Review of Otis (2008) by I'M Alex — 15 Dec 2008

The basic plot of this film is this: a disturbed middle-aged man named Otis, apparently obsessed with a woman named Kim, kidnaps young teenage girls in hopes of having his own version of her. He ends up killing five young women before coming across Riley (Ashley Johnson)when he delivers a pizza to her house. Instantly obsessed, he kidnaps her the following morning, and locks her in this special dungeon behind his house, and forces her to participate in role-playing games until she manages to escape and her family decides to seek revenge.

While I liked the first half of the film, showing the interaction between Otis and Riley, I felt the second half killed it. I'm a big fan of dark comedies, but I found the comedy forced and cliche, rather than funny. I predicted the "twist" during the revenge part, and didn't find it funny at all...and the very end left me asking, "That was IT?!" The FBI agent was a complete insensitive moron - yet he delivered the only humorous lines throughout the film.

I feel with a few revisions and more editing, this film could have been better - however, it was daring enough to try something slightly new and run with it in a time when all Hollywood horror is either a remake of a classic or a remake of an Asian film - so in that regard I give the writers and directors props.