Review of While She Was Out (2008) by Jason D — 02 May 2009

While She Was Out stars the nowadays underrated Kim Basinger as a suburban housewife whose only joy is her two children, since husband Craig Sheffer (in a brief role) is abusive and mean. It's Christmas Eve and they've run out of wrapping paper, so Basinger's character goes out to the heavily crowded mall to get some (as well as spend some time away from her uneventful life).

For 20 minutes, the film focuses on her mundane experiences in the mall, but kicks into high gear when Basinger's character is assaulted by a gang of vicious youths (thanks to a snotty note she left on the windshield of their car earlier), led by Lukas Haas (whom I enjoy usually.

Basinger spends the rest of the film being pursed by these kids in an isolated construction site as well as the nearby woods. Needless to say, things get interesting when these guys finally make her character snap, and that's when the bodies started piling up.

In all honestly, I did not enjoy this film as much as I thought I was going to. Aside from a few plotholes, the movie is fairly decent and carried out well enough. My problem was with the gang, who could not have been more cliched.

The filmmaker really had a chance to make a horrifying and nightmarish film if these guys had taken the role more seriously instead of playing forced stereotypes. In the end, this comes off rather tame (save for two particular deaths in the middle), and I couldn't help but get that "I am woman, hear me roar" vibe from it.

Still, the film is worth a watch, but, again, could have been better.