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Reed Alexander's Review of 'Don't Blink' (2014)

Don't nod off...

By Reed AlexanderPublished 6 years ago 3 min read
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This movie was... okay. I wanted a little more from it and at times, the pacing dragged a bit. But the premise was good, the atmosphere spot on, and the acting pretty solid for horror. Not saying it was stellar, but better than most horror acting, at least.

The problem with this movie is that it does kind of struggle to keep your attention. They jump right into the plot, so it's not like the fucked around getting into things, it just that... I guess the premise wasn't interesting enough for 75 full minutes of just watching it happen over and over again. This one isn't like other horrors that diversify the murder and mayhem. This movie defines its one tool in its murder kit and just keeps going with it.

Yeah, once the tension picks up (and believe me the tension was pretty superb), the characters start tearing each other apart. Weird shit starts to happen, fingers get pointed, mistrust and paranoia runs rampant, eventually SOMEONE pulls a gun; that old chestnut. That being said, they still manage to not kill each other or pull any new tools out of the murder kit.

SPOILERS!!!

So, some things that really disappointed me about this movie is it sets up a plot element that it just abandons. You find out that one of the main character's girlfriends is pregnant. This is a really great plot element to have so you can build up tension between other characters. Her state makes her more vulnerable and can be used to really fuck with her boyfriend. However, she's the first one to go. Poof! They just take her right the fuck out... Set that whole plot element up and it just disappears fifteen minutes into the god damn movie. Literally, she just disappears. That's how you die. You poof. You just up and vanish. Now, instead, if they made her baby go poof, that could have lead to some real intense shit.

Now, I get why they had her disappear. If she goes missing then the rest of the protagonists have to stay at least long enough to look for her. However, literally anyone the fuck else could have fulfilled that role AND they could have left the pregnant girlfriend around to create later tension. It was just jumping the shark too early and it set the pace for the rest of the movie just, well, off.

That wasn't the only faux pas. They couldn't leave because they were out of gas and they couldn't call for help because there were no phones. There was a gas pump at the resort, but it needed a special key to activate it and I swear to FUCKING GOD, they never once look for a land line, though they say they did. I'm fucking sorry, but once the third person just vanished in thin air, I would have torn that fucking resort to pieces, log by log, looking for the fucking key to the gas pump.

And then surprise, FUCKING, surprise, it turns out there WAS a phone in the hotel, but they didn't notice it because it was a novelty phone in the shape of a motorcycle. They find it because the god damn thing starts ringing. I mean, what the actual fuck? Did they think the fucking hotel made reservations SOLELY using messenger pigeon? It's a fucking resort with multiple fucking cabins, there's a fucking phone somewhere. The director tried to hang a lantern on it but it just doesn't make any fucking sense.

But yeah, movie isn't actually all that bad. Though it takes a while, once the tension reaches its crescendo, it's actually a pretty good movie.

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About the Creator

Reed Alexander

I'm a horror author and foulmouthed critic of all things horror. New reviews posted every Monday.

@ReedsHorror on TikTok, Threads, Instagram, YouTube, and Mastodon.

Check out my books on Godless: https://godless.com/products/reed-alexander

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