Choose

After a series of brutal murders, a college journalism student finds the link between the killers' game of making his victims choose their fates and her mother's suicide several years ago and tries to stop his rampage from continuing.

This here was quite the disappointment and rarely had anything really worthwhile about it. One of the main issues here with this one is the fact that so much of the film rests on the investigation angle that isn't even properly played out at all here since the actual detective work to do this is so haphazard, slowly developed and not in the slightest bit interesting. By going through the motions of her being questioned more for not partying with her friends at college rather than actively being a part of the investigation, stumbling upon the nature of the killer rather haphazardly and then not even being targeted until the very end as the actual police don't seem that invested in what's going on make this quite played out and rather bland about this supposed part of the story that's one of the biggest selling points about it. As well, there's also the fact that the actual kills here are just beyond lame that it really torpedoes the film quite readily by facilitating such an utterly lamentable feature that's not even that well developed at all. By forcing them into making choices that come off with a ridiculous air that's not in the slightest bit intimidating, when a small measure of muscle against him would've rendered a successful counterattack that stops the spree rather easily, this one doesn't really exploit this all that well by even still only featuring such a small handful of kills that it really undermines what could've been a lot of fun. These are all placed up front to start this going, but instead there's so little of interest in how this goes about the murder scenes that there's not much to really gleam from them other than the sadistic actions that take place, and that's not all that special an accomplishment here with the way this goes about deploying it's stalking scenes. These are fun only in the sense of the cruelty played out throughout the dismembering of the bodies, as the deaths are pretty bloody and gruesome here which manages to be quite a nice feat with the way this brings about these quite brutal kills, especially in the opening as the way it plays out is for once quite chilling with the family held hostage and then bringing along the second piano-player's fate even though there's no death there. That one works more for its strong stalking in the auditorium for anything else, but it's the closest the film comes to getting any kind of tension or suspense here and works nicely along with the outcome of the brutal kills here. Otherwise there isn't much else to this one.

Rated R: Graphic Violence and Graphic Language.

I got my hands on this movie earlier and as usual cruised by IBMD to check out the reviews. After seeing the few reviews here I had not many expectations. I must admit I almost just deleted it, but knowing the IBMD rating system I decided to give it a whirl.

All in all the movie started out with a wham and the first half really had me quite intrigued with the storyline. The few 'notable' cameos were also a treat. The acting was above par, direction and setting was on point too, and it even had style, For a minute there I though I had hit pay dirt then I found the one place this movie was really lacking is it showed too much of its hand too early in the movie which made it a bit predictable. And being predictable isn't a good idea for a mystery movie which is definitely what this movie tried to be. If they only could've added a few more characters or held some bit of info back this might have been a great movie. Still, its far from horrible. I just wouldn't pay for it. I'd wait for it to come out on cable,torrent, etc.

I give this a solid 6. I wish I could give it a 7, but its just not deserving of a 7 so the final tally is: **Great acting, Great Cameos, Great Production, but kinda weak Script**

"Do what I say and you live. I'm going to kill your mother or your father. You have 60 seconds to decide, choose, or I kill them both." Journalism student Fiona (Winnick) becomes obsessed with the case of a serial killer. Her father (Pollak) tries to keep her away from the case he is working on, but the further she delves the more she thinks that her mother's death is somehow connected to this case. This is a movie that was pretty good, but had potential to be better. This movie seemed like it tried to copy "Silence Of The Lambs" and "Untraceble" with "Saw" mixed in. It didn't really get close to the standards of these movies, but it is still a good attempt. The acting was pretty good though and that helped. I think the main problem with this movie is that it didn't grab you with tension like a thriller should. It was OK, but had enough chances to be great and just never quite got there. Overall, "Saw" meets "Untraceable" with out the tension of either. An OK movie, nothing that hasn't been tried before though. That said, I did like it enough to say...I give it a B-.

Would I watch again? - I don't think I would.

*Also try - Scar & Untraceable

I was at a film convention the other day where there were a lot of DVDs for sale; I chose Choose. I didn't choose Choose because I thought it was going to be innovative and fresh (I could tell it was going to be a weak derivative of Saw, and it was); my choice wasn't based on reviews or word of mouth (I hadn't even heard of the film before then). No, Choose was chosen for one reason only: Katherine Winnick was in it. Katherine Winnick, the 'renaissance slut' sister from Satan's Little Helper. That Katherine Winnick.

Sadly, Katherine's presence alone is not enough to make this worth watching, director Marcus Graves going through the 'torture porn' motions but failing to deliver what audiences really expect. Not only is there very little worthwhile gore but Winnick's character takes two showers and a bath amidst all the screaming and bloodletting, but is only seen through a heavy plastic shower curtain and submerged shoulders-deep in a tub full of bubbles. Certainly not what most horror fans would opt for given the choice.

Fiona Wagner (Katheryn Winnick) is studying for the master's degree in journalism and still grieves her mother Samantha that committed suicide in the Crescent Hotel three years ago. Her father, Detective Tom Wagner (Kevin Pollak), is investigating the brutal death of the lawyer Elliot Vincent, who was murdered by his teenager daughter that was forced to choose between killing him or having her mother, little brother and herself killed by the sadistic criminal that had broken in their house.

When the pianist Simon Campbell (Tom Cleary) is forced to choose between losing his fingers or his hearing, Tom realizes that a deranged serial-killer is attacking people. Meanwhile, Fiona is contacted by the criminal through the codename ISO_17 that shows pictures of the model Jenna (Kate Nauta), who had had to choose between her face or her vision, with her face destroyed. Fiona recalls that her mother had mentioned something about choice in her suicide note and she decides to investigate the sadistic man, disclosing secrets about her own family.

"Choose" is a thriller with a scary and sick beginning, when a daughter has to choose between killing her beloved father or her family. Unfortunately the story is terrible, and even fans of sadistic death might not like this flick. The resemblance of the face of the unknown Katheryn Winnick with Scarlett Johansson is impressive. In the end, seeing this movie is an awful choice. My vote is three.

Title (Brazil): "A Escolhida" ("The Chose One")