Kristy (DVD) – Movie Review
With Halloween at our doorstep, it’s only natural that cliché horror movies are flooding the release lists once again. When we saw Kristy pop up, as well as the matching description, it immediately felt like the typical annual release was upon us, to offer a brain-dead horror plot of a girl who has to fight for her life. When we popped in the disc it all became a typical mediocre trip down memory lane, with a few fun scenes to give a slight satisfying twist.
Justine (Haley Bennett) leads the typical college life, she performs ok in school, she has a good looking boyfriend, Aaron (Lucas Till) and she lives independently on campus. Nonetheless, even though thanksgiving is closing in, she decides to stay behind alone on campus with her friend Nicole (Erica Ash) and of course the campus security guard, Wayne (Mathew St. Patrick). Justine and Nicole are preparing themselves for a lovely microwave thanksgiving dinner, when out of the blue Nicole gets surprised by her father to take a trip to Aspen. Even though Nicole offers Justine the chance to tag along, Justine decides to stay behind and do some extra work for school. With the posse down from three to two, Justine heads to the local convenience store for some supplies for her and Wayne.
Whilst everything seems very ordinary up until now, things get stirred around when Justine bumps into Violet (Ashley Greene), a very eccentric character who keeps calling her Kristy for some reason. When they get into a minor argument in the store, it seems that Violet is intent of scaring the crap out of Justine, still for no obvious reason. When Justine gets back on campus, in a rather panicked state, she can’t help but feel that she is still being followed. As expected, this hunch becomes reality and when she does not have to fight off one aggressor, but four, with Wayne down-for-the-count, Justine will have to either run or fight for her life.
Overall the movie feels like a textbook example of many films in the genre. When the creators decided to throw in a cult that sacrifices women for their evil purposes, it becomes even more cliché than you could imagine. Nonetheless, the flow of the movie is rather ok, as this one is rather short but has enough action in it to keep the events interesting. That being said, there is not that much ‘horror’ to be found, as the movie still remains relatively well-behaved.
One thing that also drags down this movie to a certain extent, are the ridiculous choices that some characters make along the lines. All examples of what one should not do in threatening situations are of course ignored and acted out in the movie. Whilst this offers a certain entertainment it actually is more annoying, as it makes the movie feel quite cheap and unoriginal.
Whilst most of the acting performances are negligible, Haley Bennett is actually a very appealing actress who has a lot of untapped potential that would serve a lot better in other movies. Even though the ‘side-characters’ such as Wayne and Violet are represented fairly well, it’s Justine’s character that singlehandedly carries the movie and makes it feel like a slightly attractive cliché horror flick.
Sad to say, but this DVD release does not hold any special features or extras, it didn’t even have a proper menu as you’ll only be able to turn on/off your subtitles. Even though there aren’t that many special effects used in the movie and the overall plot might be rather unoriginal, something more would have been appreciated.
Conclusion
Kristy might offer some form of entertainment during this ideal period for horror movies but it’s doubtful that this movie will make it on your ‘best movies ever’ list. Nonetheless, if you feel like watching a cliché girl-gets-hunted story with an attractive lead actress, you’ll not be that disappointed. If you’re looking for a groundbreaking experience or a decent amount of originality, you’d better steer clear from this one.
Kristy (DVD) - Movie Review,
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