Penny Dreadful

Now, this had all the elements of good horror - suspense, screams, breasts, and slashing. Not too bad for a film that takes place in the woods at night.

Penny (Rachel Miner) is traveling with her therapist (Mimi Rogers) to overcome her fear of cars after an auto accident as a child. Now, everyone knows not to pick up hitchhikers, and you should especially know not to take them into the woods, but hey, there wouldn't be a movie if they did the smart thing.

She, with a fear of cars, ends up stuck in a car with her dead therapist, and thus begins a night of horror. Dead bodies are piling up all over as she screams to get out.

I won't spoil it except to say that I really liked the ending.

And, I sure want to see some more of Tammy Filor.

This is the first time I summarized a movie. I thought that this may have gone under the radar and I would be the first. Still, the movie made enough of an impression so that I would write a review anyway.

I think the better horror movies are those that are closer to reality and Penny Dreadful is much more real than most in the genre. I really liked the tension and suspense and cat-and-mouse game. I ran into this on the Sci-Fi channel and was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't the run-of-the-mill shock schlock. I think the writer(s) should be applauded for a pretty original script rather than the pure gore we receive so much today. If you're a horror fan, I'm sure this would make your top 50 list, if not 40.

Penny Dreadful is an interesting film. It's simplistic and executed for most of it's 98 minute running time intensely. But it drops the ball so drastically in it last quarter that the film almost falters completely. No doubt the most entertaining of the three it tells the story of a young girl named Penny whom witnessed her parents dying in a car accident. Growing up some years later she has a fear of cars and is taken by her psychiatrist up to the mountains to confront this fear head on at the place it happened. However upon reaching their destination they accidentally hit a grotesque hitchhiker and upon dropping him off are left stranded in the middle of nowhere after he attacks the car. With a blown off tire, no cell phone reception and a busted ankle Penny is left to fend for herself against the homicidal maniac. The concept is simple and scary imagined being entrapped in such a small space and terrorized. People of course come to help and are brutally slain. Some of the suspense sequences work wonderfully well from the camouflaging of the killer, to noises and sounds in the night. Rachael Miner's performance as Penny is multi layered and award worthy. The film has some nice supporting nods to from Mimi Rogers and others. The Direction is decent and promising while the score and cinematography are top notch and quite impressive. The films problems are simple pacing, it gets a little long in places, the killer he should never be aloud to speak and the final act. What seems to be racing towards a crazy finale ends up reaching it boiling point early and never erupts. The finale is weak and predictable and because this is such a simplistic movie it's hard to understand why they couldn't have executed a standard finale with the same intense gusto they had been demonstrating throughout. In the end Penny Dreadful is engaging, entertaining and delightfully creepy but with further tweaking we could've had a horror classic on our hands.

The first time I saw this movie I didn't really care for it at all. I re-watched it a second time and I absolutely loved it. This movie has great suspense, terror and kills. Penny is a likable character, she is traumatized from a car accident, and is trying to get over her fears and is trying to be a regular person. Her therapist, Orianna, is taking Penny on a road-trip. It's to "Complete the Circle" and have Penny end her fears where they first began. The Hitchhiker is really creepy. He then traumatizes Penny even more throughout the film. The reason I liked this film is because first of all, it's a really good movie - if you're into this kind of film. And second because it shows how you don't a HUGE budget and big name stars in a movie for it to be good.

PD misses a lot of opportunities to scare or even freak you out. It has a great set-up, a devilishly simple set (mostly one car) and a bad guy who likes people-ka-bobs... so the scares are a sure thing...right? Nope. Unfortunately for the stellar cast, the movie makes every necessary effort to ruin surprises, cut to the wrong camera shot at the climactic moment, and follow every scary movie cliché there is. We have the "anybody there" moments, the "is that you" line every time the character speaks, the lovers doing it in the back and the great supporting cast that has no use but to fill body bags. Horror for horror sake is a good thing, but this film doesn't capitalize on its confined claustrophobic space, nor does it keep the tension that it could have. Camera shots are cool, but over used and usually not in the right spaces. Even the final scary sequence fails to deliver, ending mid-scene as if the writer forgot to finish it. There is no bang. Mimi Rogers is wasted, as is most of the cast. The main character Penny does a good job, reacts wonderfully... even when there is nothing scary even going on. Without any offense to the actors, or movies in which are set in one location (I love those) this movie is not worth the full price. I saw it to support the Horror fest national film festival... a suggestion for next year... how about a group rate (all 8 movies for one admission?).