Don't Blink

Ten young people converge on a mountain lodge in the Rockies in the off season, but find it mysteriously abandoned. None of them can figure out what happened to the people and they don't have enough gas to leave, so they're stuck. The cast is headed by Brian Austin Green (Jack), Zack Ward (Alex), Mena Suvari (Tracy) and Joanne Kelly (Claire).

Parts of "Don't Blink" (2014) bring to mind movies like "Night of the Living Dead" (1968), "The Mist" (2007), "Phantoms" (1998) and "Donner Pass" (2011) with an ending that recalls "Wind Chill" (2007). But it's by far the least of these because, while the mysterious set-up is good for about the first 35-40 minutes, it becomes one-dimensional and predictable, e.g. when the young guy kneels down behind the bar.

Another flaw is that some of the dramatics feel forced and awkward, like the girl unconvincingly morphing into a preacher. Those other movies didn't have this problem because they had superior writers/filmmakers.

There are 3-4 worthy women in the cast, including Suvari, Fiona Gubelmann (Ella) and Samantha Jacober (Charlotte), but the director/writer never really takes advantage of their presence, but he did good enough, I guess.

The film runs 1 hour, 32 minutes and was shot in Ruidoso, New Mexico, USA.

GRADE: C

***SPOILER ALERT*** (Don't read unless you've seen the movie):

It might help to see the movie as a microcosm of death in our lives: Everyone and everything around us will eventually die one-by-one, so quick & unexpected it's like the blink of an eye. The catatonic girl (Charlotte) willfully calling her own disappearance symbolizes people who commit suicide. For everyone else, death comes in various unforeseen ways, often suddenly.

Seems like 2014's been a great year for horror, at least, between this, Honeymoon, and Coherence. Much like Coherence, the premise of this is absolutely terrifying in a way not many horror films tend to be. The premise for this is simpler, and much more straight-forward, but it's quite effective. Some of the dialogue is a bit cringe-worthy, but right from the start the characters don't act like they've never seen a horror film, a lot more aware than you're used to in this type of film. The performances are also aces. What you don't know is way more frightening than what you do. I strongly recommend this, extremely entertaining and intriguing.

I enjoy "different" horror movies. I'm not interested in torture porn and gore and people getting chopped up. I want something INTERESTING, whether it's Lovecraft or weird time travel or alternate dimension or thought-created nightmare stalkers - there has got to be a "WHOAH!" for me to enjoy horror movies.

This movie was one of those, with the caveat that, though I won't spoil the ending, if you loathe movies that leave some lingering but relevant questions, you may not cotton to this film.

But like me, if you can separate this "style" of movie-making, which I've seen some just call "lazy", the actual progress of the people and actions in the film were compelling and it is definitely a mystery type horror movie, though not a room-to-room-magnifying-glass type.

If you saw and liked Coherence and I see people are comparing this to Phantoms (I haven't seen that yet, somehow), or if you like the "unknown/invisible", creeping ominous threat movies like Mr. Jones or Resolution, I think you may enjoy this film.

I'm not saying it's perfect - there's a good amount of irritation at a few of the way things go down or people behave, that I felt kept it from being more fluid, and while the acting is by and large at least decent and believable, there are some boneheaded decisions - but not like most horror movies, at least not as frequent - it really doesn't get a chance to build to that level before the horror is in play.

I did like the dialogue for one of the characters, who was a modern sci-fi and horror movie type that was constantly referring to what was going on as something from Stephen King or aliens or zombies or "the spirit of an ancient Indian burial ground", which made me laugh - he seemed the most "real", well, until later, but that's not germane to the point.

Anyway, a lot of people on forums and other sites are giving this a really low rating, and while, for the overall and idea of a complete story, I can kinda see why... I still think what there IS there is good and different and not anything close to "usual horror movie stuff".

I would have given it an 8/10, but I had to stop at 7 because of the unsatisfying or at least not well-enough intimated ending, because I agree with some people that say the "figure out what YOU think it means" is one thing, an artist can't show you a pristine, untouched canvas and say "just IMAGINE the awesome picture YOU want there!".

So I've decided to watch this movie because it seemed quite interesting with a bit of a mystery and a slight of horror!!It starts off as the usual group of people going to stay at a motel in the middle of nowhere!Really weird things are starting to happen, as one by one are starting to disappear.The whole idea of the movie is really interesting but it doesn't wrap very well during the end unfortunately.Brian Austin was good, so is the other cast,Mena Suvari has a brief role and that's about it! This could easily be one good episode of the Twilight Zone because it has many elements that makes u think that!Nevertheless i do recommend it because it's different, not predictable but the cons is that it has a weak end and doesn't really explain the situation.Cheers!

All things considered this isn't a bad film, the acting is good, sets and locations are stunning, cinematography is brilliant and the script has some legitimately hilarious lines in it that will have you (if you're like me) barking out a laugh. The pace is steady, and it's not too complicated or cluttered with superfluous bits and pieces thrown in to bulk it up. I also like the way (however predictable some may be) that they had people disappearing. It was clever, good camera and effects work, subtle and understated but still impressive.

Now to the negative... Despite the build of tension and the myriad of questions the films raises, don't hold out much hope for any answers. You won't get any. Maybe this was a deliberate effort because they're intending a sequel (I would be more than happy to watch that, and I don't often vote for sequels) or maybe this is a Nolan-esque leaving it to your imagination ending. Whatever the answer, it's a rather frustrating to come away empty handed. If this is left open ended in this way for a sequel don't fret, it's not one of those obvious "And we are clearly setting this up for the sequel TAKE THAT SUCKERS!" type deals. Much more subtle than that.

All in all I have to say it was a pretty good film that held my attention in a way a lot of films of late fail to do, and I'd recommend watching it if you're bored or the idea the films posits interests you. But don't get as mad as some reviewers on here if it's not a 10/10 masterpiece of cinema gold. It is what it is, don't expect the most breathtaking piece of cinema known to man that answers all of the questions you have about life, death and why we're here.