"Cornered" DVD, Blu-ray Movie Review

DVD, Blu-ray Movie Review

"Cornered"

By our guest blogger, Jeremy Wilkinson

A store owner, a hooker, a meth addict, a phone sex operator, and a Kevin James doppelganger are all playing poker in an apartment above a convenience store...sounds like a bad joke. The only joke here is the movie “Cornered,” which is just out on DVD. What starts off as something that could be entertaining, ends up as just another mediocre slasher film sprinkled with humor.

Prior to the aforementioned poker game, the rag tag group is hanging around the store. It is here that we discover there is a killer on the loose. Not only that, but the murderer is targeting convenience stores (dun dun dun!). Later on, the group begins their poker game. The killer ends up breaking into the store downstairs, cornering the victims. Their chances of escape are slim because the meth addict has stolen the keys to unlock the deadbolt, and nobody seems to have a cell phone that works correctly. Will they manage to fend off the killer or will our hapless protagonists never see the light of day again?

This movie starts out promisingly enough, thanks to some over-the-top humor. But any spark of interest the first 15 garnered is extinguished during the next 45 minutes as the plot slows to a crawl. Only minimal build up is given when the killer finally shows up on the scene. When some action finally gets going, it’s mundane. The film tries to do something a little different, but it ends up coming off like a paint-by-numbers version of stalk-and-kill.

Like any flawed horror film, there are some startling gaps in logic. All the protagonists know there is someone targeting stores (they talk about it in the first scene). Yet, when someone ventures downstairs to see who’s knocking at the door, no one seems overly concerned when the lights will not turn on. Then, when one of the protagonists (we’ll call the person Character A) disappears, another character (Character B) claims that person was seen leaving the store. Any confusion you may have reading that last sentence will not be alleviated by viewing the movie because there is no explanation given. There is no scene where Character B looks out a window to see someone get into a cab. Instead, we are forced to digest Character B’s explanation, despite how illogical it sounds. It’s an irritating head scratcher.

The humor that worked well enough early on is inconsistent throughout. Many jokes misfire. You know it’s supposed to be funny, but you’re not laughing. It doesn’t help that the tense parts are anything but tense. By the end, the film has completely fallen apart.

Ellia English, who played the phone sex operator, was easily the most entertaining character, followed closely by James Duvall’s part as a meth addict. The scenes where they’re allowed to take center stage are the highlight of an otherwise disappointing experience.

If you decide to watch “Cornered,” there may be enough to hold your attention until the credits roll. There’s enough to make you laugh a few times, but if you’re looking for the next brilliant horror/comedy to make its way to the top, you’ll have to look elsewhere.

Grade: C-