The only reason this got a 2 is because the killer's appearance IS fairly chilling when he's actually revealed, and because it actually does a semi-effective job of conveying panic.
Of course, the movie itself is absolute dreck. What we have is a short film that has been extended to feature length for no discernible reason other than "hey, maybe we can make some money on this!" The main character, Penny, has a phobia of cars, something I'm sure we can all identify with. What? You can't? Well, there's your first problem.
The turning point of the film, as shown in the trailer, is when her therapist runs down a hitchhiker, so they pick him up. I'm sorry, but if I ran that guy over, I'd keep driving. He's really obviously creepy looking; well, more, he looks like Emperor Palpatine while he still has the hood on. Either way, when I saw him on the road, I thought, "Wow, I'd pick up Rutger Hauer before I'd pick up this guy." This was a stupid, stupid moment where no one, no matter how dumb, how intoxicated, would possibly think to pick this guy up. Since this scene is necessary to make the movie work, the whole thing just collapses.
There's a second plot thread involving other characters that exists entirely to pad running time and ultimately winds up having no discernible effect on the plot concerning Penny or even any relevance at all.
Most of the blame for the film can be placed squarely on the character of Penny, who is basically a futile, sniveling lightweight that seems actively afraid to do anything to help herself.
Unfortunately, she's really the fatal flaw of the film. She has a phobia you can't identify with, and she spends the entire film in this heightened state of tension, from literally frame one. You have to build your film, you can't just start up there and expect the thing to stay there, people will get tired and bored. More than that, she spends most of the film crying, screaming, and just generally being useless. From the get go she behaves like this infantile individual even though she's a young adult, quickly robbing the audience of any patience or concern they might have had for her well-being. You WANT her to die.
You don't identify with her because you're not like her, because you're proactive. You'd be trying to survive. Penny is a liability to herself, to everyone around her, and to entertainment.
Avoid this movie at all costs.
Of course, the movie itself is absolute dreck. What we have is a short film that has been extended to feature length for no discernible reason other than "hey, maybe we can make some money on this!" The main character, Penny, has a phobia of cars, something I'm sure we can all identify with. What? You can't? Well, there's your first problem.
The turning point of the film, as shown in the trailer, is when her therapist runs down a hitchhiker, so they pick him up. I'm sorry, but if I ran that guy over, I'd keep driving. He's really obviously creepy looking; well, more, he looks like Emperor Palpatine while he still has the hood on. Either way, when I saw him on the road, I thought, "Wow, I'd pick up Rutger Hauer before I'd pick up this guy." This was a stupid, stupid moment where no one, no matter how dumb, how intoxicated, would possibly think to pick this guy up. Since this scene is necessary to make the movie work, the whole thing just collapses.
There's a second plot thread involving other characters that exists entirely to pad running time and ultimately winds up having no discernible effect on the plot concerning Penny or even any relevance at all.
Most of the blame for the film can be placed squarely on the character of Penny, who is basically a futile, sniveling lightweight that seems actively afraid to do anything to help herself.
Unfortunately, she's really the fatal flaw of the film. She has a phobia you can't identify with, and she spends the entire film in this heightened state of tension, from literally frame one. You have to build your film, you can't just start up there and expect the thing to stay there, people will get tired and bored. More than that, she spends most of the film crying, screaming, and just generally being useless. From the get go she behaves like this infantile individual even though she's a young adult, quickly robbing the audience of any patience or concern they might have had for her well-being. You WANT her to die.
You don't identify with her because you're not like her, because you're proactive. You'd be trying to survive. Penny is a liability to herself, to everyone around her, and to entertainment.
Avoid this movie at all costs.