raffle7
I read the above reviews, then I watched it anyway -- just to judge for myself. I thought it was really pretty suspenseful and riveting. The only thing about it that really bothered me had nothing to do with quality of film-making, storyline, acting, etc... it was the existence, and stupidity, of people who, in real life, truly are as self-centered, insensitive, careless and oblivious to what's going on around them as are a couple of the characters in this movie. I spent half the movie wanting to reach into the screen and bitch-slap them to their senses!! (lol) (But then, if a movie DOESN'T evoke strong emotions in the viewer, THAT'S when it's not worth watching.)
ersinkdotcom
What looks to be a promising concept for a horror movie once again collapses under the weight of its running time. "247°F" would be a great short film, but as a full length feature becomes tedious and redundant. It feels like the writers were setting you up for something shocking or a big reveal at the end but fail to deliver on their assumed promise. It's the perfect case of not wanting what you think is going to happen actually not happen, but leaving disappointed because nothing better transpired.Four friends head up to a lakeside cabin for a weekend of fun and fireworks. Their good times go south when three of them are accidentally locked in a sweltering sauna. They must find a way to escape before the temperature reaches the lethal 247°F limit the human body can withstand before shutting down.Here's another perfect example of a movie being too clean and clear. It was obviously shot on an HD camera and it shows. The clarity of the picture does nothing to hide the fact that what should be an old cabin looks to have been just assembled by a set crew. The cinematography doesn't completely detract from the movie but it fails to keep the viewer immersed in what they're watching either."247°F" will no doubt pull in a horror / slasher audience just because of its two main actors from Rob Zombie's "Halloween" and "Halloween II." Scout Taylor-Compton (Laurie Strode) plays one of the trapped friends and Tyler Mane (Michael Myers himself) plays the suspicious owner of the cabin. Unfortunately, the two of them can't save this slow-burning and monotonous thriller from descending into obscurity.
Dan Franzen (dfranzen70)
247°F is as straightforward a horror movie as you'll ever see. It's uninventive and feels like a giant missed opportunity. In fact, as the movie wears on (and on) one starts to believe that there's Something behind our protagonists' troubles - but alas, if there is, it's trivial.Most of the movie is set in a homemade sauna. Jenna, her friend Renee, Renee's boyfriend Michael, and Michael's friend Ian have zipped over to a remote island to stay in Ian's uncle's cabin for the weekend. Concurrently, it is the weekend of the May Day celebrations, apparently a big deal in the nearby towns, and Wade the uncle is involved with the setup of the festivities.We learn a few things about our main characters right away. Jenna, meant to be the protagonist, is anxious, shy, withdrawn; flashbacks show us (in the first scenes) that her fiancé' was killed in an auto accident (with Jenna beside him), and she hasn't yet fully recovered. Friend Renee is outgoing, outspoken, caring about her pal and wanting to get her out of her self-imposed shell. Michael is the typical Type A frat boy - controlling, fun loving even at the expense of others. Ian, by contrast, is sedate, passionate, thoughtful, and well spoken; weird, because he looks like the lost Winklevoss twin.The plan is for the foursome to go to this May Day pre-party, so while ol' Uncle Wade goes to set up, they head into his sauna. Then it gets too hot, so they jump in the lake. Then it's too cold, so back to the sauna. This goes on for a while. The entire time, Michael's drinking everything in sight, so you can see where this is headed. They go back to the sauna, he leaves to use the bathroom, and somehow the door gets stuck with the other three inside.The point is to see how each will react to the extreme (and rising) heat, making it less a horror film and more of a psychological freak- out. Someone's going to crack - no surprise or spoiler that it's Renee, who's painted from the get-go as more selfish than most. Ian is determined to get them all out of there - he's played pretty well by Travis Van Winkle - and Jenna just tries to get by. They all assume Michael locked them in as a prank, but after a while the story switches to his passing out and just leaving them in there.The movie could have gone in several directions. I kept expecting a twist; none came. This would have made for a predictable film, but since I naively kept thinking there was more to the story than met the eye, I didn't allow myself to become jaded. The acting is acceptable. In addition to Van Winkle, we have the redoubtable Scout Taylor-Compton (Halloween) as the high-strung Jenna turning in a wonderful performance. But they have little to work with. People do behave as you'd expect, only in the case of some (Renee, Michael), it's more of a case of melodrama than acting. Tears are shed, as is some blood. Because the movie lacks so much in substance and creativity, it's not an easily recommendable film. You have to be prepared for a lot of nothing much happening. After all, there's only so much you can do in a sauna without getting into deep psychological trauma, and the movie - although it had the opportunity - barely scratched the surface of everyone's problems. We know Jenna has issues and why, but we're unclear on how she deals with it. Would have been nice to see better character development - what does she fear now? Same for Renee; even her love for Jenna seems self serving. They've been friends forever, and Renee has an extroverted, love-life personality. Does she have demons? And does Ian do anything other than say just the right thing and be just the nicest guy ever?Who knows? Stories like this have been done to death in movies - trapped in an elevator, trapped in a mine shaft, trapped on a boat, and so on. They succeed because the plot involves you with the characters. Do we really care about the state of the relationship between Renee and Jenna? Not really, because the movie gives us no reason to do so. We like Jenna, we don't like Renee too much, and we're quite ambivalent over their long-time friendship.