Movie Review: Don’t Look Up (2009)

The movie stars Rachael Murphy, Reshad Strik, Alyssa Sutherland, Henry Thomas and Shiloh Fernandez.

One of my biggest pet peeves when it comes to horror films/thrillers is when a great premise is completely ruined by weak execution. Unfortunately, when my wife and I watched this film last night, it quickly became obvious this film fell into that category. It was a movie that had a lot of potential to be scary (much like the Japanese movie it is based on) but the filmmakers just fail to deliver.

A lot of the problem with this movie is there was an awful lot going on and many of the things didn’t quite seem to mesh the way they were supposed to. For example, you have the real-life gypsy spirits tormenting the crew and, for vague reasons, killing them off one at a time. At the same time, you have a director (Strik) who constantly has visions that may or may not be connected to the evil spirits, again for vague reasons. And, on top of it, you have a crew that seems to spend more time complaining than actually filming a movie.

The film also has a bad habit of dragging things out at times. This does make it kind of dull.

Sure, there are some scenes that are a little scary, such as one scene involving a giant eye on a computer screen. But, because of the constant lulls, there’s really no continuity and, when the movie does reach the point where someone is attacked, it almost seems random, especially since the gypsy myth was about producing Beng’s offspring. I’m still a little confused about how brutally killing people fits in with that legend and, just as important, how the movie got its title.

As I said, the premise actually had potential. However, the overall movie was a mess and really never reached the point where I would consider it scary or even remotely suspenseful. My wife and I wasted a couple hours of our life watching this film last night. I suggest not making our mistake.

My Grade: F