While She Was Out

Della Myers (Kim Basinger) is an upper-class housewife that lives in a private condominium in the suburbs with her twin children and her abusive husband Kenneth (Craig Sheffer). Della gives all the attention to the twins, neglecting their house and her appearance and upsetting Kenneth. On the Christmas Eve, she drives to the local mall in the night to buy wrapping paper for the gifts, and she does not find any parking space available. When she sees an old car parked on two spots, she leaves a message to the owner calling him "selfish jerk". When the mall closes, Della's car is hold by the driver of the old car and she is threatened by four punks – Chuckie (Lukas Haas), the Afro-American Huey (Jamie Starr), the Chinese-American Vingh (Leonard Wu) and the Latin Tomás (Luis Chávez). When the security guard of the mall protects her, he is shot on the head by Chuckie, Della speeds up her car trying to escape from the criminals. However she crashes her truck nearby a forest while chased by the gang. She takes the toolbox and hides in the wood, fighting against the gang to survive.

A couple of days ago, I saw the trailer of "While She Was Out" and I was anxious to watch the DVD. Unfortunately the trailer is better than the movie, and I am totally disappointed with this dull and implausible collection of clichés. Della Myers is presented as an insecure and neglectful housewife and inexistent as wife; the motherhood is her only interest in her concept of family. She is chased by four mean criminals but she defeats them with a toolbox that seems to be the Batman's utility belt. Therefore, the plot is so absurd that irritates. The gang of criminals is formed by the favorite cliché of American movies, with an Afro-American, a Chinese-American and a Latin together with an American lord to be politically correct. Kim Basinger has a decent acting, but their children are too young for a fifty-five year-old woman. My vote is four.

Title (Brazil): "Enquanto Ela Está Fora" ("While She Was Out")

Despite the first act being trope after trope for the setup, I really enjoy this one. Personally I think going to a mall on Christmas Eve is horror enough on its own, but this is one of those situations that could happen to anyone. And make no mistake, guys like the antagonists in this movie, bored punks trying to prove how hard they can be or just getting off on harassing women, are literally everywhere, so the situation is highly believable and frankly, terrifying. But what I really like about this one, without blatant spoilers/details, is Della's (Basinger) character growth throughout. She goes from terrified victim of spousal abuse, just trying to put on a brave face for her children and fake it in front of friends, to this horrible situation where she is once again put into the role of victim, now fighting for her life and to get back to her children. As the film goes on we see her go from victim on the run to being forced to defend herself, unwilling to be a victim any longer. It cathartic. As for the details of the events throughout, yes, it sometimes feels a bit over the top and full of tropes and clichés, but guess what, it's a horror thriller, not a documentary.

So this is what actress Kim Basinger has succumbed to? Mmm… to tell the truth the film's title is something quite eye grabbing to getting your interest and plot outline reads so basic, but simplicity can have its strengths. Anyhow by the end of 'While She Was Out' I was left feeling rather indifferent. Not the worse (despite being engulfed by negatives), but there's easily way better in what is an causally lukewarm, but compact and unbalanced late-night survival fable of a feeble suburban housewife stranded in the woods trying to fight for her life after she witnessed the death of a rent a cop that came to her aid, when she provoked an ugly exchange with some punks in a shopping car park.

The problem here falls on the misguidedly erratic and foreseeable material (taken from a short story), along with the very variable performances. The flimsy script was poorly thought-out (which isn't so good when your plot has a slight structure to hang off), so many wretched inclusions and dubious actions just go on to find its way in this endless chain of events. As for the bunch of stereotypical goons (led by an unconvincing Lukas Hass as a loose canon) terrorizing Basinger, well they were less than threatening, but hopelessly clueless. Watching Basinger scrounging around in the dank wilderness with a red tool box in her hand (don't ask me why?) knocking off these wannabe punks one by one became ridiculous because it didn't elicit tension or emotion… but instead clumsy jolts that were absurdly daft because of the stupidity of the lead up. Basinger's performance is stout-like, but doesn't craft much empathy. Craig Sheffer shows up as her hot-headed husband. Strangely I couldn't keep my eyes off the screen… thinking to myself that red toolbox is hypnotic (why would she be constantly carrying it) and what tool was she going to use to dispatch the next thug… her choices were quite disappointing. Watching her transformation through the traumatic situation when things are finally turned around is rather empty, due to its unsure tone and the ending is something you could see miles ahead.

Susan Montford's soberly slick direction lacks cohesion and energy, as it pretty much chugs along. I liked the opening credits though, with its hauntingly sullen score (which is the most effective thing throughout the feature) and polished photography.

No great shakes. Doesn't ask much of your time, but I wouldn't care to see it again. However with the inclusion of a Joy Division song, it made me grab a couple of their albums for a listen.

This is what you need to know about this movie, besides the fact that I recommend it as solid thriller: Kim Basinger, suburban mother of 2, lives with abusive husband. On Xmas she decides to go buy some stuff at the mall and while she's out, a series of bad things happen - getting her into serious trouble.

I wouldn't read more before watching the movie. Not because there are any great twists, but because it's worth watching without any, even minor, spoilers. It's also filled with irony - sometimes it reminded me of Predator and Home Alone - being a horror movie only in the sense of the cat-and-mouse game hunt.

In a role that's surprisingly physical, Kim Basinger does a good job as the protagonist. I can't help but remember what Kim went through with her marriage problems and all, and somehow connect this movie as a catharsis of sorts for her.

"While She Was Out" might not be very well-known, but it should, in my opinion. It's a refreshing take on a genre that's been tirelessly explored, and most important of all, fun.

6/10

To be sure there's nothing particularly original in this. It's a fairly standard chase movie as a woman is chased through the night by a gang of thugs out to kill her in revenge for her having left a nasty note on their car when they double parked in a busy parking lot on Christmas Eve. So, yeah, it's a variation on a pretty standard theme. There are no real "surprises." You know the woman is going to survive somehow, and in all honesty I thought there was a fair bit of tension and suspense through the whole thing. It's a bit unbelievable, sure - but that's the nature of this kind of movie. Unoriginal, yeah - but anyone who reads the description of the movie going in has to know it's going to be unoriginal so don't watch it if you want something brand spanking new. I liked the basic story from the point at which Della began to be pursued to the point at which she escaped. I thought it was well done.

The movie was helped by having a better than usual lead. Kim Basinger played Della and did well with the part. So many of these movies feature a complete cast that you've never seen before and that you'll never see again that it's kind of nice to see a familiar face. Ironically, perhaps the weakest part of the movie was also Della, though - not Basinger's performance but the character's background. From the opening scenes of the movie Della is portrayed as a victim of an abusive husband, apparently trapped in this unhappy marriage. That really served little purpose and had few connecting points to the remainder of the movie except to allow for a "shocker" in the very last scene, which, again, wasn't necessary to the story.

Go into this with your eyes wide open. If you like this type of movie then this is certainly on par with (and maybe even a bit better than) most "chase" movies you'll come across. But if you're looking for originality, forget it. It all depends what you're expecting from it. Personally, I rather liked it. (7/10)