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REVIEW: Hospitality (2005)

Hospitality (2005): Reviewd by BRYAN SCHUESSLER19483.jpg

Director Tony Ducret starts off this black-and-white indie flick with its lead character, Paul (played by Airrion Doss) waking up from a night of too much partying and recovering from a massive hang-over, something that I think everyone out there can relate to, at least I can, anyways. Paul goes through his parents lavish Vermont winter retreat and surveys the damage that the party inflicted on the house. Upon entering the final room left to be inspected, he encounters two drunk and passed-out leftovers from the previous night of partying. Once he has awoken these two young gentleman (played by Alex Finch and Gian-Murray Gianino), the terror begins.

I liked this film. It was not gory. It was not bloody. This film relies on its character development and its actors. It was filmed well. It had some very nice camera shots and a lot of close-up shots on the actors, viewing their thought-process on their face as they speak and think. Without the gore, special effects, and big budget- you were left with strong characters, decent acting, and a plotline that has more or less been used in numerous movies, but never exactly with a take on it just like director Ducret utilizes. Ducret also wrote the film. This may be a long shot for a comparison, but this film kinda takes the style director Michael Haneke uses in his films (Funny Games (1997) and Cache (2005)), evoking terror and suspense through intense scenes of dialogue and strong characters. I think that what works for this film is that their is real terror in an everyday situation that can occur at anytime in one’s life-what do you do when you are all alone in your house and have company over that will not leave and decide to terrorize you?

I think this movie works well on a level of practicality. The director takes you through the thought process of Paul (Airrion Doss) and you are curious as to how this film will end, why the two men left in the house from the party are hell-bent on ruining this guy’s life and why. I watched because I wanted to know the reason why. I guess some questions were still left unanswered at the end of the film, but it had me completely hooked for the first 60 minutes of this 76 minute feature. This movie plays on psychological terror and succeeds well at it. I look forward to more films made by Tony Ducret. I am interested to see what his films may come to look like with a bit bigger budget and even more talented actors. This was Ducret’s first stab at the world of film, his prior works strictly limited to televsion. Hopefully it will not be his last!

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