Choose

Caught this at Leeds Hyde Park Picture House's Night of the Dead and wish I hadn't. Dull, by-the-numbers serial killer slasher that has one gimmick - the killer makes his victims choose between two nasty punishments - that proves to be a lot less interesting than the you'd think.

Cue a plucky young journalist who uses the power of Google searching to solve a series of local crimes that her father, a high-ranking police officer, inexplicably doesn't seem to give a toss about.

The script has unintentional laugh-out-loud moments, and that's about the best I can say about this gently steaming pile of tepid naffness.

If you're a Kevin Pollak junkie, like me, you're probably willing to sit through some cheesy movies, so that you can find the gems, like The Usual Suspects. Unfortunately, this movie is nowhere near that good. Basically, it's a by-the-numbers serial killer movie, with elements of Saw grafted on. I wasn't really expecting anything better than that, so I wasn't disappointed. Most of the performances were passable, and the direction was alright. There was a little bit of gore, which was well done, and a plot twist that worked well enough for the kind of movie this is. So, should you watch this movie? If you've got nothing better to do, and you can find it on a streaming service, like Netflix. Otherwise, pass.

Too bad Kevin Pollak doesn't do standup any more.

Fiona Wagner (Katheryn Winnick) is studying for the master's degree in journalism and still grieves her mother Samantha that committed suicide in the Crescent Hotel three years ago. Her father, Detective Tom Wagner (Kevin Pollak), is investigating the brutal death of the lawyer Elliot Vincent, who was murdered by his teenager daughter that was forced to choose between killing him or having her mother, little brother and herself killed by the sadistic criminal that had broken in their house.

When the pianist Simon Campbell (Tom Cleary) is forced to choose between losing his fingers or his hearing, Tom realizes that a deranged serial-killer is attacking people. Meanwhile, Fiona is contacted by the criminal through the codename ISO_17 that shows pictures of the model Jenna (Kate Nauta), who had had to choose between her face or her vision, with her face destroyed. Fiona recalls that her mother had mentioned something about choice in her suicide note and she decides to investigate the sadistic man, disclosing secrets about her own family.

"Choose" is a thriller with a scary and sick beginning, when a daughter has to choose between killing her beloved father or her family. Unfortunately the story is terrible, and even fans of sadistic death might not like this flick. The resemblance of the face of the unknown Katheryn Winnick with Scarlett Johansson is impressive. In the end, seeing this movie is an awful choice. My vote is three.

Title (Brazil): "A Escolhida" ("The Chose One")

I was at a film convention the other day where there were a lot of DVDs for sale; I chose Choose. I didn't choose Choose because I thought it was going to be innovative and fresh (I could tell it was going to be a weak derivative of Saw, and it was); my choice wasn't based on reviews or word of mouth (I hadn't even heard of the film before then). No, Choose was chosen for one reason only: Katherine Winnick was in it. Katherine Winnick, the 'renaissance slut' sister from Satan's Little Helper. That Katherine Winnick.

Sadly, Katherine's presence alone is not enough to make this worth watching, director Marcus Graves going through the 'torture porn' motions but failing to deliver what audiences really expect. Not only is there very little worthwhile gore but Winnick's character takes two showers and a bath amidst all the screaming and bloodletting, but is only seen through a heavy plastic shower curtain and submerged shoulders-deep in a tub full of bubbles. Certainly not what most horror fans would opt for given the choice.

Similar in method to Seven (1995) this well cast little thriller doesn't live up to its potential.

A new criminal has emerged, one who presents his victims with a horrific choice such as which limb he'll cut off or which family member they have to kill.

The concept has potential, the execution however is lacking.

The movie has moments of intelligence and strong writing but sadly that's all it has, moments.

Katheryn Winnick, Kevin Pollak & briefly Bruce Dern star in this lackluster effort that should have been a great deal better.

For a far more intelligent and well conceived movie about forced difficult choices then I suggest Would You Rather (2012)

The Good:

Couple of nice touches in the script

The Bad:

Very underwhelming

Potential squandered

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

Bruce Dern looks identical in every film he's ever been in

If Scarlett Johansson & Teresa Palmer had a baby it'd look like Katheryn Winnick