But the film proceeds in such a typical and predictable horror film fashion that it becomes almost pointless. It simmers for a while, escalates to crazy and ends with cathartic revenge. The film is successful in some of the early stages; the clean and methodical approach to torturing/"civilizing" the woman together with the focus on technical appliances is downright chilling. But as both the torture and the family interactions escalate it becomes just boring, not terrifying. When the teacher finally visits, the film had already lost me for quite some time and I only thought, oh no, not that cliché too. It kept getting worse, though. The savage brutality of the ending is kinda efficient, but again completely plays within the established realms of the genre.
Well, I do agree, but you know me; I like convention! ;) And I do think that core horror fans appreciate such moments, actually. They revel in the conventions and look for the twist. But this is why I mentioned it in my review because while I did enjoy it a great deal throughout and I do believe it was a strong creative choice, the end result is the same in that it is predictable and obvious and a fair target for criticism. I think this was to steadfastly create the idea that families like this do exist and are taken for granted, so the film takes them for granted too and doesn't try to trick you. The most metaphorical zombie movies do something similar in that they reflect our normality and seethe with anger that people lead unambitious lives, like shuffling zombies, so lets see what happens when actual living dead are dropped into the mix...
I always respond well to that kind of stuff and I really got a kick out of the ending. I know you dismiss it as efficient, but I found it riveting. I wasn't expecting such a vicious assault on the mother though. Being the weak link in the family and therefore the real villain led me to realise she would of course be punished. But that ...efficient... removal of her was brilliantly done. And then I couldn't help but wonder if her method of killing Chris was a nice twist on the old saying "the way to a man's heart is through his stomach"... :whistle: I liked the end-note suggesting the Woman was building a more natural ordered family. All female, of course, which I think diffuses the accusations that this revels in misogyny rather than attacks it.
By the way, did you see the animated sequence after the credits?