Home Sweet Home

Let me say first off that I did think the movie was A solid little home invasion thriller. However the direction style is extremely contrived. What you have here is a director that wants to show us just how good he can be but in truth the film looks and feels like someone rented Halloween and The Shining and basically said "Hey, I could do that." (I mean come on,that ominous shot of the front door before the couple arrive home is just so Kubrick that it comes off a little hacky) What's sad is that just minutes into the film you can tell that the writer and director are one in the same because if it wasn't then either a few of his brutally long and over indulgent shots or some of the inept dialogue would have been left on the floor(seriously how bad were those phone messages). The acting is on par with the budget, with some lines tasting like cardboard and others doing just enough to move us along at a grueling, not suspenseful, irregular pace. The slight twist at the end was OK but honestly, all the best things about this film have been done before and much better. Carpenter and his generation are sometimes accused of going too Hitchcock and if that's true then this film maker proves that when you make a copy of a copy ..it's never as bright as the copy.