No fancy film-related title. It's too dull to deserve that much effort (Curfew (DVD))

Member Name: Wolfzilla

Product:	Curfew (DVD)
Date:	29/01/09 (94 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: n/a

Disadvantages: Possibly the most generic and dull movie ever made

It will always cause me a great deal of confusion why some movies hit DVD before others. I know rights will play a part in the issue, but at the same time, am I the only person who thinks a company would be better off, and stand a better chance of making money, shelling out that extra at the start to get the rights to put out a decent film on DVD as opposed to getting a piece of absolute gash cinema and sticking it out at a quid a DVD, likely only to sell 4 copies? Films like Curfew make me think that, and get me quite angry that nobody has put out Monster Squad on Region 2 disk yet.

You see, I usually start a review by talking a bit about the movie in question, generally slaver some trivia about it, however, Curfew is a movie so painfully dull and insignificant that it doesn't deserve it, and even then I doubt anyone has anything interesting to say a bout it. A pitiful late-1980s slasher movie with nothing to distinguish it from the 100s of other painfully unexciting movies released in that genre during the 1980s.

We follow Stephanie Davenport (Kyle Richards), a teenage girl in any town USA, issued a 10pm curfew by her strict father Walter (Frank Miller), which is going to interfere with her date with the school's top football player being her only concern. However, it turns out Walter is a judge, and 2 brothers he sentenced to death named Bob (John Putch and Ray (Wendell Wellman) have escaped from prison and make their way to the Davenport household to exact revenge upon Walter by terrorising the family.

Ok so I could go more in-depth here, but I really don't think the film deserves it, and I don't want to subject myself to thinking about it too long. The film is really a rather by-the-numbers genre entry with nothing at all going for it. The brothers, who are supposed to come across as insane and sadistic, are merely cringe worthy, especially as they attempt to make Bob somewhat sympathetic. It's also never explained how they manage to break out of Death Row, and it's hard to picture 2 such morons managing to pull it off.

Even the killings are unoriginal and dull, as well as mostly taking place offscreen. This really is bottom of the barrel, completely pointless stuff here.

The acting can't salvage anything either. Richards was in the first 2 Halloween movies, and so therefore should have not only known better than to star in such crap (with that said, she is an Aunt of the Hilton sisters...hardly known for good choice in roles) but also have been expected to put in at least a competent performance as opposed to the wooden, emotion free main character we're subjected to. Worse yet are Putch and Wellman, the former, in trying to make Bob somewhat of a misunderstood manchild, just comes across as a klutz, and the latter, in trying to make Ray seem sinister and twisted, bypasses his target and just becomes stupid.

As I mentioned, effectively every death takes place offscreen, eliminating the need for complex effects, and given that the film looks at least 15 years older than it actually is, it's a safe bet to assume they would be rank-rotten anyway. Naturally with a movie as unexceptional as this, the score is naturally incredibly forgettable. In fact, given that so little action actually takes place onscreen, I really doubt it even went as far as to have standard shock numbers, because the film doesn't even pull any cheap-scares on the audience, so the score doesn't even need to sound even pseudo-exciting.

I realise this is a scandalously short review, but Curfew really doesn't give me anything to talk about, it's just so infuriatingly boring that there is nothing else worth saying really, beyond "Don't watch it" it really is just a standard 1980s Slasher with nothing to differentiate itself with, or even an unoriginal idea executed well enough to garner even slight interest. When you hear people complain about how boring and lifeless Jason and Freddy sequels are, ignore them, as they've clearly never been subjected to a truly awful and lifeless slasher in the vein of this nonsense.

Shockingly, somehow director Gary Winick managed to carve out a directorial career after this debacle, and was actually at the helm for the recent cinematic production of Charlotte's Web (!) One has to assume the producers weren't familiar with his earlier work.

Summary: The most pitifully uneventful movie ever made.