Hurt

I loved this movie! Despite the reviews, and the fact that the concept is a familiar ad re-visited one, I found this movie enjoyable and worth watching. If yo are a fan of "The Bad Seed" and "The Good Son", you would definitely appreciate this movie.

The summary of the movie automatically made me prejudge on of the main characters in this movie as the psycho but as the characters' lives start to slowly unravel, it was no surprise as to who the villain was and how the fate of the others would turn out.

From the get go, before any turmoil begins, it is pretty predictable as to how everyone would either meet their doom or become unhinged. This is the only reason why I did not give this movie a 9. However, despite this minor predictability issue, this was a movie worth watching! I could watch it again!

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?)

I will start off by saying that I did not hate this movie. It was decent, and not a complete waste of a couple of hours. The acting was good, but if you've seen movies like "The Bad Seed" or "The Good Son", you have seen it all before. The only difference here is that the young girl pulling the trigger seems to have a semi-valid, though a bit twisted, reason to do the things she does. My biggest complaint is that this movie is pretty boring. There is not enough suspense to keep the more experienced movie-goer intrigued throughout the duration of the film. I would even say its slightly predictable at times. Also, it is classified as "Horror" on many websites and it most definitely IS NOT a horror film but a drama, with a little suspense mixed in. It felt very much like a Lifetime movie to me, which though somewhat entertaining, can often be just too tame for my taste. If you want a similar evil child movie, with a lot more suspense and plot twists, I suggest seeing "Orphan"...much more original and disturbing.

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 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.