Genres

Visitors Review

Jay Harris 2012-05-20 15:39:16

Familiar, but still first rate b-movie thriller

Barbara Stepanksky directed & co-wrote this little thriller with AlisonLee Bingeham. They wisely took plot developments from a few olderfamiliar film PLUS a character from the classic. THE BAD SEED.The cast is consists mainly of 5 people, mainly they are from variousTelevision & cable shows. It is almost a large one set film,(A neardeserted auto Junk yard.)A recent widowed women, a late-teen aged son & daughter. Thisthree-some move in with her quirky brother (owner of the junk yard ).these 4 nice people are trying to cope when a 13 year old young girlenters there lives..As I said above,. BAD SEED time again.The cast consists of Melora Walters, William Mapother, JacksonRathbone,Joanna Bradley & Sofia Vassiliva. All 5 are first rate.It is a well done minor b-movie, Since there are no explosions or nakedscenes It was released direct to DVD.I think this film deserved a better fate. See it & I think you willagree.Ratings: *** (out of 4) 87 points (out of 100) IMDb 8( Out of 10)

2012-05-20 04:49:19

Above Average Psychological Thriller

This suspense drama immediately puts itself a cut above the average by being set in an auto junkyard. While most psychological thrillers set their struggling young families either in impossibly luxurious, spacious homes - or else in old isolated farmhouses that the family moves to in order to "get a new start" - "Hurt" takes a different tack. Here a newly widowed mother and her children go back and join her brother-in-law in his ramshackle auto salvage business out on the desert.This makes for a complex, realistic setting with lots of sharp edges and shadows. There is also a pack of wolves prowling the property, adding an extra fillip of menace.It becomes clear that not all the gears in this reconstructed family are meshing quite right. The brother-in-law broodingly takes refuge in restoring a Ford Fairlane in one of the sheds on the property. The young son takes refuge in welding old car parts together into works of modern art. The mother adds to this already unwieldy assemblage when she abides by her dead husband's wishes and brings home a young foster child, well-played by Sofia Vassilieva (who is known for her role as a daughter in the TV series "Medium"). While an undertow of tension swells in the family at large, Vassilieva blithely jumps rope across the dusty yard, a picture of eerie innocence. Anyone who likes searching through junkyards for parts - anyone who's into old car restoration - anyone who likes family dramas set in atmospheres of moodiness that devolve into murder - will probably find this movie worthwhile.

2012-05-16 06:33:03

hmmmm...

all...i have to say about the other reviews is...what?!?yes i think the actors did a fair job with the script they were given but was is it suspenseful?...hmmm, no. scary?...no did i ever think at a moment that the killer wasn't a very likely if not the number one suspect?... no. if u have seen more than a handful (well, maybe more than a dozen) horror/suspense films then u may find this one a snoozer like i did. i saw the whole thing just see to how it would end and found the whole thing predictable, anti-climatic, and just plain boring. i understand that if one's not used to this sort of genre they may like it...SPOILER ALERT!!2 (a sarcastric haha) the killer is a messed up kid. nothing new...at all. so basically if u're a big fan of the horror/thriller genre (and i don't consider myself one) u may find this movie rather boring and generic

2012-05-15 19:58:34

Poor movie

This review is from: Hurt (DVD) As I watched this movie I was wondering, what is the purpose behind this movie. Its not scary. The main character a young blond girl just acts weird. The anti-climactic end does nothing make me wonder why I even bought this DVD. Dont waste your money. The cover of the DVD slip case is better than the movie

2012-05-11 07:46:02

I't wouldn't've HURT to have a script written by an adult

This movie is utter garbage. You've been warned. The kooky plot twist was completely implausible... a girl who's father had actually had an entire other family (bigamizing, don'tcha know) on the side and whose mother was an abusive turd gets even by tryina kill alla the memberz of this other family once the turdbrain mother kills the bigamizing father by smashing into him with her car and stuff, knocking the girl's teeth right outta her head and such. So the girl goes around in this junkyard out in the Arizona desert, stirring up lots of bad noise and bla bla bla bla bla. Complete trash. Oh, and my review contained spoilers... if it were possible to spoil such a rancid piece of drek any further.

2012-05-11 01:01:50

Had Potential

Yes, it's another movie about an adopted child (that no one wants for a good reason) who turns out to be a bit of a handful. The structure of the story is a bit different in that we have a displaced partial family temporarily staying with an Uncle in his wrecking yard in a desert that is just the right distance from civilization for strange things to happen. So the family tries to pull itself together without the father who had died earlier they also bring in an adoptee who acts as a provocateur in exposing each individual's issues. As the movie progresses you develop the sense that if anyone dies - who cares. The acting by Sofia Vassilieva (the adopted little monster of course) stood out and seemed to carry the suspense as she played people against each other. As far as the rest of the movie their was nothing special about the directing, editing, filming or script - not great, not bad. However, there were two problems: First, it's another of those movies where you wonder how the script writers and director ever make it through life if the dumb choices of the movie's actors is any reflection upon them. Second, the final 15 minutes or so was like watching a cliff diver's sterling entrance only to end up doing a belly flop at the end. Just a total disaster of an ending - a belly flop. It's as if the creativity was depleted by the time the finale approached, or they were running out of money.

2012-05-09 23:00:37

I liked it

This review is from: Hurt (DVD) This movie was a little predictable. You figure out who the problem is long before the characters do...but for the most part the acting was excellent. Not to mention Jackson without a shirt....how can you go wrong with that!??

Steven Place 2012-05-09 19:59:01

It HURTS to watch this movie

I give this movie a two, but only because the cast interviews make itinteresting. The interviews help to lay out the plot of what seems tobe a different and more compelling movie. I wouldn't recommend that youwaste your time with this movie. The hype of this movie and the reviewson the box are inaccurate, I couldn't wait for it to be over as I keptwaiting for it to get better. The cast is good, the plot is good but itlacks the suspense that a thriller should contain. As for comparing itto the Orphan, there is nothing to compare. If this movie was doneright, it would have no resemblance to the Orphan because the plot isdifferent, but as luck would have it, it appears to be a cheap knockoff with a slight twist.

2012-04-30 17:43:10

Not sure the other reviewers watched the same film...

This review is from: Hurt (DVD) Ok, I bought this dvd without reading much of what it was about but because it was cheaper to buy with another dvd that I had been wanting to see for awhile, and me trying to be thrifty, I saw the tag "horror" and said what the heck. Well...It certainly wasn't the worst movie ever, but I'd definitely say it isn't worth purchasing. The acting was superb, however, save one...the little girl ended up getting a bit hammy toward the end. The film wasn't very original and had little to no plot-twists, or at least none that I didn't see coming about 3 scenes ahead of their actual revelation. The scene that disturbed me the most was when the brother (played by Jackson Rathbone) gets smashed by a large metal sculpture thingie...his sister comes to discover him still alive underneath the hulking thing and doesn't even make one attempt to free him but instead runs off to find her mom and battle it out with the weird little girl first, leaving poor Conrad to suffer with his crushed pelvis or whatever injury he might've had...that definitely disturbed me more than anything else in the movie. I would've at least TRIED to free my brother, whether it be in vain or not. Other than that, this movie was so tame and uneventful that I watched it with my children and never once had them cover their eyes. They are ages 6 and 7, if that tells you anything. And my 13 year-old niece thought it was a "really good movie."In short, if you are over the age of 16 and have become desensitized by ultra violent and scary horror films throughtout the years, this movie is not for you. But the acting was good...

2012-04-30 09:58:35

I highly recommend this film

Very dark and suspenseful. Great acting and a good script. It's all around a well made film.

2012-04-22 15:39:46

intriguing non-thriller thriller

the blurb on the cover made this sound scary - but it turned out to be such a low-key thriller that i may not need to take my high blood pressure pills this weekendthe story moves as fast as a sand dune - character studies were the order of the day - and i was engrossed - these people's interactions were intriguing - and the acting was pretty goodthe two suspicious ones were played by the only two actors i recognized - the brother was played by the crooked nosed William Mapother of LOST - and the new foster child was played by MEDIUM's older sister Sofia Vassilieva - the latter was the most impressive of the group of actorsi predicted just about all the plot twists - but in this case - it made the film fun for me

mh_abernathy 2012-04-22 11:24:55

Meh...not terrible, but only mediocre

I will start off by saying that I did not hate this movie. It wasdecent, and not a complete waste of a couple of hours. The acting wasgood, but if you've seen movies like "The Bad Seed" or "The Good Son",you have seen it all before. The only difference here is that the younggirl pulling the trigger seems to have a semi-valid, though a bittwisted, reason to do the things she does. My biggest complaint is thatthis movie is pretty boring. There is not enough suspense to keep themore experienced movie-goer intrigued throughout the duration of thefilm. I would even say its slightly predictable at times. Also, it isclassified as "Horror" on many websites and it most definitely IS NOT ahorror film but a drama, with a little suspense mixed in. It felt verymuch like a Lifetime movie to me, which though somewhat entertaining,can often be just too tame for my taste. If you want a similar evilchild movie, with a lot more suspense and plot twists, I suggest seeing"Orphan"...much more original and disturbing.

Siamois 2012-04-20 14:41:33

Hurt doesn't cut it

Hurt is the classic story of a somewhat dysfunctional family taking ina new young member and from that point, things go wrong. Several movieshave followed this basic formula but what makes Hurt slightly specialis that director Barbara Stepansky wraps this film in drama andmystery. Just what is going on in this family, who is responsible forwhat?Unfortunately, Stepansky's attempts to hold out on us are onlyfrustrating, as the "revelations" that come later are not satisfying orsurprising to us. As for the dramatic side of this story, I appreciatedthe attempt but the direction, writing and cast were poor enough thatit was impossible to be emotionally involved in his mess.I still applaud the attempt to mix a traditional horror/thrillerHollywood plot with an indie drama. Some of the shots were nice and thesoundtrack (not the film score) was interesting and provided some mood.But in the end, this film is a mess.

scaryoutcome1 2012-04-19 22:57:43

been there done that

okay! First of this is just your average Been there, done that Evilchild movie.In my opinion its just The omen and The orphan rip/off.The acting well the Acting is below par at the best of times. the onlyone that makes an effort is the daughter. the psycho child, which iwouldn't really say is psycho, more of a child with issue's after thedeath of her father and the bullying in the orphanage comes across aslonely child and doesn't have the chemistry to make the viewers feelscared or terrified.this is more of a story driven movie, nd doesn't really have muchtension like a horror is supposed to..at best this is more thrillerthan horror and more drama than thriller.I wouldn't watch this with high hopes and expect gore galore.At best i can only give this 3/10 The first 30-40 minutes was too drawnout and can be very boring so don't expect a high tech thriller.

2012-04-18 05:44:30

The Genre Film You'll Want to Watch

Unlike most genre films that hit the market every year, HURT and its filmmakers care about the audience's experience. The film does hit all the notes you'd expect from a suspense/thriller, but it also offers a beautiful cinematography, superior performances from the ensemble cast, and production values stronger than similar films. Director Barbara Stepansky's feature directorial debut points to a very promising career ahead.

2012-04-18 04:11:57

intriguing non-thrilling thriller

the blurb on the cover made this sound scary - but it turned out to be such a low-key thriller that i may not need to take my high blood pressure pills this weekendthe story moves as fast as a sand dune - character studies were the order of the dayi was engrossed -these people's interactions were intriguing - and the acting was pretty goodthe two suspicious ones were played by the only two actors i recognized - the brother was played by the crooked nosed William Mapother of LOST - and the new foster child was played by MEDIUM's older sister Sofia Vassilieva - the latter was the most impressive of the group of actorsi predicted just about all the plot twists - but in this case - it made the film fun for me

dbborroughs 2012-04-16 14:39:31

Better than the three I've rated it but not much

Widowed mother and her family movie in with her brother in law and hissalvage yard. They also take in a troubled foster child. Family secretsand other nastiness set in motion some not so pleasant events.Well made but not particularly compelling story is the sort of thingthat you've seen before. Both the bits and pieces and the central plotseem to have been recycled from other better films. My dislike for thefilm is neither the cast nor the craft of the film, rather its the plotwhich spins out in all sorts of directions in the hope of creating somereason to watch the proceedings. I really can't think of one,especially when odds are that you're going to be way ahead of thecharacters as to whats going on. Take a pass.

2012-04-16 02:00:32

Beautiful, taut, suspenseful thriler

This review is from: Hurt (DVD) Incredible acting, gorgeous cinematography, haunting music, and a beautifully suspenseful story that keeps you guessing up until the very last minute. Highly recommend!

2012-04-14 05:53:02

jackson's movie

This review is from: Hurt (DVD) was an awesome movie Jackson was really hot in it an played a good part,a good suspence thriller,worth watching again,it will catch you off guard

2012-04-13 20:59:52

A gripping and eerie saga to the very end

Hurt is a terror-inducing movie about a newly widowed single mother Helen Coltrane (played by Melora Walters of "Big Love"), her teenage son (Jackson Rathbone of "Twilight") and daughter, seeking aid from her hermit-like, gun-toting brother-in-law. As they struggle to come to grips with the drastic changes in their life, they cross paths with a foster child who claims that Helen's late husband pledged to take her in. They do so... with dire consequences as one by one lies, illusions, and darkness unravel. A gripping and eerie saga to the very end, especially recommended for fans of tense psychological thrillers. 97 minutes, rated R.