This is one sorry excuse for a horror movie, and it's also really annoying that it got a high rating (7 out of 10) on IMDb, which made me watch it. Well, like @Jhymi would say, I went through the painstaking moment to watch it so you don't have to.
THE PLOT
The movie started with an African American man walking on a lonely street late at night. He seemed to be lost and was seeking directions on the phone.
Suddenly, he was being followed by a car, which pulled over. While the man got scared and wanted to run to safety, he was overpowered and knocked unconscious by the person who came out of the car.
Next, we saw the man being dragged into the car by the faceless person, after which the car zoomed off.
The rest of the movie saw Chris, another African American male, go on a road trip with his girlfriend, Rose, to meet her family for the first time.
While it seemed like a fun trip, Chris was soon in for more than he bargained for, as his girlfriend Rose, who seemed harmless, together with her family, had something sinister plotted against him.
MY THOUGHTS
I tried really hard to not conclude this was one sorry excuse of a movie. I mean, it had so much prospect, so much suspense, that when it ended, I was like, Naah, this can't be it. Everything was just blown out of proportion, and the movie seemed abstract.
It's also not an original movie, as the concept of brain transplant and the acquiring of one's body and abilities by a different person has been seen before in the series Heroes.
One of the things I look for in movies is a reality I could relate to. Unfortunately, this movie didn't have much of that.
It also didn't make sense to me how one's mind would remain while the brain had been replaced with another. Unless, of course, it's not a full brain transplant, which is impossible.
On two occasions in the movie, we saw two African Americans whose brains have been replaced with those of Caucasians regain consciousness with the aid of a phone flash. Like I mentioned earlier, the brain has been removed. Where is the consciousness coming from?
Then there is the concept of hypnosis and trapping the mind of the victims before the brain transplant surgery. Could it be that during the hypnosis session the mind was separated from the brain? so as to aid the brain of the new occupant to effectively manage its new body?
Now that could be an interesting concept, but again, without the brain, where would the mind of the original owner be stored in the body? Well, in the movie they called it the sucken place, which, as we saw, Chris falls into after being hypnotized and paralyzed. Again, could the sunken place maybe be at the base of the spine or probably the gut? Well, as I analyze the movie, it seems more interesting in my head lol.
If it's any consolation, it's not a completely terrible watch, as it showed me more reason to practice detachment, especially letting go of our fears and childhood traumas, if any. I've come to notice that fears and traumas make us vulnerable. It pokes a hole in our subconscious that leaves us victims to predators and manipulators. As we saw in the movie, Chris holding on to a childhood trauma of his mother's death became a window for Rose's mom to gain control of his mind.
Maybe with a little more effort the movie might have been a good watch. I saw that they are proposing a part 2 that would probably contain a more detailed dive into the lives of Rose family, the Armitage. I feel that's one scene missing to make it at least an average watch because a brief box TV broadcast won't cut it, as it left us hanging.
I'm rating the movie 3/10. Really, it could have been better if the movie didn't seem forced. The acting was a bit ok, but the entire movie was just not it.
Thumbnail and photos was gotten from IMDB
Trailer was gotten from youtube.