See No Evil (2006)

I haven't seen a recent slasher film in a while, which is perhaps why I was in a lenient mood when I watched this movie. It's a by-the-numbers blood fest, more about killing off cast members via increasingly violent, grisly ways than anything else, and a combination of a Friday the 13th sequel with the kind of visceral nastiness found in a SAW film. It's also quite a lot of fun.Things get off to an arresting start as cops enter a run down house to discover a girl missing her eyes. One of the cops is speedily dispatched with an axe (a great shock scene) and the other loses his arm before taking down the killer. Things ease off a little as more predictable slasher plot elements emerge: we're introduced to a cast of delinquent teenagers who arrive at a burnt-out hotel with a couple of token adults to clean it up. However, there's not much cleaning going on, as the killer soon shows up again and begins offing the teens in gruesome ways.There's quite a lot to like about this flick for horror fans. It's short and well paced, and porn director Gregory Dark handles the proceedings in a much better way than you'd imagine. Much of the paraphernalia – girls in cages, torture, killing etc. – is familiar from modern day horror, but the special effects are very good and very grisly and hard to watch in places. There's a lot of action, and the chases between the killer and the victims are all very well handled and reasonably exciting.The acting is nothing to write home about, but that's par for the course. I did like Steven Vidler's character. Kane isn't required to act much, but he's a bloody big guy and the sheer size of him alone is enough to give nightmares. There are some inventive moments, like the death-by-mobile-phone scene, or the unpleasant 'dog food' sequence which has some kind of perverse logic to it. There are also one or two decent twists and a fine ending for the villain. Not a lot else to say about this one, other than that it does what it says on the tin.

See No Evil (2006): Dir: Gregory Dark / Cast: Glenn Jacobs, Samantha Noble, Michael J. Pagan, Christina Vidal, Luke Pegler: Disgusting horror film about a killer who plucks the eyes out of his victims. It is also another failed attempt to bring a wrestler into feature films. If you thought that Hulk Hogan starred in stupid films then you're in for a real treat when Kane hunts down and murders petty criminals in a huge rundown hotel. Why the hotel is still standing is a question left unanswered but in reality it would be classified as a hazard, much like this film. And why are production values about as enticing as a cardboard box? Perhaps every dime went into training Kane how to act like...HIS WRESTLING PERSONA! Who would have thought, huh? Kane, whose real name is Glen Jacobs, is a menacing wrestling personality but that is about as far as it should go. Director Gregory Dark films everything as if he is half asleep. Kane beats the hell out of Samantha Noble, Michael J. Pagan, Christina Vidal, etc. They are not nearly as energetic as his wrestling opponents but one can say that wrestling puts on a more realistic show than the travesty given here. Why not just pay for a ninety minute battle royal where Kane just heaves the people responsible for this film over the top rope? There is no point to this wasted piece of junk other than to bring Kane to the screen and hopefully be seen by no one. Score: 1 / 10

Sent to an abandoned hotel to clean it up, a group of juvenile delinquents finds that the hotel is home to a deranged, psychopathic killer and is stalking them for intruding upon his home, forcing them to find a way to get out alive.This here is an above-average slasher of the time-period. The fact that the setting is almost near-perfect is one positive aspect, as this hotel looks suitably disgusting, slimy and completely unlivable with the thick layer of dirt covering every single piece of furniture. The sequences where they're cleaning up the hotel in the beginning are spectacular, and the completely clever touch of having the scenes play out with buzzing flies in the background, which is a realistic touch, is greatly appreciated at building a wonderful aura around this. That also works for the killer here, who is one of the most impressive ones around as he's bulky enough to be a threat, and the scenes where he towers over everyone due to his height advantage is another big factor in making him someone to fear. The killing method doesn't hurt either, and leads to one of the film's biggest pluses in its gore and kills. The hook-on-a-chain is used as the main one and is hooked through the legs, arms and shoulder, and there's also an ax to hack off arms, a cell-phone is forcibly swallowed, a steel pipe embedded in the eye, a body breaking through a set of glass during a fall from great heights, as well as the center-piece of seeing a slew of victims with eyes ripped out. The last half of the film, based on sequences of the killer chasing them around the upper areas of the hotel is a pure blast, containing a series of suspenseful stalking scenes mixed in nicely with great action that includes the final manner of disposing of the killer and the final fights. The last little bit that works is the single most clever idea in the whole film, the system which lets the killer know where everyone is and can get to them, which fixes a major problem in the genre and is a clue to his creativity and inventiveness. These here make the film really enjoyable, as there's not a whole lot of flaws in this one. The worst is the fact that there's a lot of really terrible camera angles or technical decisions which make it look all the worse, from the washed-out look that becomes a pain every time, sequences where the camera is thrust right under their heads and the aggravating and incredibly irritating flash-cuts that appear all the time. The last flaw in the film is the fact that there's a back-story given for the psycho change, but it's a tired old cliché that doesn't make the killer all the more frightening and makes no sense as to how it can lead to such a change in personality. Thankfully, it's not nearly enough to rid this one from its positives which far outweigh the flaws.Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, Brief Nudity and drug use.

See No Evil is definitely one of the best films WWE studios has ever produced. It brought back the classic slasher genre and the style of many great franchises such as Halloween, Friday The 13th etc. I don't see anything wrong with it, for what it is, it is a very solid film. I love Kane in and out of the ring. And he play a very good, creepy psychopath. Gregory Dark created what could be a new beloved killer in Jacob Goodnight. The film is fast paced, not too long. The gore is fine, not OTT like most films. The acting is perfectly fine, the characters are well written. The film is just really good altogether. The fact that they took the idea of Psycho and made Jacob's mom the real villain, and Jacob as a so called "instrument" of death, was very inventive. I enjoy this film. It is entertaining. It was cool to see WWE Studios produce a horror film, and the film, in my eyes, is one of the better slasher movies that has been made. 10 out of 10. Very good.