Don't Believe the Hype

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

THE ROOMMATE is another very low budget slice of Japanese horror from director Hisaaki Nagaoka, a man responsible for a whole slew of shot-on-video madness including the likes of SCREAM GIRLS and JU-ON CAR. This one is typically stilted and occasionally nonsensical, although it's also better than some of the director's other works. It's not quite as one-note and obviously derivative as SCREAM GIRLS.The plot has you scratching your head more often than not and sees this playing out as more of a psychological thriller more than anything else. The main girl is haunted by a series of grisly murders and begins to suspect that her otherwise friendly roommate may be responsible; it just goes from there. Everything is explained at the climax and it's rather unbelievable, while the horror content is low despite attempts at an ominous sense of foreboding and general creepiness.