Heartless

Well I saw Heartless at Frighfest on Monday 31st August and have to say I was pretty underwhelmed with this movie. There was nothing new and original in this movie as the Director Philip Ridley had claimed but seemed to be a case of mixing a number of horror sub-genres and hoping they all hung together. Ridley made the pretty high-handed comment that he had 'invented a new genre of horror' and that Heartless was 'not just a horror fim but a real Movie!'. Oh Hosannah! Philip Ridley and his luvvie squad on a big white charger saving the Horror Genre from itself! - the Observer and Guardian WILL be delighted. This comment, said in all seriousness before and after the movie really did irritate a large number of people in the audience and was quite insulting to the genre. The comment smacked of high pretention and lack of knowledge of the genre on the part of the Director and producers of Heartless. Has Ridley never seen movies like Angel Heart?, does he think Horror movies goers are so irredeemably thick that they couldnt possibly (dahling) have heard of Faust? Social commentary through the medium of Horror? Not heard of that one either Mr Ridley? This movie was essentially Faust with Hoodies crossed with Open Your Eyes. Ridley didnt even invent the whole 'Hoodie Horror' thing - this was done by the Director of Eden Lake last year. The 'twist' at the end you could see coming after about 10 minutes into the movie - the plot was really so obvious and cliche-ridden. I didnt hate this movie but just found it really quite average and couldnt see what all the fuss was about. Jim Sturgess was probably the only good thing about it.