Private Property

None have captured the spirit of how bad a film can be like this one. I literally couldn't NOt Watch because I am shocked this was made. 0/10 would never recommend not even to my worst enemy. Guantanomo Bay banned this movie because it was too evil to put on repeat.

Writer and director Chadd Harbold sure butchered the 1960's classic film of the same name, by giving it a Lifetime/Hallmark feel. The usually very comfortable low 87 min runtime felt way longer with ridiculously slow pacing, and Harbold's screenplay being 80% filler and maybe 20% substance. It's a shame, because there was tons of potential that was missed, and in the hands of filmmakers that know what they're doing, this could've been great. Even if this was edited/cut down to a 20-30 min short film, I probably would've enjoyed it more. The ending was part cringe, part nonsense, and part ok, but all the previous filler was just boring and underwhelming. Even some of the fade-ins and outs in the thrill scenes towards the end were 1980's quality.

The cinematography was decent, although the darker scenes were way too dark. The score was your typical loud, unfitting and annoying B-grade fare, and in some of the quieter dialogue scenes, I couldn't make out any words because of the overbearing score, and that's something that could've been fixed in editing, if there actually was any.

Casting and performances were decent, and I can tell they tried their best considering there probably wasn't any cast direction from Harbold. Shiloh Fernandez whispering dialogue got annoying quickly, and incoherent when the score was overbearing his scenes. I'd pass on this, especially if you've seen the original, because comparing it to this one will be even more disappointing. A very generous 5/10 most towards the cast.

I didn't realize this was a remake, so haven't seen the original (but I'd bet my bottom dollar it's superior to this piece of crap). I don't review many movies but I had to figure out what my password was just to log on to rate this one. I'm fairly easy to please as far as movies are concerned, but this was just bad. Bad plot, bad acting, bad writing. It felt like such a mess, it would not surprise me if I found out this was the final project for a high school film class. It was so laughably cringy and ridiculous that I just couldn't stop watching because I had to find out if it would end up having any redeeming value at all. Spoiler alert: it doesn't.

"Private Practice" starts out in "Sunset Boulevard" fashion, with a body in a swimming pool and a voice over. We then meet Kathryn, an aspiring actress who is married to a successful Hollywood producer. On the surface, the couple appears to be getting on, but there seems to be some deeper conflicts -- she claims she doesn't want him to help her out in getting roles, but we're not sure if that decision really came from her, she spends the day at home cleaning the house, and he seems to be lacking interest in her when he gets home. Meanwhile, she gets a phone call telling her that her gardener has been "detained" and there is a new one coming. Duke, the new gardener, shows up and the two of them start a bit of a flirtation...

"Private Practice" starts out strong and then completely falls apart. Ashley Benson makes Kathryn an engaging heroine and she makes us empathize with her and root for her, and Shiloh Hernandez plays Duke with just the right level of intrigue to make us know that there is definitely something more going on. And just when the movie hits a climactic moment, the entire film stops, shifts, and circles back in time to explain things. And what's worse, the movie then pushes its strongest asset -- Ashley Benson's Kathryn -- to the back burner in favor of other far less compelling characters. And when it finally comes back to the original flow, the movie just hurriedly rushes through its ending. And what's worse, some major events are in almost pitch darkness so we don't know what is really going on, they don't really explain the characters' motivation, and then there is a final sequence that is just a confusing mess. In addition, for an "erotic thriller" the "erotic" part is pretty scarce -- in one short scene Ashley Benson wears a bikini and the movie goes to outrageous lengths to make sure we don't actually see her in it, a couple of characters are watching her in a pool going on about how she is swimming naked but when we see her she is actually in a very conservative one-piece, etc.

"Private Practice" started out strong and I was enjoying it and was bummed out that it took such a wrong turn. A missed opportunity.

The film had some great visuals and an overall, style. I enjoyed the story structure. It felt very noir. Even Shiloh's performance was quite entertaining. He was both charming, yet creepy. His character's back story was also interesting. But the film could've dove in a bit more on his back story. Perhaps, I was just invested to know more of his motives.

The only issue I had was the lead (Ashley Benson). She was not convincing in her role; it felt very forced. In most of the films I've seen her in, she always came off exhausted. To me, she was just there - acting. The film should've cast a stronger leading lady. She should've taken acting lessons.