Not sure if anyone has heard of this one, but it has quite the long story behind it.

Shot in 2007 or 2008 (hard to decipher, really) with a $25 Million budget, thriller/horror fans were made to wait for the 2012 extremely limited release, and then its very quick jettison to VOD, DVD, and even Netflix streaming.

All very, very not good signs of a poor movie.

So, how poor is it?  Or, maybe, how good is it?

Well, it's not good, that's for sure.  It's not terrible, either.  What it is is generic, poorly realized, and a downright terrible twist at the end that really irritates the shit out of me.

We've got John Cusack and Jennifer Carpenter as police detectives, tracking a serial psycho kidnapping prostitutes in snowy Buffalo, NY.  The assumption is that he's also killing them, but no bodies ever turn up, so who knows what he's doing with them.

One of the first main problems is that the writer/director team of 2 unknown actors decided to reveal our psycho immediately and then moments later, also reveal what it is that's going on with this whacko and his prostitutes.  Not a smart choice.

From here, we get a number of dull scenes that attempt to flesh out characters, along side the Antag's torture den, but the horror just isn't there and nothing really seems all that interesting.

I wasn't hating this in any way throughout.  I wasn't loving it by any means either.  But, when we get to the finale, we get a twist straight out of Kindergarten, it's so stupid and unbelievable.  And, to top it off, we get another 5 minutes or so of the after effects of this twist, complete with Flashbacks, attempting to show that this shouldn't come as such a surprise.

It shouldn't have came at all, damnit!

I feel sorry for Cusack, as his career seems to have landed straight in the shitter.  The Raven was terrible and this thing ain't any better.  His acting in both leaves much to be desired, so maybe I shouldn't feel so bad for him.

This is a great movie to watch if you want to see how not to write a horror thriller...and why.

I hated this film, but not while I was watching it. After it ended. If they need to flashback for five minutes to show you all the things you should've picked up on, they fucked up the twist. I hate movies that try to emulate M. Night in his prime. They become two hours of trying to sneak things by you for a fizzle finale.

Sad to see Cusack in this, I've always really liked him. This would be hard to envision how bad the final product would be if you only read the script. They must've all thought they had the greatest twist in the world. Then they filmed it...

James

I agree, James.

I wouldn't have really "liked" it even if there wasn't that ridiculous twist, as it was too generic, to slow and dull, and really just not alot to really like.  I'm not going to hate on it, though, either.

I actually liked alot of the cinematography.  There were some interesting angles, crane shots, tracking shots, etc, and it all looked pretty good.  I also enjoyed the snow, but it seemed to be dumping constantly and the story covered multiple days, ir not a week or so.  With $25 Million and few locations, big set pieces, and FX necessary, it better look damn good.

Another real head scratcher for me in how and why anyone would finance this to the tune of $25 Million  and then let it sit on a shelf for 5 plus years then stream it on Netflix, right after the Blu Ray/DVD release.  Doesn't make any sense at all.