| Overall Grade: |
A- |
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| Story: |
A- |
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| Acting: |
A |
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| Direction: |
A |
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| Visuals: |
A |
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Live the Nightmare.
by Yahoo! Movies User (movies profile)
Jan 4, 2007
3
of
3 people found this review helpful
This is another one of my favorite films, a relentlessly creepy,devilish nightmare that only progresses in its terrifying delivery. This opened the same weekend as Home Alone so naturally it tanked but who cares. This is obviously the better movie. A provocative and very disturbing vision of hell. Our hero Jacob, a Vietnam vet working as a mail carrier in New York has found himself in an urban Hades. Demons follow him everywhere and he sees strange visions. He's haunted by Vietnam flashbacks he can't fully remember and the death of his youngest son (an unbilled Macauley Culkin ironically). It's hard to figure out what's going on a lot of the time, what is real versus what isn't - the film jumps around a lot. It is terrifying. Many people complain that the movie is too vague but I believe that you can interpret it anyway you see fit to. I feel that Jacob is dying in reality, still in Nam and is trapped in Hell, trying to hold on to life and the demons are forcing him to make a decision - stay forever in hell or ascend the ladder into heaven. In the end, in a beautiful sequence,devoid of any sound and thoughtfully shot - his dead son helps usher Jacob to heaven. Hard to swallow? I think not. There's plenty of omens and symbolism and some of this ***** is downright spooky like the hospital sequence with the body parts and the needle in the forehead. Unforgettable and haunting. |
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