06 - Don't Let Him In

    UK Horror, with a small cast.  A couple, and a younger sister go away to the country for the weekend.  The sister brings along a one-night-stand on the trip.  There's a killer in the area, and things get tense.

    The first 70 minutes of this movie is actually pretty interesting.  It's written in a way that keeps us from being able to make clear distinctions about who is to be trusted.  Then the last 20 minutes of the movie turns into a very different, much more derivative horror movie, where the killer has the victim trapped in his lair, the victim escapes, and the killer pursues, leading to a showdown.

    Somehow, this movie only has a 3.6 on IMDB.

    I did realize something interesting as I watched the end; it didn't matter to me if the victim lived or died.  Or for that matter, if the killer would live or die.  This doesn't seem like it makes sense, but the quality of the movie is not dependent on the viewer caring about the victims or the killer.  When I watch The Shining, the tension of the situation doesn't depend on me caring about Wendy.  In fact, I really don't care for her.  Danny is mildly annoying.  Jack's craziness is the entertainment of the movie.  But suppose there was a different ending to The Shining.  Suppose that Jack caught up with Danny and Wendy, killed both of them, then figured out what happened, then killed himself.  Actually, blowing up the Overlook would be a pretty bad ending.  But I don't think my impression of the quality of the film relies on who survives at all.