Escapee (2011) (Review)

Escapee (2011) It’s a good film. But that’s a huge part of it because I’m nice!!! Come on, let’s be honest! It’s better to see a crime thriller than a horror thriller. At least for me. In a horrific thriller, all you see is people being kidnapped, raped, mutilated, tortured and killed just for the unhealthy, voyeuristic pleasure of the customer, the viewer. In a detective story, at least there’s the investigation. And if the cops and detectives aren’t too stupid, it can be a treat. Nevertheless, this film has been classified as horror. In any case, it’s not the main style, even if the murders, as is almost always the case, are quite violent. Some people will find this film rubbish, while others will find it fascinating. It is neither. It’s just one of those feature films that falls right in between. It has a good pace and holds its own for an hour. After that, it runs out of steam. And despite the minor plot twist, it drags on, which is the last straw for this kind of film. Once again, the director doesn’t know how to finish his film… and his hesitation meant that the ending was pretty lame. I was tempted to say “nothing new under the sun”, but at the same time, this film was made before many others I’ve seen that were made after it. At the same time, that’s no excuse: you can still watch films from the 90s and be very surprised by the endings. Campion Murphy will not be sending his one, only and greatest film into the annals of cinema. That said, he was lucky enough to have the fabulous Christine Evangelista in the lead role. She’s not the most screen-stopping actress in a film like this, but she still does it well. As a reminder, she is best known for her work on TV series: She mainly played Sherry in The Walking Dead, a role she kept in ‘Fear the Walking Dead‘ (since 2019) and her lead role as Megan Morrison in the drama series ‘The Arrangement’. As for Dominic Purcell, who is also known for his series like Prison Break and Legends of Tomorrow, he gets one of his great villain roles here. It’s a shame, though, because the further the film progresses, the worse the acting becomes, as if they’d had enough too. That said, Dominic’s last look at Christine is priceless. It’s a great moment, terrifying as can be… that makes you smile a little, but very yellow.It’s a film to watch for entertainment, if you don’t feel like thinking, or if you’ve got nothing better to sink your teeth into.

My Rating