A married man and woman visit a cabin in the woods (!) apparently about halfway between the US, Europe, and Australia (!) without cell phone reception (!) to recover from the woman's recent stillbirth (!). They talk slowly for about forty-five minutes. Then the man gets out some handcuffs and gets all torturey and rapey.
OR DOES HE?!?!? Cymbal crash.
Horror film-makers have faced accusations of misogyny for decades, accusations that are sometimes poorly justified, and they have generally acted very reasonably in response. The makers of The Perfect Husband have taken a different tack, reading feminist criticism of horror as a recipe for the perfect cake. Take two cups of a beautiful woman, a tablespoon of ridiculous bitchiness, torture and rape until golden brown. Then turn it upside down and glaze.
That alone isn't going to turn off some viewers. Horror is supposed to be unpalatable, and we fans can deal with some ugliness if the underlying movie is good. But TPH isn't. The characters alternate between being unlikable because they're fake and unlikable because they're assholes. The first act drags on for far too long, and the only role it seems to play is making the film long enough for release. If the film wasn't already too cliché, there's a nice scene with a vision of a dead, bloody baby bleeding from its eyes so you know exactly what kind of film you've sat yourself in front of. And to top it off, there's a TWIST (!) that will have you longing to sit though an all-night marathon of Shyamalan's worst.
So why 3/10? The acting is occasionally serviceable, and where it's not, I'm willing to give the benefit of the doubt to the cast-- they didn't have a lot to work with. And the filming itself is talented, the shots occasionally beautiful and well orchestrated.
But the film itself doesn't really have anything to say. It's just a poorly paced setup for some underwhelming gore. If you have deep issues with your exes and need some fantasy material, hopefully TPH is the catharsis you need to avoid doing anything awful. Otherwise, stay away.
OR DOES HE?!?!? Cymbal crash.
Horror film-makers have faced accusations of misogyny for decades, accusations that are sometimes poorly justified, and they have generally acted very reasonably in response. The makers of The Perfect Husband have taken a different tack, reading feminist criticism of horror as a recipe for the perfect cake. Take two cups of a beautiful woman, a tablespoon of ridiculous bitchiness, torture and rape until golden brown. Then turn it upside down and glaze.
That alone isn't going to turn off some viewers. Horror is supposed to be unpalatable, and we fans can deal with some ugliness if the underlying movie is good. But TPH isn't. The characters alternate between being unlikable because they're fake and unlikable because they're assholes. The first act drags on for far too long, and the only role it seems to play is making the film long enough for release. If the film wasn't already too cliché, there's a nice scene with a vision of a dead, bloody baby bleeding from its eyes so you know exactly what kind of film you've sat yourself in front of. And to top it off, there's a TWIST (!) that will have you longing to sit though an all-night marathon of Shyamalan's worst.
So why 3/10? The acting is occasionally serviceable, and where it's not, I'm willing to give the benefit of the doubt to the cast-- they didn't have a lot to work with. And the filming itself is talented, the shots occasionally beautiful and well orchestrated.
But the film itself doesn't really have anything to say. It's just a poorly paced setup for some underwhelming gore. If you have deep issues with your exes and need some fantasy material, hopefully TPH is the catharsis you need to avoid doing anything awful. Otherwise, stay away.