Lockout

I give a movie about ten minutes to get my attention. If I don't care then it's proved itself a safe bet to move on. This movie captured me. I kept watching and but at the same time wondered why.

I think I did because the actors felt somewhat real and I started caring for them. Also it had a 1970s (early 80s)-feel I quite liked. Like when I was young and saw Amityville Horror for the first time. For people like me, who enjoys horror-movies and miss those days when they really frightened you, this is a great movie... in that weird nostalgic way only a true horror-fan who liked "Alice sweet Alice", "Butcher, Baker Nightmaremaker" and "Antropophagus" can appreciate.

I didn't have high expectations going into this movie, having seen more than my fair share of awful direct-to-video horror films, but I ended up being pleasantly surprised by Lockout. It's clearly a low-budget movie, but the director and actors prove to be fairly adept at working within those parameters and still coming out with an intriguing, competent little film. In that way and several others it reminded me of the little-seen German serial-killer movie Schramm (1993).

There were some flaws here that prevented Lockout from falling into that "great but unknown" category. While the acting is far above par for this kind of movie, a few scenes did fall a little flat. The pacing could be a little tighter overall. And at the end of the movie there's a sort of big reveal which isn't particularly compelling (or unexpected, by the time it happens).

Overall the dialog is much better than I would have expected, though, from the naturalistic-sounding phone call in the first scene to rest of the character's conversations. The focus of the movie tends to be on the characters and their emotional state, rather than the larger plot, and as such it tends more towards evoking unsettled moods over outright shocks and scares, which is fine with me. It also has a few thematic subtexts that are more complex, and better executed, than is common in the genre, although some of these seem a bit muddled up by the end of the film.

I'm not much of a gore-hound myself, but there is one fairly graphic gore scene. I think the director was wise to concentrate his effects budget in a few places instead of just hurling red paint everywhere, but the level of violence is probably not enough for voracious gore-hounds and a little extreme for the more typical horror fan.

Overall this one is definitely worth a look, especially if you are a fan of more cerebral, low-key horror. It's certainly much better than the 3.2 rating it's currently hovering at.

Generally speaking when someone refers to most horror films, no one likes to put the words "thinking man's" and "horror" together. Horror is often perceived to be a genre that requires no thinking, no logic, and one would even go as far to say no plot, but one thing people always can associate horror with is violence, gore, nudity, etc.

So when it comes down the nitty gritty, horror films aren't often looked upon with kind eyes by critics alike for this said reason. They expect nothing more than a senseless bloodbath with no retribution whatsoever. Well thankfully, times are changing and horror – although still having its share of mindless bloodbaths – is turning into a genre that is becoming somewhat respected. Films like Saw while being grotesque also manage to put forth not only an interesting story, but a twist here and there that keeps the viewer guessing and constantly on their toes. It's a thinking man's horror film in sense. A whodunit if you will.

When it comes down to looking at a film like Lockout one can only assume two things by viewing the cover art and the synopsis on the back; it's going to be one of those senseless bloodbath types of films, or it's going to be boring as sin. Thankfully, it's neither.

The film has a basic premise, a story about a Dan, a man who cannot adjust to his company's new procedures and after 10 years of service, he is let go. It appears that the company needs people that can speak other languages and Dan cannot. He decides to move out to a country home he and his family have to take it easy and minimize the cost of living. Upon arrival things appear normal, but nothing is ever what it seems – especially in a horror film.

The film mostly takes place in the old home and an abandoned barn where we meet our protagonists; two very messed up individuals who come into the picture due to a certain girl's strange habits. They enjoy violent sex and the occasional bodily dismemberment. It becomes clear very quickly that the pair is stalking Dan and his family and soon a final confrontation begins.

As the film moves on, one picks up little hints here and there about the film's subject matter. It's very clear Dan is not friendly amongst the Hispanic or other foreign language citizens as everyone he meets he is either rude to, or just blows off. Odd considering that his wife and sister-in-law are also from other countries but that's just another part of this story's wonderful brain.

The film does move along quite slowly but it builds up to a nice confrontation and a hell of a twist ending that I saw part of it coming, but the rest was a total shock. In any film's case, not just horror, a good twist these days is very hard to find.

The acting sells the story as each actor portrays their characters very well. The arguments are real, the talking is real, it all feels real, nothing sounds pre-written or staged which is also, something difficult to find. The protagonists have no speaking lines which add not only to their weirdness but make them feel like more of a threat.

The special features on the disc unfortunately are nil, nothing but a behind the scenes documentary and a trailer. Although the documentary was lengthy, a commentary would have been nice but the film works well enough on its own so I cannot complain. The picture comes through very clear and has that shot-on-video look but doesn't quite nail it, looks more like digital than anything but it does not detract from the film's viewing experience at all. If anything it adds to it.

Lockout is one of those films people are either going to really love, or hate incredibly. I loved it. The film works its way under your skin, keeps you thinking at the end as it all falls into your lap and holds the viewer's interest for its running time. The story is thick, the acting is great, and the twist is one of those that won't make sense at first; but once you place all the facts of the film together and think about how it all falls into place; it will. Definitely a film you will be going, "Oh, okay so THAT'S what happened and that's why this was like this, okay I get it now." But it's not going to be something you will get right away, you'll have to think.

If something that's going to pick at your brain hours after you watch it is what you're looking for, Lockout is it. If it isn't, well you might want to look elsewhere. This film has its brain planted firmly into its grizzly end and doesn't stop ticking until the credits roll. I applaud the writers and the people behind this film for bringing something like this to the horror genre. It's just the kind of film it needs to push itself up from being mindless entertainment to actual entertainment. Seek this one out, it's well worth it.

Blurbtastic - "...the film works."

The story line of this film is almost completely non-sensical. The director/writer of this film took ideas/concepts from other films and tried to put them together into a 'uniquely' drawn out story (with the always great 'twist' ending), however, the end product is a piece of garbage. The characters in this story lack any depth whatsoever. The film contains no original scoring, poor editing, and at times, even worse acting. The director/writer clearly did not care about his characters and it shows in his work. While I hate to slam the 'efforts' of a low budget film maker, everyone should steer clear of this wasted effort. I did manage to sit through the entire 'experience' and can only offer that if you are feeling sad, lonely or just misunderstood, watch this film, you will laugh at how ridiculous it is.

Islas is a film-maker whom knows what he wants to see on film, and has the resources to make it happen. As in the case of "Lockout", the director challenges the audience to try and figure out where the story is going, and turns a three-sixty to brilliant effect. The film evolves around a dysfunctional family who are forced to relocate from a posh Chicago lifestyle to a rural Wisconsin existence. When strange occurrences start to happen, the family is pitted against each other to a riveting climax. "Lockout" is dark, and shot beautifully by low budget master Ricardo Islas. A believable cast and superb writing makes this a must see for any true indie horror fan.