Search - Don't Look Up on DVD

Good Visuals but a Confusing Story

Compay | New Orleans, LA | 07/29/2010

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Don't Look Up is a movie that offers quality cinematography, but isn't theater-quality because of plot holes and weak performances.

Director Fruit Chan gained a cult following thanks to the underground success of "Gaau Ji" (Dumplings), his short film on the "3 Extremes" DVD. I enjoyed his work on that film, and even though Dumplings wasn't an overt horror film, it was more chilling than this one. Chan makes for a visually pleasing movie, but he would have done better with a different story.

The marketing behind the movie is also misleading. The DVD cover states "From the creator of The Ring comes a new vision in terror." Only it's not new, it's a story that Hideo Nakata came up with for a movie he shot several years before The Ring. The original version of Don't Look Up wasn't especially popular, and the 2009 remake isn't remotely as scary as The Ring.

I definitely enjoyed Reshad Strik's performance in the Hills Have Eyes 2 (bearded young guy), but was disappointed with him in this film. As a psychologically troubled young film director, Strik overreacts being afraid to the point where it's almost comical. Eli Roth (Donny the Bear Jew from Inglourious Basterds) gets top billing in this film, but he gets only about a minute of actual screen time. Film veteran Kevin Corrigan is a welcome addition to the cast, as is the seriously hot Carmen Chaplin.

My biggest complaints about the film include the plot holes and use of too many subplots. The bottom line is that the movie is made more confusing than it had to be. There's a bit of gore for hardcore horror fans, though the CGI may disappoint some people. Nakata also recycled one idea involving a fly from this movie to The Ring. I also thought that the twist at the end was simply unnecessary.

Overall, I just didn't find it that scary. Chan did a good job, but the story just wasn't that great. It seems like they were hoping to capitalize on the popularity of The Ring by remaking a previous movie that wasn't very popular back in 1996. It's worth giving a watch, but I would suggest that you not buy the DVD until you give this one a Redbox rental first."

Too Many Dull Moments

Cory T. Shaeffer | Pittsburgh | 08/02/2010

(2 out of 5 stars)

"You can say whatever you want about any film and the actors in it - but without a good script and a decent plot, the cast's talents are wasted, no matter how good the actual performers are.

Many films these days boast similarities to "The Ring," but in reality they only borrow slightly from the cinematography and the eerie ghost storyline. In "Don't Look Up," a troubled young film director goes to Transylvania to the scene where an ancient movie was filmed many years ago. The set where the movie was filmed was supposedly haunted by the presence of a young girl (there's a big shocker).

The story seems decent enough, but it is not really elaborated on enough, and the main characters kind of fumble about in an attempt to....well....I still couldn't figure that one out. It is basically a movie made without much of a point or much direction. The "scary" scenes won't make you jump and the plot is so full of holes that the effects of any "twists" the writers included in the storyline just add to the confusion. And on top of that, there are some attempts at humor when not-so-vague comparisons are made to "Young Frankenstein," and they come at odd moments and the characters do a poor job of transitioning from funny to serious, making the film not only hard to understand, but also awkward."

Wrong title!

Stan C | Independenc, MO | 07/28/2010

(1 out of 5 stars)

"Don't spend the money. Renting it was the scariest part about this movie. This movie was so slow. I turned it off about midway. I could not take it anymore. The acting was poor, a goofy story line, and the special effects are not any better than they where in the 70s & 80s low budget movies. "From the creator of THE RING"??? DON'T LOOK UP must have been his first movie. Don't waist your time!"