5150, rue des Ormes

It reminded me of the films of Alfred Hitchcock for some reason-maybe Psycho more than his other films. Maybe a bit strong in places but it is a well done movie that makes the statement that people are often not as ready to deal with a serious situation as they might think they are, which defines the predicament a character in this film faces. Disturbingly possible is maybe another point the film tries to make, and in that sense I think maybe, but not in most places in Quebec. The sub titles didn't always convey the right meaning of the french dialogue but maybe that was just me, but I thought they worked well enough to follow the story and see the characters. True 'nouveau cinema noir', for people who like horror movies, even though it is billed as a drama.

As a big fan of horror movies I try to see everything that is released. When I read the "5150 Rue des Ormes" plot I thought it was going to be a good "different" horror movie but now I have to say I'm a bit disappointed. I can picture the whole movie as a short story rather than a movie, some stories are not movie material, this one is a big example. Just because you have a creepy thriller it doesn't mean you can dress it with actors. The whole background story is good, the acting is good, the characters are interesting but all together in this movie are messy. There are many story lines that lead no-where, there were symbolisms bad used and many clichés. I wasn't scared about the story, it's a bad nightmare. Bad script, bad direction, good intention.

Picture the scene: There you are cycling along on a random street on your first day as a film student. The birds are chirping. The sky is blue. Life couldn't be any sweeter. Then suddenly. a puddy tat leaps out in front of you, causing you to brake. You're injured, and your vehicle and phone are bust. You head to the first house on your way, and a seemingly nice middle-age man tells you to wait outside while he rings for a taxi for you. He takes a while, so you poke your head round the corner to see what's going on.

Suddenly, a noise from upstairs startles you. Could that be... Someone shouting HELP? You decide, rather stupidly, to investigate... sneaking past the old dude in the process. On the second floor, you enter a bare room... and there in it, is a guy bleeding to death with a stab wound. You panic, and rush to get help... but are stopped by the home owner. Soon, the corpse of the stricken knife victim will be gone, and you'll take his place in those not-too comfortable conditions. Beatings, imprisonment and loud rock music await. Wanna get out of there? You better be good at chess...

The antagonist here is what's known as an 'everyday' psycho... he lives as a respectable citizen with his two daughters and wife, but his spare time is spent as a vigilante, killing those he regards as human trash e.g drug dealers and pedophiles. He is trying to train his oldest child to follow in his footsteps... without much success. His youngest is a mute, and his missus is nothing more than a put-upon doormat. And into their life comes this student. They all react differently to him... the psycho sees him as a potential protégé, the teenage girl sees him as a threat, the put-upon wife sees him as an opportunity to escape and the littlest daughter... well, she just stares blankly into space.

It's a great set-up, and the film captures every moment of our lead's terror and eventual descent into madness as a result of his enforced caging. It's also nice to see a fully fleshed-out enemy who has a legitimate motive for his murderous activities, and his family are well written too. A revelation near the end when we discover what's in his basement is especially horrifying. It's not perfect... there are tedious spots, and you get the feeling if he REALLY wanted to escape early on, he could... the only thing keeping him there is the screenplay. But for unique ideas, and a pretty consistent feeling of dread, this is more than than worth a watch. 6/10

You'd think people would know that since the "Nightmare on ..." movies ... But seriously though, I haven't looked into the origin of the title and this has no "Freddy" in it. Though it has some other interesting characters in it. And it plays in a weird way and goes places you wouldn't expect. While the main character might do things, you wouldn't expect him to do at first, it does all make sense (well as much sense as there can be).

Of course this develops into a very strange little crazy movie, that will either leave you completely confused at the end or satisfied as can be. A movie about violence, but also about (and maybe even more) craziness. It won't give you any easy answers and the end will put quite some people off (I think that the fact, that it isn't as violent as some other genre movies, might be putting people off too).

It is a very weird movie and I can't really tell you to watch it, because it might not be your taste at all.

I enjoyed watching the movie. But I expected this movie to be better.

The story tells the story of a young man and a conservative-obsessed man who leaves his family and goes to a different city to study filmmaking.

The obsessive person has certain principles, habits and obsessions. These are to kill people he finds guilty and bad, to leave an heir like himself, to collect the corpses of good and bad people, and to never lose in chess.

The movie had an interesting story, but it didn't have many interesting scenes. It was good to show how the young man was under psychological influence after the events he experienced. The story was solid!