Mindcage

This movie is a cheap ripoff of SOTL complete with laughably bad script and bad acting all around. I kinda knew this going in but I watched it because I thought it would be good for a laugh, kinda like when I watch a Nick Cage movie. But unfortunately this movie is basically just a dud and not even a So bad it's good movie. Even John Malkovich does a rather humdrum job of portraying a crazed serial killer. The entire project is so amateurishly done that its hard to believe it ever got finished. Any producer should have put this thing out of it's misery early on as it comes across like a high school project by clueless wannabe actors and production people. A very disappointing dumb waste of time.

Serial killer movies is quite difficult to make. Much like horror movies, they are constructed around cliche. The key is character build up and craftmanship. Mindcage is full of cliche and none of craftmanship and character build up.

At times the movie seem to be over the top constructed around the cliches, and at that at beginner level, i.e. The red herrings are too obvious, and theses are crucial to mystery movies.

The movie also lacks fluency, i.e. The scenes are mechanically put together in segments with disturbedly incoherency.

Actorwise the selection is poorly made, especially the supporting roles. The husband of the lead character and the prison psychologist is a joke. Martin Lawrence will never be able to pull of a serious character/movie. Malkovitch tries his best, but delivers his standard unsettling character. Knepper is good as the sheriff and is always watchable.

It is not a terrible movie as such, but could have been done better by working the script more and used other actors. The movie uses some tricks to make it different from other serial killer movies. I cannot reveal them here since it would spoil the movie, but I would have used these tricks more and created fusion of horror/serial killer/mystery movie.

All in all, it is not a terrible movie, I have seen much worse. The movie is just flat. IMDB rates it, to this date, 4,1/10 and that is quite correct.

This is a rip off of 'The Silence of the Lambs', pure and simple.

I have no idea how a film maker can be so blatant in stealing someone else's idea.

The acting is good, even the script isn't bad, but at each turn the scenes lifted from Silence, music riffing off Red Dragon and Hannibal, are actually grating.

I've seen worse films, and yet very few more difficult to watch because it feels like the audience is participating in this theft of another's work. It's a shame, because had the writer chosen to come up with ideas of their own to move the plot along, it might have been a half decent thriller.

Martin fan here. I'll also candidly admit, we watched to see if he could pull off a strictly serious role because we didn't remember any movie in which he previously did so... NOPE. It was just, strange. Not sure if it was the acting, script or chemistry or a combination but just.. NO. Secondly, there were so many scenes that just screamed careless. Driving while the car was obviously in park... ect. Did even they TRY? All in all, the had an interesting premise (albeit a ripoff in large chunks) that given to the right team could have been interesting. The twist at the end was cute. Husband fell asleep and I sat there.. SOUR.

The movie itself copy the Seven and Silence of the Lambs formula, but with a far worst cast and an extremely low budget for the Fx's.

So, first acting is bad keeping in mind who the main characters are here. The only who make an OK job is John Malkovich. All the others are pretty bad here.

Second, the script is interesting till it become obvious. The Twist is Ok, but not credible. So, it's just a bit dissapointing.

Last, Fx's are the worst I've seen in a long time. It's soap Opera level. Looks like they couldn't even shot an action scene decently.

So, even all it's flaws, it is quite entertaining if your are looking for the new version of The Silence of the Dambs.