Hurt

HURT is a combination of family drama, thriller, and eeevil-kid horror movie.

A family relocates to a junkyard (!) home after the death of the husband / father. They soon take in an orphan named Sarah (Sofia Vassilieva), and bad things start happening. Suspicion builds until uneasiness turns into panic.

Chaos and death ensue.

HURT moves rather slowly, using the time for character development and story line. This isn't a maniac-on-a-rampage movie. The body count is relatively low. This is a tale of loss, pain, and vengeful rage unleashed. In a smart way.

Highly recommended for those seeking a bit more fiber in their horror movie experience...

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.

Was this a high school film production club project? Horrible.. from the moment the little girl threw it at the door I knew... this movie was terrible. TERRIBLE! Don't know why I watched it. No suspense or scare factor. Shame on the creditors because I wouldn't take credit for it... just gawd awful. Predictable start to finish, terrible acting minus a few scenes, nothing left me hanging on to anything except thank God this was watched on YouTube so the interruptions brought back my sanity from the horrid display of what is deemed a movie.. just wow.. had I known this passes for a movie, I should have been making my own years ago... just terrible.

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.