Friday, November 08, 2013

Mischief Night


(2013) **1/2

Teenage Emily, who has suffered from hysterical blindness and asthma ever since her mother perished in a car accident 9 years earlier, moves into a remote country home with her overprotective father, David.  It is the night before Halloween and David is reluctantly going on his first date in years.  Soon after he leaves Emily suspects that someone is in her house.  Her worst fears are realized when a man clad in a creepy mask and yellow rain jacket begins to stalk her.  Although she manages to call her boyfriend, father, and aunt, she realizes that she must deal with the immediate threat on her own.


I am in no position to judge how well a blind individual is able to navigate through a large house while being stalked.  However, like Audrey Hepburn in ‘Wait Until Dark’ Emily seems to have no problem eluding her sighted captor as he chases her with an ax.  Stubbing my toe the other night in an effort to walk from my bedroom to the bathroom (8 feet), I am somewhat incredulous about a blind person’s (Daredevil-like) ability to get around quickly without injury.  In ‘Mischief Night’ it makes little sense to me that the killer would stalk Emily while wearing a Halloween mask and yellow rain slicker.  If the point is to terrorize her, a scary costume hardly seems necessary given that she is BLIND.  Home invasion movies are among my least favorite in the horror genre.  Having said that, I am able to enjoy a home invasion story if there is some pipe-in-the-ass payoff at the end.  I hated The Strangers (no payoff), for example, but really enjoyed “You’re Next” (excellent payoff).  In Mischief Night there is no payoff.  Without spoiling the ending I will refer you to The Strangers which has a similar outcome.

4 comments:

DKC said...

"...a scary costume hardly seems necessary given that she is BLIND."

Awesome.

AC said...

thanks for the warning. i'm with you, gotta have that PITA!

Catfreeek said...

Ditto what DCD said, that's the best line. That alone sums up the potential stupidity of this film.

Octopunk said...

I can't believe I forgot to comment on this, but I too was laughing at the BLIND quote.

I remember Wait Until Dark. I recall there being a part where someone threatens to start a fire, but I knew it wouldn't happen because the story was a stage play first. Fire in a crowded theater!

Malevolent

 2018  ***1/2 It's 1986 for some reason, and a team of paranormal investigators are making a big name for themselves all over Scotland. ...