Hurt

I give this movie a two, but only because the cast interviews make it interesting. The interviews help to lay out the plot of what seems to be a different and more compelling movie. I wouldn't recommend that you waste your time with this movie. The hype of this movie and the reviews on the box are inaccurate, I couldn't wait for it to be over as I kept waiting for it to get better. The cast is good, the plot is good but it lacks the suspense that a thriller should contain. As for comparing it to the Orphan, there is nothing to compare. If this movie was done right, it would have no resemblance to the Orphan because the plot is different, but as luck would have it, it appears to be a cheap knock off with a slight twist.

Everything about this movie oozes low quality and low budget. I have no clue what their budget was but it just shows that it must be pretty low. The cinematography is mediocre at best. The plot could have been interesting with more money and better actors. They made it so that you believe something specific will happen but it turns out different, but that's the good part of this movie. The suspense is very mild as it becomes quickly obvious what is really going on. The worst part is the acting of Melora Walters, if you can call that acting. I seriously wonder what she did to get this part in this movie. It's one of the rare occasions I had to witness an acting performance without any emotions. Every scene is that same monotone and annoying voice, like she's just reading her script without thinking about the plot or the scenes. You could watch her in a surprised scene, a dangerous scene, or a scary scene, every line is exactly the same tone without any emotion. To me it's a mystery how she became an actress. Just avoid this movie, it's really nothing new and a waste of time.

I know it's a trade mark of maloras to be soft spoken but this is ridiculous. I can't hear a friggin word she says. The whole cast is incredibly underwhelming. You can tell the actors want to give better performances but were held back for some reason. The plot is straightforward yet somehow the tension is lost in translation to the viewer. The really climactic scenes are so forced it's cringey. Most of the issues the family face are solved with no exuberance but there's things that are just tossed aside as "na we're not going to review that". I had mediocre hopes going in and yet I ended up still greatly disappointed. Turns out, I'm the one who got HURT. (See what I did there?)

Hurt is the classic story of a somewhat dysfunctional family taking in a new young member and from that point, things go wrong. Several movies have followed this basic formula but what makes Hurt slightly special is that director Barbara Stepansky wraps this film in drama and mystery. Just what is going on in this family, who is responsible for what?

Unfortunately, Stepansky's attempts to hold out on us are only frustrating, as the "revelations" that come later are not satisfying or surprising to us. As for the dramatic side of this story, I appreciated the attempt but the direction, writing and cast were poor enough that it was impossible to be emotionally involved in his mess.

I still applaud the attempt to mix a traditional horror/thriller Hollywood plot with an indie drama. Some of the shots were nice and the soundtrack (not the film score) was interesting and provided some mood. But in the end, this film is a mess.

I was a third of the way through and decided to just skip to the end. This family is unlikable and pushy. I don't know how he changes as a character, but I was on the uncle's side a third of the way through. The mom's whispery baby voice is annoying. Not only was she and her kids annoying, but the mom decides to bring an extra kid in, a stranger, when it looks like they can barely make ends meet at a junkyard. Also, having skipped to the end while watching this, it's very anticlimactic.

Also, I got Orphan a bit in some aspects. Reading other reviews after the fact, I see other people noticed it too. Once the I saw the teeth thing and then jumped to the end where she's wearing makeup, it clicked (maybe there was more in the middle too). But whereas the actors and characters in Orphan were done rather well, with strong performances from everyone, even the children (but especially Vera), I couldn't care less about this family. Don't rip something off unless you're going to do it better or as good. At least they didn't make a carbon copy, but it's still not better or even on par.

At least Jackson Rathbone actually emotes in this. But seeing him in this lets me know he didn't improve as an actor since then. Also, he has awful hair in this.