| Overall Grade: |
A- |
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| Story: |
B+ |
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| Acting: |
A- |
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| Direction: |
A- |
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| Visuals: |
A- |
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Psychologically Terrifying
by Yahoo! Movies User (movies profile)
Jun 16, 2008
9
of
9 people found this review helpful
I saw this ultra creepy movie back in 1990 when I was like 12 years old. It opened on the same day as Home Alone but I didn't want to see that. I wanted some horror in my life.This film blew me away. One of my all time favorites.Scary as hell and visually haunting.Like an acid trip to hell.This is one of the most disturbing films that I've ever seen.It's gloomy and grimy and full of horrifying images and scenarios.Tim Robbins shines as Jacob, a Vietnam Vet who was seriously injured in a strange skirmish with his own troop.Well, he's back in New York and living with Jezzie and mourning the loss of his youngest son (an uncredited Macauley Culkin!)who died years earlier.Things seem to be going okay until he starts being assaulted by visions of demons - on the subway, at a party, at a vet hospital.Things get worse and he begins to suspect a government conspiracy.What made his troop go nuts in Vietnam.His surviving army buddies are dying and going crazy and the more he investigates the creepier things get.This is a beautifully crafted film with haunting images from start to finish and it stays with you long after viewing it.The editing is brilliant with split second shots that will make you rub your eyes and send chills down your spine.Consider the scene where Jacob is arguing with Jezzie, for a split second her face turns demonic. Man. Is it all a nightmare? Critics blasted this movie's ending saying that it negated the entire film but I don't see it.Jacob's caught between life and death, still holding on and the demons are symbolic of the fact that he isn't supposed to live.In the end, a beautiful ending sequence, he takes his dead son's hand and ascends the stairway to heaven.How the f--k does that negate the film.It ain't hard to understand-just watch the friggin movie.It's all a hallucination, a struggle in Jacob's mind between living and dying. Is that so hard to see.
This is a masterpiece, a psychological horror feast.Sorry about the spoilers in case you haven't seen it. Even still you need to rent this disturbing film. It will blow you away. I don't regret passing up Home Alone to see this instead. It's still one of my favorites. |
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