Le Piège

Nine strangers – a priest; a dancer; a designer; an aspirant rapper; a former tennis pro; a woman on probation; an unsuccessful composer and his wife; and a detective – are randomly abducted, drugged and locked in a house by a wealthy maniac. They are informed through a public address system that there are seventy-five cameras following them, and only one will survive and win US$ 5,000,000.00 to keep quiet. The psychological game begins, with fear and greed affecting the participants.

"House of 9" is an opportunist story and rip-off of the storyline of 1997 "Cube" and using psychological elements of 2001 "Das Experiment". The story is also very similar to 2005 "Saws 2", but it is difficult to say which one is the rip-off of the other since they were released in the same year. Dennis Hopper, the famous name of the cast, never convinces as a priest, and it seems that time for his retirement has arrived. The unpredictable and surprising end saves this forgettable movie from a lower rating. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Aprisionados" ("Imprisoned")

There is a certain concept that I love seeing within movies, when a group of people wake up in unfamiliar territory and have to participate in some dangerous activity such as a game.

Obviously the SAW franchise comes under this category, the Cube movies and the brilliant Circle (2015) and The Human Race (2013).

This is one of those and I was immediatly thrilled upon realising. I just love the idea I find it fascinating, how people react, the different personalities and the ruthlessness of people.

House of 9 see's a group of people locked inside a house together unable to escape. Upon awaking the instructions are announced, only one can leave and they'll win five million pounds.

Inevitably it doesn't take long before things to fall apart and the way it happens sadly could be better, but is still entertaining.

This British made thriller stars Kelly Brook, Dennis Hopper and the last Doctor Who Peter Capaldi.

Despite it's flaws I enjoyed this and was very impressed with the movies closing scene. Though it doesn't match the dizzying heights of the other examples of this concept it's still a passable movie.

The Good:

Great idea

Fantastic finale

The Bad:

Questionable execution

Hoppers accent is horrific

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

Guns in movies are magic and have unlimited ammo

Kelly Brook can act without showing boobage

Whoever this Will Hoge guy is, he needs to go back to delivering pizzas. This is a mashup of STP, Creed and all those other horrible styles. I had to skip about 7 minutes in the middle of the movie because my ears started bleeding.

Former cameraman Steven R. Monroe directed this little psychological movie that at times was slow as molasses, but, nevertheless, an interesting glimpse of the beast within all of us.

Now, I cannot compare it to Cube, Saw, or My Little Eye, as others have done as i have not seen those films. I only mention them to give you an indication of what is in store for those that have. What I can say, is that I find the premise totally believable. When the pressure is on, our hatreds and prejudices, and inner demons come out rather quickly, especially when fueled with alcohol and hunger. Only Father Duffy (Dennis Hopper) and Lea (Kelly Brook) seemed to keep their cool, but they broke down eventually, albeit for different reasons than the others.

This is not a bloody film, although there is a little, but a psychological one. I was bothered by one killing that occurred off-camera, as i kept thinking the rest of the film that it was fake. The ending was weird, foreshadowing a possible sequel, but, if they do, please get another writer. Philippe Vidal's screenplay just didn't cut it for the most part. I enjoyed the film, but it could have been way better. What a waste of a Maxim magazine "Hot 100 of 2005" list member. Another cast member was a FHM's 100 Sexiest Girls member, and another gave an outstanding display in Eyes Wide Shut. All were wasted here.

9 people in a sealed house. They are told only one of them would leave and he will be given 5 million dollars and then they are left to their own devices. You would expect some subtle psychological drama, but no. All the characters are archetypes, they behave programatically like little robots and after a while they only hurry up the pace since the movie's got to end at one point or another.

They do spend about 10 minutes to break out of the house, I give you that. Why they would chose to pathetically wait for the end the rest of the movie is beyond me. At least half of the movie consists of women shouting incoherently and men fighting for idiotic reasons.

However it is a better than a lot of other movies and it is worth a see, especially if you are a kid or you have tried to watch Das Experiment and stopped in the middle because you couldn't take it. Horror it is not, yet the end is funny and saves a lot of the movie.

I kinda liked Dennis Hopper. Why does he play in movies like that lately? Ntz Ntz Ntz