The Saw films have a lot to answer for in their expansion of the so-called ‘torture-porn’ style of filmmaking, where brutality and sadism are mixed with traditional serial killer plots. The horror in these horror films comes from stomaching the gore, and pushing the boundaries of torture, rather than any genuine tension or character work. To be fair the Saw films themselves are fairly decent in themselves with a clever knack for plotting. Captivity however is not. Riffing on the theme Captivity focuses on Jennifer Tree (Elisha Cuthbert) a model who is targeted and captured by an unknown assailant. Trapped in a room she is forced through mind games and torture until one day she discovers a fellow victim trapped in the room next to hers. The two form a bond and seek to escape.
It’s hard to say what it is about this film especially that makes is so bad, it just feels undercooked throughout. The opening is rushed and gives us no glimpse or insight into Cuthbert’s character; with its painfully short running time anyway the least the film could have done is try and inject some character into the story. In fact the whole opening seems so oddly staged, so badly set up that it just feels confusing. There is no reason for the events that take place, little is done to establish anything about the settings or mood and it all seems co0bbled together, as if half way through someone decided that adding some pointless torture to the film would make it sell better.
As the film progresses it’s stupidity only rises, Cuthbert’s character not only winds up falling for her cellmate but they end up getting together, whilst trapped in a dingy basement, whilst the killer stands behind them! Not only are the situations laughable but the whole package is filmed in such a way that you start to wonder if someone is just having a laugh. Aside from the bland / nonexistent characters and pretty hammy acting the 3rd act of the film, once the killer’s identity is revealed, switches to the more traditional horror fare, only with extra craziness. Cue the world’s worst policemen, a plot twist so obvious it must have come from chapter one of ‘horror writing for dummies’, characters turning on others for no discernable reason in the middle of scenes, oh and of course victims who refuse to actually finish the job when they can and actually escape.
Coming from Oscar winning director Roland Joffè this is a fairly shocking film for all the wrong reasons. To be fair the style seems to have been forced on the film, and maybe that’s the problem, it seems like a committee discussion on current horror films with all the appropriate tick boxes crossed off except those that are meant to include believable characters or actual scares. Avoid watching if at all possible and here’s to hoping that the trend for these sorts of films dies off quickly.
A mess pure and simple, confusing, nonsensical and downright stupid in parts this is a soulless affair that does nothing to boost the reputations of all involved.
The Saw films have a lot to answer for in their expansion of the so-called ‘torture-porn’ style of filmmaking, where brutality and sadism are mixed with traditional serial killer plots. The horror in these horror films comes from stomaching the gore, and pushing the boundaries of torture, rather than any genuine tension or character work. To be fair the Saw films themselves are fairly decent in themselves with a clever knack for plotting. Captivity however is not. Riffing on the theme Captivity focuses on Jennifer Tree (Elisha Cuthbert) a model who is targeted and captured by an unknown assailant. Trapped in a room she is forced through mind games and torture until one day she discovers a fellow victim trapped in the room next to hers. The two form a bond and seek to escape.
It’s hard to say what it is about this film especially that makes is so bad, it just feels undercooked throughout. The opening is rushed and gives us no glimpse or insight into Cuthbert’s character; with its painfully short running time anyway the least the film could have done is try and inject some character into the story. In fact the whole opening seems so oddly staged, so badly set up that it just feels confusing. There is no reason for the events that take place, little is done to establish anything about the settings or mood and it all seems co0bbled together, as if half way through someone decided that adding some pointless torture to the film would make it sell better.
As the film progresses it’s stupidity only rises, Cuthbert’s character not only winds up falling for her cellmate but they end up getting together, whilst trapped in a dingy basement, whilst the killer stands behind them! Not only are the situations laughable but the whole package is filmed in such a way that you start to wonder if someone is just having a laugh. Aside from the bland / nonexistent characters and pretty hammy acting the 3rd act of the film, once the killer’s identity is revealed, switches to the more traditional horror fare, only with extra craziness. Cue the world’s worst policemen, a plot twist so obvious it must have come from chapter one of ‘horror writing for dummies’, characters turning on others for no discernable reason in the middle of scenes, oh and of course victims who refuse to actually finish the job when they can and actually escape.
Coming from Oscar winning director Roland Joffè this is a fairly shocking film for all the wrong reasons. To be fair the style seems to have been forced on the film, and maybe that’s the problem, it seems like a committee discussion on current horror films with all the appropriate tick boxes crossed off except those that are meant to include believable characters or actual scares. Avoid watching if at all possible and here’s to hoping that the trend for these sorts of films dies off quickly.
A mess pure and simple, confusing, nonsensical and downright stupid in parts this is a soulless affair that does nothing to boost the reputations of all involved.
1 comment:
Yay - at last you've seen and reviewed a terrible film! I tip my hat.
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