Review of Hellions (2015) by Jesse O — 09 Feb 2016

While this may not end up being what I would call a good movie, due to some strange mismanagement and poor ability at explaining what exactly is going on, at least this film makes an effort to do something.

It might not be something that's entirely different, but you can at least tell that there was at least some amount of effort in trying to make it appear like it's something different. Like I said, however, the movie doesn't really do much that actually held my interest.

I thought the movie started off really well, like everything that led to the evil trick-or-treaters coming in and taking over, so to speak. All of that was well done. And it's not that the stuff after that point is bad, but it just isn't as strong as what came before it.

The whole thing about the evil trick or treaters being taken from their mothers, that probably didn't want them in the first place, is actually a fairly good idea, but they just never really make it into something that's effectively scary or creepy, even though it had the potential to be.

The look of the film is a little annoying to the eye. There's a storm that, seemingly, pushes time forward, but there's this entirely purplish hue to the film from this point on that, really, is meant to showcase the surrealism to everything that's going on, but it gets old really quickly.

It just feels like something that's meant to differentiate this from other horror films of its ilk, but I do believe the surrealism could've been achieved in a way that was less annoying to watch.

The acting is nothing special. Chloe Rose is gorgeous, this is my first time ever seeing her I believe, but she's not a particularly good actress. Like there's no sense or urgency or that she's fighting for something, because she never really actually feels connected to her child.

I guess she's actually fighting for her life, since the kids do plan to get rid of her once they have her baby, but still. There's no real sense of urgency to anything of what's happening.

I never found the film to be offensively awful, it's a perfectly fine movie and one that you can easily get through, since it's less than 80 minutes long. I just wish that the actual effort put into the film actually led to something that made the film good.

I'm sure there's some fun to be had here if you watch this with a group of friends, but this isn't a good movie. It certainly had the potential to be one, but there were some flaws that kept it from being so.

I can't really recommend it, there's nothing here, in spite of a good concept, that can classify as memorable. It's a movie you'll watch and immediately move on from.