By Graham "GSM" Matthews Since Halloween just recently passed, I thought there would be no better time than this weekend to watch "See No Evil" for the first time (I would have watched it on Halloween had I not been watching "Ghostbusters" instead). I had seen plenty of advertisements on the movie on SyFy in the movie, but was never able to watch it until now. This is in addition to the fact that "See No Evil 2" will be coming out at some point in the next year (filming wrapped up in October), so I figured I wouldn't be able to watch the sequel until I watched the first installment. Keep in mind while reading this review that I am not the biggest horror movie buff. Hell, I rarely ever watch horror movies and only watched this one because WWE's Kane starred in it. That being said, most horror movie fans, regardless of whether they watch wrestling or not, probably would have a very different perception of the film than me. It is also worth noting that this movie was the first to be released by WWE Studios in 2006, but it also ended up being among the best films they have ever released. It wasn't a classic by any means, but it was a fun film for what it was. The movie almost immediately starts out with the introduction of Kane's character Jacob Goodnight killing an officer and severely injuring another by cutting off his arm. Goodnight is shot in the back of the head by the officer (which isn't made clear by the way), and disappears, seemingly still alive. Only four years pass by when we find that the officer who survived the vicious assault is now working in a correctional facility. He has since had his hand replaced by a mechanical one, which looks terrible. I realize this movie was made in 2006, but even that isn't that long ago, so one would think that they would have found a more realistic looking hand for him.
The acting overall was sub-par (especially by the creepy mother of Goodnight), but most of the actors were believable in portraying their characters. Although I always knew "See No Evil" was a horror movie, I never knew of its plot, so Goodnight taking the eyes of his victims was interesting to me. It was sickening, for sure, but not something I have seen done in many other horror movies. On that same note, though, Goodnight watching Kira in the shower as well as Goodnight's death when he falls out the window were reminiscent of "Psycho" and "Halloween", respectively, so I can see why some would say that it copied cliches of other horror films. Goodnight having his eye impaled before falling to his death I thought was a nice touch and was poetic justice. However, and maybe this was just me, but I didn't at all understand the religious tone this movie was trying to get at. I understood early on that Goodnight was after Kira because of her religious tattoos, but aside from a few flashbacks to Goodnight's childhood, his motives aren't really made clear until the very end. Speaking of such, no formal introduction of Goodnight was given early on in the film, so all viewers knew was that he was a deranged psychopath that was obsessed with people's eyes. The flashbacks to his childhood were somewhat helpful in finding out more about his character, but I was still confused by the end of the movie. I initially thought the officer that survived the onslaught in the first few minutes of the film would play a bigger role than he did, but apparently not. He was killed almost out of nowhere without any real importance, so I found that to be rather strange. Despite not being a horror movie buff, I found this film hard to follow and mind-numbing at points. I am not afraid to admit that I cringed at some points in the movie (especially when he pulled the eyes out of his victims), but killing a girl by shoving a phone down her throat was absolutely asinine. Having the girl get devoured by a bunch of starving dogs was a bit uncomfortable, too. Thus, if you enjoy Kane's work in WWE and want to see him convincingly play an intimidating monster (he plays to part to perfection), then I would watch the movie for some dumb fun. If you aren't familiar with Kane at all and are critical when it comes to horror movies, then avoid this movie at all costs. It was good by WWE Studios standards, but mediocre at best if not terrible by normal cinema standards. One can only hope that the upcoming sequel will be better. Should you watch this movie? No. |
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