112 - 7 Below

    A group of people wind up stranded in a spooky house during a huge storm.  Coincidentally, a series of murders took place during a storm 100 years prior.
    After finishing Atrocious, I wanted to watch a modern horror movie that was shot competently.  No reliance on shaky-cam work.  I wanted a thoroughly plotted movie.  7 Below features Val Kilmer on the cover art!  How could it be bad?
    It's derivative, and pretty dull.  Val Kilmer is given top billing for about two days worth of work.  There are some bizarre turns of character, and some really strange things like a character gaining an accent about 3/4 of the way through the movie.
    I wasn't sure if I wanted to say that I didn't understand it.  I think I did, but I'm not positive.
    The one thing that this movie made me think about was the use of storms as a plot device in movies.  I don't mind using it as a way to keep characters stuck inside.  I have some more contempt for the use of storms as an atmospheric tool.  Using lightning to punctuate scenes or reveal someone creeping up actually seems lazy to me.  I don't mind using it as a cliche, as it is in Clue.  Here it seems like an excuse to poorly light everything.
    Utterly forgettable.