Director: Nacho Vigalondo
Writer: Nacho Vigalondo (Screenplay)
Starring: Sasha Grey, Elijah Wood, Neil Maskell,
Plot: An actress named Jill refuses to have dinner with Nick, a fan who won a date with her in an Internet contest. In return, a guy named Chord, posing as Jill’s campaign manager, helps Nick to follow in the footsteps of the actress from his own computer. Nick starts a game in which he realizes that is only a puppet into the maniac plans devised by Chord, to hunt down the star.
Verdict: Thinking Outside the Box
Story: In a world where having the right technology can help hack into everything we follow a young man get tricked into helping a mad man kidnap an actress. This all gets put together using just webcams and security cams, with most of the story unfolding on our hero’s laptop within plenty of different pop-up windows.
Granted the story can come off very easy to follow it does throw out a few different twists as the story continues. The twists do take away what has been built up but it also shows how far people will go for a moment of madness. It is brave doing a film without using conventional camera and as I am always a fan of something different I will praise that. In the end the thriller shows what stalkers will do and how defenceless the celebrity can be. (7/10)
Actor Review
Sasha Grey: Jill Goddard actress who has been having second thoughts about her career after making another sequel. She gets kidnapped by the guy pulling the strings. Sasha does a good job as the celebrity who gets caught in the middle of a stalkers game. (7/10)
Elijah Wood: Nick Chambers young blogger who wants to have an interview with his favorite actress. He ends up getting used as a puppet in a stalkers game. He races against time to try and save her before it is too late. Good performance from Elijah who again shows he is willingly to take a chance on a role. (8/10)
Neil Maskell: Chord voice on the phone who puts Nick through a string a tasks to help him get close to his favorite actress, but he has a different agenda with the actress. Good performance as we always want to know what he will do next. (7/10)
Supporting Cast: The support cast is mainly another group of hackers, who help Nick believing he is an internationally renowned hacker. (7/10)
Director Review: Nacho Vigalondo – Brave direction using alternative camera work to turn a thriller into real time thriller on web cams. (8/10)
Action: most of the action is car chases, these are all shot using the multi camera system on the laptop too. (7/10)
Thriller: you do get pulled in to care about what happens to the actress and young man as they try to figure out what is going on and try to escape. (9/10)
Settings: The settings are used to create an atmosphere we are unsure off the locations of certain people but we do get left wonder when they will end up. (8/10)
Suggestion: This should be tried it might not be everyone’s cup of tea but you may enjoy this. (Try It)
Best Part: Brave Ideas
Worst Part: A lot of people will get turned off with Sasha Grey casting.
Believability: With the abilities people have to hack this could be a very real outcome before the extra twists. (5/10)
Chances of Tears: No (0/10)
Chances of Sequel: Unlikely
Post Credits Scene: No
Oscar Chances: No
Runtime: 1 Hour 40 Minutes
Trivia: This is the first movie not using conventional cameras, but web-cams from some computers, which screens open and close along the movie.
Overall: Interesting Look at Stalkers
Rating