House of 9

A group of people -- nine to be exact -- are trapped in a house. They are given instructions over an intercom, basically telling them that the last one who lives will receive five million dollars. From there on out, the house gets dangerous: will we see the best or the worst of human nature?

One could describe this movie as "Saw 2" meets "House on Haunted Hill", though that wouldn't really do this film justice. Others have compared it to "Battle Royale". Simply put, while the themes may overlap, this film is still unique in many ways. Which isn't always easy after a century of plots being used up.

Dennis Hopper has a fairly large role, but mysteriously he appears as a priest. Also, he talks slow and awkward like he can't remember his lines. I didn't really think this captured his ability very well. As another reviewer said, "Dennis Hopper is ineffective as a priest. If you're going to have Hopper in your movie; make the most of it, don't give him a role like this." There seemed to be little concern among the housemates that the food was poisoned. Or the booze. It is mentioned once, but I believe this is after they've already been eating and drinking.

The film has a weird soundtrack, which seems out of place (too pop rock for a horror film), and there's a strange hip-hop dance scene. I don't know what is up with that. But the film as a whole is good, and I have to say it has a great ending. I can't say what it is, of course, but if the film does not impress you, wait until the end because I think it really redeems itself of any flaws.

**SPOILERS** As if abducted off the streets of London by aliens in a UFO nine persons complete strangers to each other with the exception of the music composing couple Francis & Cynthia, Hippolyte Girandot & Julienne Davis, end up in this large house with all the door and windows sealed shut.

Getting the lowdown to the situation that their in by the unseen Watcher, Tim Carter, the nine kidnap victims are told that they'll all have to stay locked up there for the next 24 hours until the only survivor will be allowed to leave. The nine are also told by The Watcher that the winner, or survivor, will end up getting a duffel bag stuffed with 5 million dollars in it for his or her effort!

The film then has the befuddled and confused persons try to survive the night only to have greed and hunger take over and control their actions and emotions. One by one the nine end up murdering each other, the first victim was the result of an unfortunate accident, until by the next morning only one survived. It's then that the sole survivor as well as the audience is hit with this twist ending. It's brought out by THe Watcher that the agony that he, or she, wen't through was only the beginning of something that a lot bigger and far more evil that what happened to him and the people, who are now all dead, that were there in the house.

Dennis Hopper plays Father Duffy a man with a conscience who tries to keep everything and everyone from getting out of control only in the end lose control of himself. The musical couple Francis & Cynthia get involved with black rap artist Al B, Ashley Waters, who gets a little too friendly with Cynthia that ends up having devastating results for all three of them.

Fashion designer Max Roy, Peter Capaldi, loses it late in the movie and goes bonkers breaking what little sanity that was still left among the survivors. Max freaks out in his attempt to have everyone there killed so that he can end up having and stuffing himself with all the food, not the 5 million dollars, thats been provided, by The Watcher, for them.

The cop of the group Jay, Raffeallo Degruttola, at first tries to keep order but gets so enraged at Al B who's dislike of police, as well as Jay, is so fanatical and out in the open that the two go after each other like two rats in a cage who haven't been fed for days.

There's also tennis star Claire Leevy, Susie Amy, and her forced roommate, at the house, parolee from prison Shona, Morven Christie. These two are so opposite to each other that putting them both together, that Father Duffy did, was like flicking open a cigarette lighter in a kitchen with an hour long gas leak; the results would be and in fact did become explosive.

The last of the group of nine the beautiful and well endowed Lea, Kelly Brook, who's a dancer and refrains from eating meat is by far the most likable and attractive of the bunch. That's why for some reason it puzzled me why Francis had it in for her during the entire film. When his attempt to electrocute Lea failed, after he at first thought that it succeeded, Francis became by far the most crazed of the already crazed bunch.

It wasn't until the last minute that you not only realized who survive this carnage but what the reason for it really was. By the time the movie ended it was shown to the sole surviver that greed and the violence and murder that goes along with it only leads to more greed and that greed will only be quenched when there's no one left alive to be influenced by it.

So, nine strangers get kidnapped, stuck in a house and told that the one who gets out alive will receive 5 million dollars. Yep, it isn't the most original or dazzling of concepts, but strangely enough it just about manages to pull off its modest ambitions. Despite the off pacing and some shocking dialogue, things keep moving and really catch fire for a satisfying final block. Style is what holds this one together, director Steven R. Munroe has a great feel for the cold, impersonal setting, the camera roams gleaming corridors and clinically gazes at its mysteries, a sterile and uncomfortable feel neatly offset by the bumptious characters. He is just alright at the dramatic side of things though, like the actors he does his best with the script but he fails in enticing the right vivid performances out of all. Dennis Hopper has a bizarrely pacifying role as an Irish priest, wielding grizzled authority and a gentle wisdom he puts in a good show. Peter Capaldi is occasionally amusing but his role is underwritten and others mostly show their non-acting talents. However a welcome current of off kilter craziness comes from French actor Hippolyte Girardot, really relishing his part he plays it broad and brings great fun, a big bonus to the film. The only part that really didn't work for me was Asher D in a hideously written cliché of a no talent rapper character, he appears not to have any talent to begin with but I'm still surprised that he didn't tear up the script, given some of the bilious nonsense he has to utter. Generally speaking everyone works OK together, some sparks are there and the right gradual escalation of tensions, it's a nicely multi-national cast and though often soapy their behaviour is shot to stylish effect. It just isn't that interesting or exciting and the plot doesn't have enough movement in it to sustain the run time. For the most part the film follows a holding pattern, there isn't all that much going on and some of the decisions made are pretty dumb, it would have been better I think if the film got to the crunch earlier and then either spun out its shenanigans for longer or finished earlier. At least when things finally do explode they do so in fine fashion, bloody, tense and mean, the final 20 minutes or so is rather a blast and does a pretty decent job in making the audience forget earlier longueurs. It doesn't make up for everything, but still left me liking the film well enough at the end. I can't exactly recommend this one highly, but it is alright in my book, worth a watch if the plot intrigues but don't expect anything too impressive. 6/10 from me then

Whoever this Will Hoge guy is, he needs to go back to delivering pizzas. This is a mashup of STP, Creed and all those other horrible styles. I had to skip about 7 minutes in the middle of the movie because my ears started bleeding.

9 people in a sealed house. They are told only one of them would leave and he will be given 5 million dollars and then they are left to their own devices. You would expect some subtle psychological drama, but no. All the characters are archetypes, they behave programatically like little robots and after a while they only hurry up the pace since the movie's got to end at one point or another.

They do spend about 10 minutes to break out of the house, I give you that. Why they would chose to pathetically wait for the end the rest of the movie is beyond me. At least half of the movie consists of women shouting incoherently and men fighting for idiotic reasons.

However it is a better than a lot of other movies and it is worth a see, especially if you are a kid or you have tried to watch Das Experiment and stopped in the middle because you couldn't take it. Horror it is not, yet the end is funny and saves a lot of the movie.

I kinda liked Dennis Hopper. Why does he play in movies like that lately? Ntz Ntz Ntz