Rosewood Lane

The film stars Rose McGowan who played a radio talk show psychiatrist named, Dr. Sonny Blake. After her alcoholic father's death, she decided to move back to her childhood home, but once she got back in her old neighborhood, she was immediately warned by her neighbor about the local paperboy who seemed to be a strange young sociopath with supernatural abilities. Unfortunately, the boy immediately took a special interest in her; and when he started calling her show, reciting eerie nursery rhymes, an unnerving game of cat-and-mouse begins. As the game dangerously escalated, she suddenly found herself in a terrifying all-out war, one that forced her to redefine her perception of sanity and had her fighting for her life.

This is not a movie with pails of blood pouring out or tons of gore spewing about, but I thought it was a nice mild suspense thriller that reminded me of the Twilight Zone days. If you're into stories like that, then this is definitely one you wouldn't want to miss.

This actually got a lot of negative review, but I thought it was quite nice. Something you'd love seeing on TV on a slow weekend, sort of thing. One of the many complaints made was the actor who played the antagonist and his being inappropriate to be cast as a paper boy. Granted, he doesn't look like a boy, but take into account his acting skills here, I thought he made a pretty good job on his role.

The story itself isn't perfect, and yeah, some choices the characters made were a bit questionable, but isn't that how movie people have always been? Like how they go into a room when we're screaming for them not to? All in all, I thought the actors were great and the story solid enough to see it through.

This is a comment not a review. Knowing Victor Salva's history, how on earth did Rose McGowan end up cast in it?!?

Or rather don't get there, if you know what's good for you. Something our main protagonist seems to ignore. But I think that's not the only thing that people were missing in this movie. While it is a nice change from the Jeepers Creepers franchise for Victor Salva, he doesn't seem too much at home with this.

I wish I could share Ray Wises enthusiasm for that film (I'm guessing the script read a lot better), but I can also see what he liked about the movie. There are some genuine scary or at lease eerie scenes in it. Plus you've got a bad guy in here, who's really good (at being bad). The acting is above par, but for all the weird things that happen, there are other things that will not completely satisfy your viewing needs.

Rosewood Lane has a premise that would be a sheer nightmare to experience first hand. To see it happen to shallow characters lessens the overall experience into a drab, ineffective muddle from a director clearly capable of churning out suspense on demand. Perhaps he works better with a higher budget and atmospheres that do not mirror those of soap operas.

Despite being surrounded with controversy regarding his molestation case on the set of Clownhouse, one of his first films, I've always respected writer/director Victor Salva in the field of suspense and ideas. The original Jeepers Creepers is a truly suspenseful horror film with solid writing, aware directing, and credible, memorable suspense. Its sequel is a tad hokey, with many flaws in its plot points and aesthetics, but overall, a capable horror film able to at least erect aspects that have made past thrillers successful. I didn't thoroughly despise it.

Rosewood Lane feels like a work in progress. Its actors are well-fitted for the roles, but everything else is the slowest of slowburn, only it isn't building to much of anything. Take Ti West's Innkeepers, a horror film released earlier this year. The film was self-aware of its atmosphere and completely capable of creating smart characters and intelligent, realistic dialog. Rosewood Lane feels cold and tone deaf, never achieving any suspenseful heights nor does it ever appear to be fully trying. Slowburn horror is one thing, but a film that progresses slowly as a distraction to show it doesn't totally know what it wants to do or what it's doing is an unfortunately lethal blow to a film's attempt at likability. The needless cat murder doesn't help its reputation either.

The plot: Dr. Sonny Blake (Rose McGowan) is a talk radio psychiatrist, working the late shift, giving random callers life advice and direction. Dr. Blake decides to move into to her childhood home after her alcoholic father dies, and upon moving in, meets the deeply inept, sociopath paperboy Derek Barber (Daniel Ross Owens), who lives next door. The paperboy, who may or may not have had some sort of relationship with her father, pesters Blake into oblivion, but the results are not taut and scary, but almost inherently laughable. Her first clue that something strange is up is when she sees that her dresser of nick-nacks has been rearranged by someone not herself. For a TV horror film made for a network like USA, or even Lifetime, perhaps that would be mildly frightening. For an audience hungering for tricky tactics of suspense from the man behind Jeepers Creepers, this is pretty third-rate material.

The performances are clearly gifted. Rose McGowan is admirably convincing in scenes that rest on her shoulders, and one of my favorite character actors, Ray Wise, is present, playing a detective hellbent on convincing Dr. Blake that nothing is happening. Despite something clearly being up, he persists that there isn't, and scenes following ones of that nature continue to play out this long, winded excursion of, strange kid does something, victim notices, victim contacts boyfriend and detectives, they say she's crazy, etc.

One wonders if Victor Salva aspired to make something more frightening, and one contemplates if the clearly miniscule budget paralyzed him to work with just the bare basics of horror filmmaking. If life is kind to him, he will make more films. Ones more impressive than Rosewood Lane, hopefully. And hopefully ones that don't feel gridlocked to conventions.

Starring: Rose McGowan, Daniel Ross Owens, and Ray Wise. Directed by: Victor Salva.

"Hickory Dickory Dock..." Talk radio psychiatrist Dr. Sonny Blake (McGowan) is moving back in to her father's house one year after his death. Her neighbor gives her a warning about the neighborhood paperboy. After meeting him she begins to notice that he is very strange and may have actually killed her father. When she goes to the cops they don't believe her stories and she is left to discover the truth on her own. I have to start by saying that overall this was a pretty creepy movie. It was pretty tense and interesting but began to repeat itself after 45 minutes and seemed like the same 2 scenes were being done over and over. The kid in this is very creepy and he makes the movie. This is the kind of movie that makes you want to scream at the people on the TV to turn around. All that said the movie is a little slow in parts but still not a bad watch. Very much worth renting. Overall, tense and creepy and worth seeing. I give it a B-.