From the moment I heard Hammer were back, I was looking forward to this more than any other project on their slate, as it has some major talent involved, not only in its cast but behind the scenes too. The end result was an incredibly well shot and well acted film but the script and some editing choices let it down a little.
Hilary Swank stars as Juliet, a young doctor who has recently separated from her partner and desperately needs to find a new place to live. When she visits an apartment owned by Max (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) she immediately falls in love with it and quickly moves in. Max’s kind nature and puppy dog eyes soon have Juliet falling for him but he’s hiding a dark secret.
Aesthetically, the movie is perfect. The location is almost a character in itself thanks to the fantastic set design and Guillermo Navarro’s cinematography which makes the film a joy to look at from start to finish.
Swank is likeable here as always, but Morgan genuinely surprised me as he perfectly balanced sympathetic with psychotic. It was also wonderful to see legendary actor Christopher Lee back on screen in a Hammer horror film.
On the downside, the main problem I had with this was the structure. 30 minutes in, we are forced to watch an extremely lengthy flashback of everything we have just seen to find out one piece of information which either could have been explained in a throwaway line or would have been better placed later in the film. Sadly, that’s just the start of the odd editing choices which seriously interfere with the narrative flow.
OVERALL SUMMARY
I’ve yet to see Let Me In and Wake Wood which have both had wonderful reviews, but this is a solid effort which has me both excited about the return of Hammer and looking forward to seeing what’s next.
