Weekly Review -- Suspenseless horror

P2 (2007) -- There are horror movies that amaze you with their ingenuity and clever suspense build-up, and then there are movies that stun you with their stupidity and lack of tension. Unfortunately, P2 belongs in the latter category. With its doltish characters, over-the-top gore and insipid acting, this effort is probably one of the worst horror movies I have seen in the past year or so. Businesswoman Angela (Rachel Nichols) gets locked inside her office building parking garage, after having stayed to work overtime on Christmas Eve. She repels the not-so-subtle advances of seemingly helpful security guard Thomas (Wes Bentley), and soon discovers that he has nefarious plans in store for her. I did not believe one line that Nichols uttered; it was only in the last 30 minutes or so that her performance became somewhat believable. The situation is reversed for Bentley, who is adequately threatening in the beginning, but whose performance turns into a caricature of itself by the end. As far as their characters go, Angela knows her way around an intense predicament, but is still nothing more than a stereotypical damsel-in-distress character. For a burgeoning psycho, Thomas is surprisingly ineffectual and unresourceful. The only good things about the film are the opening scene -- you will be expecting a lot afterwards, but don't be fooled -- and the location, which gives a lot of room to move in terms of creating taut chase sequences and innovative twists. Instead, the filmmakers opted to make a movie that is low on suspense, but high on bloody violence without context or meaning. The most disgusting murder scene feels like it is only there for their kicks, while some of the proceedings can make the viewers scratch their heads. In our era of cell phones, iPods and other gadgets, would one phone in the building or on even one parking level be that impossible to find? And what was with the police? They never even thought of looking into Thomas' quarters and pretty much gave up after one drive around the garage. There are these and a million other questions, but finding the answers is really not worth it. "A new level of terror"? A new level of blandness is more like it. Avoid this one if you can find any decent movies to watch.

4/10