
starts having visions of ghosts.
Red Rover could have easily been as atrocious
as "Ring Around The Rosie" was but to my surprise
I found myself enjoying the hell out of this
horror thriller. Now, the plot description I wrote
is probably a little bit confusing so let me try
to clear things up. Kylie (Jodi Lyn O'Keefe) has
been on medication since she was five years old
after having seen her mother get burnt alive. She
has been through several psychologists and different
treatments but nothing has worked. When her dad
dies, her brother Will (William Baldwin) decides
to take care of her. They find out that they've
inherited a big house on the Scottish coast and
decide to go there. What they don't know is that
no one dares to go to this island as it's said to
be haunted and that no one's ever come back from
there alive, and they're about to discover why.
Sure sounds like a creepy ghost story doesn't it?
Well, while it does have its creepy moments, this
ultimately isn't a ghost story. To describe it
best I would probably have to say that it's like
The Grudge meets Village Of The Damned - only
with much less horror and much more thriller.
It doesn't exactly play like a horror movie and
it doesn't have any real scares in it, but the
story is just so intriguing that you can't take
your eyes off of the screen. The movie takes its
good time developing and I got more and more
interested in seeing how the story was unfolding
by the minute.
William Baldwin, the second most talented of the
Baldwin brothers (in my opinion) gives us a very
strong performance here. As does the lovely Jodi
Lyn O'Keefe who finally gets to show off her
skills in a more sophisticated way than she usually
does (Teacher's Pet comes to mind). The scenery
is absolutely beautiful and the director has
captured it all brilliantly. It's really just a
big feast for the eyes.
Surely Red Rover isn't a movie for everyone, some
of you will probably hate it, but some of you
will love it just as much as I did. If you have
a short attention span you might want to consider
renting something else but if you enjoy a story
which takes its time to build up, then I can
definitely recommend this. And to wrap it all up,
it's also got a great twist which I didn't see
coming. A great addition to the horror genre.
Not a lot to comment on here.
I loved how they had used Scottish-influenced music
as the soundtrack, with pan flutes, beautiful piano
music, strings and even bagpipes filling the score.
It's amazing that a movie that was made in 2003
hasn't found distribution until now, especially
when it's as good as Red Rover. This is a movie
for those who enjoy a slow build-up and some
creepy scenes. If you expect non-stop scares you
will be disappointed though.
Review By: AnthroFred
 |
 |
 |
 |