The Super

After seeing the trailer for this on Netflix I thought it looked interesting. It started very well, building tension and developing the story. Val Kilmer is fine (though a little hammy) in his role as a creepy janitor, although much of his dialogue appeared to have been (badly) dubbed from an early point in the film. I won't spoil it with details, but suffice to say that the last half an hour doesn't make a lot of sense, is a bit cliched, has some dialogue obviously overdubbed with different dialogue (maybe they decided the film wasn't worth the effort of re-shooting the scenes?) and doesn't satisfy with the ending, which had me scratching my head a bit, wondering how it explained some of the earlier scenes. So a mixed bag; Some good scenes early on, a decent cast, nicely shot, just don't expect to feel it was really worthwhile at the end of it.

A widowed father takes a job as a building super in the hopes of stabilizing the lives of his troubled daughters following the death of his wife. The body count rises as the building's tenants are picked off one at a time for the most anti climactic reasons ever.

The most disappointing thing about the movie is how much potential it wasted. What starts out as a suspenseful tale of a newly single dad trying his best to protect his family quickly degenerates into a cheap, gory mess of a movie that seems like it was written by two different people. It ultimately reaches its climax with bad voice overs, nonsense motivations, and what might probably be the stupidest decision made by any woman in a horror movie in a decade.

With the exception of the oldest daughter, the acting is quite good, including a creepy turn by Val Kilmer, and the big bad, who does a great parody of Patrick Bateman. The poor man's Laura Linney does well with what she's given, but I spent a good portion of her scenes wondering what her point was. Ultimately the shift in tone is too glaring, and by moving the focus away from dad as a protector only kills the momentum.

This is one of those movies that could be a fantastic entry into its niche genre given a more coherent script and better direction. While I wouldn't call this a time waster, I will have forgotten about it pretty much right after I click the SUBMIT button.

Worst movie ever for adding Voice Overs that were nowhere near what the actor or actress actually said. You can tell so easily that it makes the producers look stupid!

Have a soft spot for mystery. Also have a soft spot for thrillers. Combining both is always a good combination and idea, and it has been done very well more than once. 'The Super' did sound interesting, plus who can't help being drawn in by the title, and do quite like Val Kilmer although he has been in his fair share of not so good films that don't do much for or with him.

Should have read the reviews before watching, deliberately didn't due to wanting to watch 'The Super' without anybody spoiling it or giving anything away. Something that has been the case numerous times with mysteries/thrillers (and action films) when the "plot hole" excuse is thrown around and it has started to get on my nerves. A big part of me regrets not doing so because 'The Super' is an absolute mess in almost every regard, can't help feeling angry and annoyed at how something that should really have worked and been entertaining but botched so badly. Always try to see the good in weak or less films, and usually do, but very nearly couldn't. Super 'The Super' a hundred percent isn't, as far as complete anti-thesis that one can go.

If it wasn't for the promising start, as it was intriguing and did have some tension, and Kilmer trying hard with what he had, the only person in the cast who actually tries, despite being woefully misused, 'The Super' would have been irredeemable.

Everything else misfires badly. Particularly the script and story. The script is awkward, cheesy and rambling, as well as being unfocused tonally and very jumpy. Some of it sounded like it had been dubbed and then re-dubbed, that's how little sense it made in its worst moments. The story quickly becomes erratically paced, sometimes rushed through and at other points deadly dull, and is at its worst incoherent with such a lot being hard to follow, hard to swallow due to being so illogical and difficult to take seriously. So much is confused and vague as a consequence of trying to do too much with little results, nothing is surprising with obvious and convoluted attempts at twists and there is no tension or suspense. The ending is one of the most slap in the face, insult to the intelligence endings for any film seen in a while, can't believe how the writers could come up with something so far-fetched and lacking in any kind of sense and my head and eyes are still throbbing from the eye-rolling.

'The Super's' production values look so hastily made and minimally budgeted. Particularly felt nauseous with some of the editing and the blue filter in the photography was overused and distracting. The characters are cliche ridden and not very interesting, a few pointless and too many given short shrift with little attempts at depth. The actors really struggle with what to make of their lines and characters and nearly as poorly used as Kilmer, evoking not so fond memories of some of the problematically dubbed late 60s-early 70s spaghetti westerns. The sound is equally cheap.

Concluding, a complete and utter mess despite a promising start and Kilmer trying his best. 2/10 Bethany Cox

Neat concept, poorly written and filmed. Some lines are dubbed over which makes me think they ran out of money .