I guess the most merciful thing about this was that it was at least a somewhat different take on the typical upper-middle-class tourists exposed to depraved horrors genre. I was somewhat drawn to this because of a collection of surprisingly decent actors, considering the premise. Jena Malone, so enjoyable in Saved!, gives a pretty mediocre performance here but I think it's more due to an underdeveloped character than her failures as an actress. Shawn Ashmore, of X-Men, plays a surprisingly different character here and is somewhat believable in the role. Joe Anderson, who I thought was the most interesting and most effective part of last year's sloppy Across the Universe, is forced to don a silly German accent but otherwise maintains his skill at effective facial acting. The story here, which ends up dealing with creature horror instead of the overabundant (and suggested by the film's trailer) torture porn genre, is at least somewhat interesting and different from the norm of modern horror. Alas the movie is derailed by a poor screenplay, mediocre special effects, a premise that, while somewhat original, is still flawed and plot-hole ridden and poor supporting performances. I think I wish this were more successful at the box office if for no other reason than maybe it would inspire studios to make something other than torture porn or Asian horror remakes.
Overall Score: 4/10
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