Review of Terrible Angels (2013) by Kenny M — 16 Jun 2014

This movie could have been really good. The performances were good, the premise horrifying and the suspense tangible.

Unfortunately the whole thing comes apart at the end with a ham-handed "twist" that presumes on the gullibility, if not the stupidity, of it's audience. It's a clumsy variation of the hackneyed "it was all just a dream" cliche. In trying to make the audience think the writer has committed artistic suicide as with only a few moments of reflection the entire premise of the movie unravels in a puff of logic. What was a horrifying story about a serial killer suddenly becomes a completely implausible heroes journey.

I do have to give the filmmakers props for not turning it into a revenge flick, but that's shallow comfort after sitting through the whole movie. I might even be inclined to forgive it if the ending didn't feel so much like a cop-out. It almost felt like the filmmakers decided at the last minute that, revenge formula aside, the movie needed a happy ending anyway.

Too bad. The entire move was literally undone in the last three minutes when it could have been so much more. The juxtaposition between Linda's catharsis and the evil done to her would have had a much more profound impact if they had stuck to their guns and left me with a cold, hard pit in my stomach as the bad guy drove away to kill again.

A nice try, but in the end it's an hour and a half that would be better spent doing just about anything else.