This remake of the 70’s exploitation flick sees a remarkable return to form from Tobe Hooper, as he manages to make the flick both frightening and funny, whilst throwing in plenty blood and guts for splatter fans.
The amazingly talented Angela Bettis plays Nell Barrows, one half of a young couple who have just moved into an apartment in the decaying Lusman Arms, formerly hotel of choice for the Hollywood elite.
Nell tries to make herself feel at home despite some weird disturbances and a strong gut feeling that something is wrong in the building. Despite her better judgement, Nell agrees to stay until her husband can take time off from his new job to move. She begins occupying herself with researching the building’s history and unfortunately for her, she uncovers something terrifying within the walls of the building.
Whilst I haven’t seen the original film, I’m aware that this version is quite different, but I have to say that from what I’ve heard it has only improved upon the original.
This is defintely the best Tobe Hooper movie I have seen in a long long time, as he crafts a deliciously dark tale that keeps you guessing until the film’s fun conclusion.
The cast of female characters who are all familiar to genre fans are excellent here as they all get to try out something different to what we have seen them tackle before.
The sets are creepy, the cinematography is good and the kills are very gory…definitely the most blood I have seen in quite a while.
When the film finished I was amazed at what a ride I had just been on until I stopped to think about things, and I quickly realised that whilst I had just had lots of fun watching this film, it didn’t actually reveal any details as to why any of it happened.
Whilst I am aware that the sequel is currently in development, and I get that they were going the ‘Halloween’ route of holding back on motive and details in order to keep Coffin Baby scary, I felt quite annoyed that we actually have no idea what the point in the entire movie was?
Don’t get me wrong, the movie was great, but I’m dying to find out the meaning behind the markings and Coffin Baby’s place in the greater scheme of things.
OVERALL SUMMARY
This is the most excitingly gory slasher movie I have seen in ages!! Definitely worth checking out if you weren’t lucky enough to see it during it’s limited theatrical run.
