9 Windows

Not a blockbuster movie, but well done none the less. Reminds me a lot of "The Net" where a crazed serial killer puts up videos of who he's going to kill and has them killed by the online viewers who happen to watch. This story is a sad story of a young very smart detective minded girl who gets partially paralyzed by a car accident that also kills both her parents. She is in an awesome smart home with a 9 window computer monitor (reminds me of the one from swordfish) and because of her pain and anger takes out her aggression against random people on vlogs until one video appears showing the brutal murder of a dog. After this the movie moves to more graphic levels as this vlogger begins to murder people. Using her smarts she attempts to solve the crimes with the help of two retired officers, a fun watch that is very believable and redeeming for the girl. No nudity or questionable content, some graphic gore and violence, so not for the kiddos. Enjoy.

I love the original Rear Window and I wasn't sure if this could match the original for suspense but still have something new to add. I was pleasantly surprised - this gripped me from the beginning. And the modern take of peering into the lives of others through social media worked perfectly.

The protagonist is broken and flawed in an interesting way that gives her an engaging arc. I also appreciated that the protagonist is a woman.

The end was legit scary. It is mostly suspense thriller throughout but then there is definitely some true horror at the end.

When I learned how the film was shot - an all virtual production, I was really intrigued. It's impressive that the cast was able to turn in those performances on a virtual set and the daringness or the production to pull that off was really cool.

The premise of this film had potential, but the execution left much to be desired. The concept was intriguing enough to draw attention, but unfortunately, the acting completely missed the mark. William Forsythe, a normally reliable actor, seemed to phone it in on this one. His performance felt flat, as if he was simply going through the motions. The dialogue delivery across the cast was painful-everyone sounded like they were reading straight from a script without any emotional investment.

It's a sad state of affairs when the "Alexa clone" in the movie has better line delivery than the actual actors. There was no depth, no passion-just a robotic exchange of lines that made it hard to stay engaged. While the idea behind the movie was decent, the lackluster performances really dragged it down.

In Florida, when Liza (Diana Garle) graduates in Law School and Information of Technology, she will join the FBI. Her parents go with her to a sushi restaurant to celebrate, but a truck hits their car, and they die in the accident. One year later, Liza is paralytic in a wheelchair and has tried to commit suicide twice. She has physical therapy with Jeff (Christopher Millan), who is her only friend. Liza spends the days in Internet and one day she witnesses a man burning a dog in a barbecue. She calls the police and Detective Tim Boyle (William Forsythe) tells her that it is a misdemeanor, and he can do nothing since the user has deleted his account. Then she sees the same man killing a victim and she calls Det. Boyle again. He tells her that he will investigate but it will be difficult to find the man and it may be a hoax. On the third night, she sees the man killing another victim using a power drill and this time she records the scene. Det. Boyle comes with his former partner, the retired Agent Larry Thurgood (Michael Paré), and they ask Liza to stop her investigation since she is not a sleuth. But Liza does not give up trying to find the killer using Internet.

Despite the bad reviews and rating, "9 Windows" (2024) is not so bad, considering the extreme low budget. The cast and the locations are minimum, but the effects are great. The plot has nothing to do with "The Net" and seems to be a modern version of "Rear Window" with the due respect to Hitchcock's masterpiece. The acting of William Forsythe and Christopher Millan are not good, and the veteran actor seems to be bored. But Diana Garle and Michael Paré support the film with decent performances. But anyway, the User Rating of 3.5 is totally unfair. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): Not Available.

As a fan of the original Rear Window, I've always enjoyed films that try to replicate that whole voyeur locked up in their house setup, like Disturbia. I was happy to see that this film takes it a step further, borrowing the names of the characters (albeit somewhat changed) and replicating the original neighbors as modern day bloggers. I especially liked that Stella is now an AI assistant, similar to an Alexa.

While, the Easter eggs are a nice touch which brought back fond memories of the 1954 film, this is really an entirely different film. This is way darker and more of a horror film as opposed to the original which is strictly a thriller. This involves a serial killer, and the deaths are pretty horrific. So know that going in. If you're not a horror fan or if you have a weak stomach, you can look away for those moments, and you should because the rest of the film has more of a thriller vibe.

I also liked that the love story in this one has some similarities to its inspiration. I've always loved the chemistry between Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly in that film, and this one didn't disappoint in that department. I cared about these characters and was rooting for them the entire time.