Caught this film at the IFP/LA.
Eli Roth has a real sense of the genre, I'll give him that. His story of five college kids on a spring break getaway who contract a deadly flesh-eating virus has plenty of gore and lost of good "gotchas" that make the flesh, well, crawl.
My problem with the film is that it hangs a little too much on the conventions and cliches without breaking any new ground. Also, it tends to telegraph its surprises a little too much--when one of these kids walks through the house pumping his fist in celebration and announcing over and over, "I survived! I f***ing survived!" you just know that he's going to walk into a demise similar to the end of "Night of the Living Dead" (the original, not the remake). Other things bothered me, like the inclusion of a young deputy with a peach fuzz mustache who's obsessed with partying; his scenes seem like they were plugged in as an afterthought.
Does Roth have talent? As a director, yes. He paces his film and frames his images quite well. But the script could use a lot of work, some punching up and a little originality injected into the narrative.
Eli Roth has a real sense of the genre, I'll give him that. His story of five college kids on a spring break getaway who contract a deadly flesh-eating virus has plenty of gore and lost of good "gotchas" that make the flesh, well, crawl.
My problem with the film is that it hangs a little too much on the conventions and cliches without breaking any new ground. Also, it tends to telegraph its surprises a little too much--when one of these kids walks through the house pumping his fist in celebration and announcing over and over, "I survived! I f***ing survived!" you just know that he's going to walk into a demise similar to the end of "Night of the Living Dead" (the original, not the remake). Other things bothered me, like the inclusion of a young deputy with a peach fuzz mustache who's obsessed with partying; his scenes seem like they were plugged in as an afterthought.
Does Roth have talent? As a director, yes. He paces his film and frames his images quite well. But the script could use a lot of work, some punching up and a little originality injected into the narrative.