Solstice

Scott Hardie: “It sucked.”

In his audio commentary, writer-director Dan Myrick makes clear that he has no lack of ambition, since he models himself after Hitchcock by emphasizing story and character over the trappings of genre. The problem, then, must be lack of talent, because the story and character are awfully slim in this brain-dead Euro-horror remake, even by direct-to-video standards. The soundtrack eagerly rachets up the tension every time the heroine finds herself alone, even when it's clear nothing scary is about to happen. The film wants to be scary, but doesn't have a clue how to create characters in peril that we care about, how to indicate real menace lurking in the shadows, or how to deliver the goods when the moment finally arrives, leaning on shoddy CGI probably necessitated by the film's budget, and a laughably "shocking" ending. The other Euro-horror release this month, The Orphanage, is like a master class in creating intense dread compared to this amateurish mess.

− January 26, 2008 • more by Scott • log in or create an account to reply