Genre: Horror/Suspense
Director: Geogory Dark
Starring: Kane, Christina Vidal, Michael J. Pagan, Tiffany Lamb, Samantha Noble
RunTime: 1 hr 19 mins
Released By: Shaw
Rating: NC-16 (Violence & Gore)
Official Website: http://www.seenoevilthemovie.com/

Opening Day: 9 August 2006

Synopsis :

Seven feet tall. Four hundred pounds. A rusty steel plate screwed into his skull and razor-sharp fingernails that pluck out his victims’ eyes. Reclusive psychopath Jacob Goodnight is holed up in the long-abandoned and rotting Blackwell Hotel, alone with his nightmares until eight petty criminals show up for community service duty along with the cop who put a bullet in Jacob’s head four years ago.

When one of their own is kidnapped by the killer and her fate uncertain, the remaining lawbreakers must fight this indestructible force of nature with a violent score to settle.

Movie Review:

I am not a fan of horror movies. My most recent experience with that particular genre was House of Wax, and even then I thought it was a movie about Paris Hilton’s house with many wax models of herself in it. Then there was the Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake which I watched on DVD while wondering members of which psychological profile would stock up on such horror titles. Similarly, I never understood why normal teenagers and working adults spend time and money getting frightened in the theatres – life in Singapore must be really really stressful.

See No Evil is a star vehicle of sorts for the World Wrestling Entertainment star Kane. Kane is big and nasty and a brute in the ring. He is also Jacob Goodnight (and good luck!) in this movie. In terms of acting, Kane is easily the best actor in the show. He is a natural at looking mentally challenged and his physique is already horrifying in itself. As for the rest of the cast, the soylent green in this movie consists of eight American and Australian actors and actresses posing as young offenders. No, the part about the teenage victims being juvenile delinquents is not meant to lessen our guilt while savouring their dismemberment. It is meant to explain the incredible sequences of barely believable events that led to most of their collective eyes being gouged out by Mr Goodnight.

Having said that, I am no prude to diss this movie for having a flimsy storyline and a serious lack of character development. You don’t expect that from horror flicks – a different set of standards apply. In fact, I find See No Evil an entertaining and a well-produced slasher flick through my squinting eyes (it’s either that or focusing on the item shown at the bottom right corner of the screen). Director Gregory Dark channeled his MTV experiences and an M.F.A. degree from Stanford University to incorporate CSI-style cinematographical intrusions into the human body as well as the prerequisite bone-crushing and squishing blood-sounds to gory scary effect.

See No Evil carries just the right shade of ghoulish humour – the best example being the running physical comedy gig of Mr Goodnight trying to carry his victims into various orifices and ending up smashing parts of their bodies against the walls. The gag miraculously induces guffaws from the audience every time and is funnier than Jack Neo movies. Very importantly, the movie does not take itself seriously and prefers character decapitation over character development and blood-sport over plot. It is also appropriately grossly grotesque. You have to stay past the first part of the ending credits to appreciate that.

Finally, the best thing I like about the film is that it packs all of the aforementioned in only 79 minutes. It has to be the perfect movie before a hearty dinner.

Movie Rating:

(The regulators rated this movie at NC16 so that the young punks out there can watch a well-made bloodfest and learn to be more discerning)

Review by Lim Mun Pong