This movie actually is a true actor's movie. In true actor movies it is all about the actors. They (or at least one of them) are the only interesting aspects of the movie. Usually the story is written for the actors, the direction only helps the actors to make the most out of it. Everything else is of no real importance.
Watching this movie I thought about another actor's movie and a very good one: "Sleuth". Even Rooney doing his make up thing remembers one of Michael Caine doing the same in "Sleuth". And I was very impressed by Rooney's acting in this movie. Actually I think his acting was as good as Caine's in "Sleuth".
So it is obvious something went wrong, terribly wrong. I think first of all that horror is never a good genre for an experiment like this. Horror always depends on special effects. And you do not want those in an actor's movie. It's all about the actors, remember? And because it is all about the actors, you do not want any experimental camera-work. There is no need to shake the camera, put weird lenses on it or use it off color. The actors do those tricks and the camera puts their performance on film, that is all. And in this case the story itself stinks. It is a story intended for a sleazy B-movie. And even though Luana Anders performed quite well, her acting was not good enough to confront Mickey Rooney. Unlike the great interaction between Michael Caine and Laurence Olivier.
So what we are left with is a stinker. The only thing worth watching is Rooney's acting. But with nothing else to keep you going, this is almost impossible to keep up for more then 30 minutes.
Watching this movie I thought about another actor's movie and a very good one: "Sleuth". Even Rooney doing his make up thing remembers one of Michael Caine doing the same in "Sleuth". And I was very impressed by Rooney's acting in this movie. Actually I think his acting was as good as Caine's in "Sleuth".
So it is obvious something went wrong, terribly wrong. I think first of all that horror is never a good genre for an experiment like this. Horror always depends on special effects. And you do not want those in an actor's movie. It's all about the actors, remember? And because it is all about the actors, you do not want any experimental camera-work. There is no need to shake the camera, put weird lenses on it or use it off color. The actors do those tricks and the camera puts their performance on film, that is all. And in this case the story itself stinks. It is a story intended for a sleazy B-movie. And even though Luana Anders performed quite well, her acting was not good enough to confront Mickey Rooney. Unlike the great interaction between Michael Caine and Laurence Olivier.
So what we are left with is a stinker. The only thing worth watching is Rooney's acting. But with nothing else to keep you going, this is almost impossible to keep up for more then 30 minutes.