The Big Red Machine brings the bloody booyah to the big screen...
"See No Evil" Review
Glen "Kane" Jacobs- Jacob Goodnight
Steven Vidler- Williams
Samantha Noble- Kira
Christina Vidal- Christine
Rachael Taylor- Zoe
Luke Pegler- Michael
Penny McNamee- Melissa
Michael J. Pagan- Tye
Craig Horner- Richie
Cecily Polson- Margaret
Directed by Gregory Dark
Screenplay by Dan Madigan
Distributed by Lionsgate
Rated R for strong gruesome violence and gore throughout, language, sexual content and some drug use
Runtime- 100 minutes
Website: http://www.seenoevilthemovie.com
A group of youthful offenders get bussed to a rundown hotel, unaware that the hotel is the home to a 7-foot serial killer with razors for fingernails, a metal plate in the back of his head, and a penchant for slaughtering people with a meat hook on a chain. Glen Jacobs, or Kane as he is known in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) makes his feature flick acting debut as that 7-foot serial killer in "See No Evil," the first movie release from Vince McMahon's new business operation WWE Films. Directed by music video veteran (and porn director extraordinaire. This reviewer remembers seeing the guy doing an interview on one of those horrendous pop culture shows on VH-1) Gregory Dark, the flick manages to make its mark through atmosphere, heaps of gore, and a good monster in Kane's Jacob Goodnight. Yes, if you've seen a few slasher flicks in the past, you'll know what's in store. The movie doesn't break any new ground (it isn't original) but it succeeds because it does what it wants to do well.
The movie starts out with two beat cops showing up at a house after a call for screaming (or something). Steven Vidler plays Williams, one of the cops. The beat cops enter the house (they hear a weird beard religious song and hear screaming) and the one who isn't Williams gets immediately slaughtered. Williams reacts to his partner's sudden death but not quickly enough. The cop killer (it's Kane) slices off Williams' hand and then goes in for the kill. Williams shoots the killer in the head. Blood goes everywhere. The killer disappears. Williams looks at the screamer in the room, a young woman with no eyes. Very spooky. Williams calls for help, the cavalry comes, and the crime scene investigation begins. The killer's body isn't there, but the cops find plenty of gross, bloody stuff (plenty of eyes). Flash forward four years and we meet Williams, now with a very cool prosthetic hand, living alone, still disturbed by the mayhem he witnessed and had done to him. Williams wakes up, goes to the bathroom, gets dressed, and goes to work. He's still a cop of sorts, but he's got a new beat. We then move to a youthful offender jail type place where a bunch of hip and edgy young people are being led to a waiting bus.
We've got the black kid (Tye, as played by Michael J Pagan), the vegan (Melissa, as played by Penny McNamee), the black girl (Christine, as played by Christina Vidal), the blonde skank (Zoe, as played by the uber blonde Rachael Taylor), the scumbag (Michael, as played by Luke Pegler), the goth chick (Kira, as played by Samantha Noble) and the guy with the brown hair and the shirt (Richie, as played by Craig Horner). There are some others but this reviewer can't remember who they are. Each kid's crime is flashed across the screen (drug dealer, burglary, shoplifting, assault, etc), giving us a bit of background info on them. None of them are that into going to the hotel to clean it up, but if they go and complete the job they get a month reduction in their sentences. So off they go to the hotel with Williams.
The hotel, called "The Blackwell," is old and nasty looking. It's decrepit, rundown, dirty. It probably smells, too. Margaret (Cecily Polson) is an old woman who believes in the youthful offender cleaning up the hotel program and gives everyone the grand tour. She tells them no one is to go past the sixth floor because the upper floors are badly damaged due to the massive fire the hotel suffered years ago. Of course, the hip and edgy kids don't pay attention (some of them actually think there's a safe full of money there) and they go places they're not supposed to go. One the gang goes through a bit of a feeling out process with their new "jobs" and some back story hoo ha is worked out, the "monster" finally shows up. Jacob Goodnight uses axes, the hook on a chain, sheer brute strength, and a cell phone to dispatch the various people he "has to kill." We've got hooks into the ankle, jaw, shoulder, hand gouging on broken glass, eye gouging (that's the really nasty stuff. Like gumballs covered in egg yolk), choke slams a plenty for you wrestling nerds out there, and a great scene featuring stray dogs (take that that particular person! You'll say it when you see it). Sex, half nudity, pot smoking, and gnarly teeth abound. And then there's the freako religious bulldinky and the gratuitous masturbation. It surprisingly makes some sense.
The movie's opening bit is one of those jumper things that really doesn't pertain to much. It gives you a jolt, lets you know what the heck is likely to happen, but it feels sort of tacked on. Perhaps Dark and screenwriter Dan Madigan should have focused a tad more on the Williams character since we do see him at the beginning. The camera moves around quite a bit, and there's a rash of that flash cut stuff music video people think is so dang cool, but it never really gets annoying. The editing style actually works with the hotel setting, which is just dingy enough to be creepy. If you go into the movie determined to hate it, or if you're not usually inclined to see a horror flick like this, give it a few minutes and you'll enjoy yourself. You will.
Kane is an excellent slasher monster. This is the role he was born to play, so to speak. He looks good on screen, and when he engages in the on screen mayhem he never looks ridiculous. And he can emote some, too. His presence holds the movie together. The rest of the cast, while essentially good, don't do much else but run around and, well, run around. Christina Vidal and Rachael Taylor do manage to add some personality to their characters, which is a testament to their acting ability. Everyone else is just sort of there.
So, why do they only bring one cop to the hotel to manage the kids? Why do they allow the kids to come dressed up in their street clothes instead of jumpsuit outfits (for instance, why exactly would a work detail allow a girl to wear high heeled shoes?)? And why didn't the cops and the kid prison do a little more checking in regards to the building? And what happened to the girl in the beginning slaughter, the one who loved but had her eyes ripped out? Is that where the potential sequel is headed? Questions, questions.
Overall, "See No Evil" is a decent slasher horror flick that dishes out what you'd expect it to. It's a good debut for Kane as a movie star, it's a good debut for Gregory "New Wave Hookers 2" Dark in the horror movie genre, and it's a good debut for WWE Films. If Vince McMahon and whoever else he manages to get involved keep making movies at least half as good as "See No Evil," the world will have a new Cannon Films.
To a degree, it's what the world needs.
Go see it. You'll have a good time.
Special thanks to imdb.com for the use of their information.
The 411: “See No Evil” is a decent slasher movie and good debut for the Big Red Machine Kane. The blood and gore fly, the dead bodies (and gouged eyes) pile up, and, in typical slasher movie fashion, someone survives. This movie should stink, you get the feeling it will, but it eventually works itself out. Give it a shot.
