Amy and David (Kate Beckinsale and Luke Wilson) are a bickering couple traveling down a dark, lonely road. They hit a raccoon and decide to spend the night at an isolated hotel. They get to their room and discover video tapes on top of the television. The tapes are snuff films that were shot in the exact room in which they are staying. To add to their shock, someone is banging on the door from the next room.

Before long, the hotel manager and two sidekicks corner the couple, hoping to make another film. The couple bands together to fight off the bad guys in the most predictable, boring ways possible.

Director Nimród Antal begins strong and then limps across the finish line. The images of the snuff film are very striking and disturbing. If someone forces the images of people being tortured on their audience, they better have a very, very good reason for doing so. Antal doesn't live up to this demand. Instead, his film descends into a cheap horror/action film that lacks any deeper value or meaning.


This movie is another example of the cinematic motif of the American Savage. As explained in my review of Texas Chainsaw Massacre, this feeds into the urbanite fear of the country folk. the civilized city dwellers wander off the beaten path and the thick-browed, red necked citizens of the American netherworld come to prey. Watered down, it is a fear of poor white people put to film.

This is a violent movie that isn't good enough to justify sitting through the rough stuff - so don't.


Related Reviews:
Nimród Antal movies
Predators (2010)
Kontroll (2003)


Other Critic's Reviews:
Reel Views
Film Threat



Click here to buy your copy of
You Are What You See:
Watching Movies Through a Christian Lens

Labels: film, frank whaley, Kate Beckinsale, Luke Wilson, movie review, Nimród Antal