HIT AND RUN is a very anemic horror movie apparently based on true events.
The only thing the movie has going for it is the plot, which may not be unique but presents the opportunity for an exciting, suspenseful experience. Mary Murdock, a college student, drives home from a party where she drank alcohol. She runs her car off the road after seeing a tyre. When she gets home she finds a badly injured guy attached to her car bumper. When the guy tries to grab her, she bashes him with a golf club. She then buries the seemingly dead guy, who later comes back for revenge.
From reciting the plot, it is clear the movie is heavily influenced by I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER, as well as the final story in CREEPSHOW 2.
The direction is very pedestrian.
Imagine the suspense and atmosphere - you'll have to because these things are not in the movie itself! The driving scenes at the beginning could have built up atmosphere in preparation for the next scenes in the garage where Mary discovers the dying man. Instead, the driving scenes merely resemble the opening of many movies without doing anything special despite the importance to events happening later.
The scenes where the supposedly dead man comes back for his revenge could have utilised much suspense and tension. Instead, the scenes were almost entirely free of suspense and tension.
Imaginative camera-work combined with suspenseful music or sound effects could have been used to add psychological impact to the scenes of violence. Instead, the scenes of violence were very much by-the-numbers with just a few gory shock factors thrown in.
A decent script could have made the twists more interesting, as well as raising the very low standard of the middle of this movie. Instead, the script was mediocre, most noticeably during the painfully uninteresting middle section. The twists were revealed in a mere "here you are" fashion, without evidence of passion or interest from the producers. The revelation of the twists failed to invoke any emotion in me other than boredom.
Decent direction could have made the characters more interesting and the actors more interested. Instead, the characters were dull, one-dimensional, unworthy of care and played by actors who seemed to have very little interest in the whole project.
My comments illustrate the potential available but which was never realised.
Then there's the acting.
This movie is the first appearance I've seen of Laura Breckenridge. I've read a lot on IMDb about how sexy she is and how good her acting was. I beg to differ. I thought Miss Breckenridge was a very bland lead actress who does not have one tenth of the appeal or charisma of actresses such as Kate Beckinsale from VACANCY.
Kevin Corrigan fares better as the mysterious victim of the hit and run accident, but it is clear he is held back by an uninspired script and poor direction that failed to properly demonstrate character motivations and bring genuine menace to the audience.
Overall, HIT AND RUN is a very anemic movie that demonstrates little effort or imagination. I do not recommend it to any horror fans - whether they be fans of psychological horror, suspense or gore. All within these groups will be disappointed. Instead, I recommend the two movies that inspired this production - I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER and CREEPSHOW 2. Both movies have much more action, more interesting characters, better direction and are generally much more entertaining.
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