Scan and Pan
Sunday, November 18, 2007
P2
Angela (Rachel Nichols) works in a high-rise office building. On Christmas Eve, when the entire building is being shut down for the holiday, she finds herself trapped in the underground parking garage at the mercy of Bob (Wes Bentley), a security guard who has been quietly stalking her.
Two people in a parking garage could quickly grow tedious, but credit first time director Franck Khalfoun for keeping the tension level up, and working with cinematographer Maxime Alexandre (Haute Tension, The Hills Have Eyes) to use camera and lighting for maximum effect within that space. There's gore in the film, but it's usually more restrained than you'd expect.
The screenplay by Khalfoun and Haute Tension scribes Alexandre Aja & Grégory Levasseur takes a minimalist approach to storytelling, although it effectively plays on the fears of being trapped in a dark, empty structure, and does a decent job of creating a good female protagonist.
Nichols is very believable as Angela. She's likeable, plays the emotional scenes well, and ably handles all of the demands of the story. Bentley is frequently over the top as Bob. What makes his performance work is his earnestness. Bob is as delusional as they come, but Bentley makes him oddly sympathetic.
P2 is a competently made low budget horror film, but nothing more. If you're a horror film fan, it might be worth a a future DVD rental.
[2.5 out of 5 stars]
This horror film has an interesting premise, and rather efficiently gets the job done.
Angela (Rachel Nichols) works in a high-rise office building. On Christmas Eve, when the entire building is being shut down for the holiday, she finds herself trapped in the underground parking garage at the mercy of Bob (Wes Bentley), a security guard who has been quietly stalking her.
Two people in a parking garage could quickly grow tedious, but credit first time director Franck Khalfoun for keeping the tension level up, and working with cinematographer Maxime Alexandre (Haute Tension, The Hills Have Eyes) to use camera and lighting for maximum effect within that space. There's gore in the film, but it's usually more restrained than you'd expect.
The screenplay by Khalfoun and Haute Tension scribes Alexandre Aja & Grégory Levasseur takes a minimalist approach to storytelling, although it effectively plays on the fears of being trapped in a dark, empty structure, and does a decent job of creating a good female protagonist.
Nichols is very believable as Angela. She's likeable, plays the emotional scenes well, and ably handles all of the demands of the story. Bentley is frequently over the top as Bob. What makes his performance work is his earnestness. Bob is as delusional as they come, but Bentley makes him oddly sympathetic.
P2 is a competently made low budget horror film, but nothing more. If you're a horror film fan, it might be worth a a future DVD rental.
[2.5 out of 5 stars]
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