Heartstopper (2006)

 

Picture: C+     Sound: B-     Extras: C-     Film: C

 

 

Robert Englund continues his Horror streak, even though it is in B projects.  Bob Keen’s Heartstopper (2006) is about a serial killer named Chambers (James Binkley) who may have a supernatural connection that may free him.  Forget about a clever Hannibal Lecter stunt, we have to have Satan.  At a hospital temporarily, he does get free and its Halloween 2 all over again, but minus the suspense and originality.

 

Of course, the film does deliver gruesome bloodiness, and to its credit is unrelenting in a way that does not make it necessarily part of the current snuff cycle.  Englund enters as the Sheriff who will hunt him down, he thinks.  There is more narrative than usual to its credit, but ultimately, there is nothing here we have not seen before.  The twist is two workers who also have to survive the killer in the hospital, but that is no twist anyhow.  It was made to show gore and that is all it achieves.  Fans of such things should be happy, I guess.

 

The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image is a bit soft and shot on digital video of some kind.  It is not awful, but has ghosting troubles here and there.  The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is not awful, but only just good enough to be punchy for this kind of story.  The only extras are two interviews, one with Englund, the other with Keen.  This is better than the dozens of bad Horror entries we have seen lately and is still the same old same old.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo