Choose (2011)

Simply Perfect

Powerful

One of my all time favorites.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

This film takes you on a ride that keeps you vested throughout. Although the acting is sub-par at best the plot is well enough to round out the film. Definitely not one of Kevin Pollacks films. A suspense filled terror ride that shows the audience a riveting sense of what lies ahead.What makes the human psyche tick, what defines us as what we are? Choice in it's own wording is something we do on a daily basis. If you had to choose between someone's life and your own, what would you do.I would recommend this film and if you choose to watch it it will be a solid investment.

It's pretty well made, although on a budget. I did find it pretty creepy in a few places and I liked that it didn't slip too far into 'cliché territory'. The performances were all good and it was nice to see Bruce Dern still working, although he only had a small part to play in this one. OK, so why didn't I dislike it as much as everyone else seems to? Well, first of all it doesn't try to be too clever; I did try to second guess the identity of the killer but was way off because there are very few breadcrumbs to follow. Second, although it takes you to the edge of the cliché, e.g. the idiot friends who get our heroine into trouble routine; but never quite gets there. There has to be the scene where at least one stupid person walks into a darkened room with just a torch and ends up being trapped (it's one of the hard and fast of the horror genre isn't it?). Finally, I liked the way the ending was left open to interpretation and the fact that, at 86 minutes, it wasn't too long! Over all, although not the very best horror I've ever seen it's certainly one that stands out because it doesn't always follow the rules.SteelMonster's verdict: RECOMMENDEDMy score: 6.4/10You can find an expanded version of this review on my blog: Thoughts of a SteelMonster.

As stated on the DVD sleeve 'Missing SAW already? Then here's...' if you make statements like that then buffs like me want to see something that deliver stuff like SAW. They were right on one thing, indeed, Jigsaw used to say The choice is yours and here in fact the victim are asked the same question. They have to choose between two atrocities. So far so good. But on the other hand SAW delivered us extreme gore sometimes but Choose doesn't.Therefor I would go even a bit further and wouldn't say that this is a horror but more a crime. It starts off pretty nasty where a daughter has to choose between the death of her father or mother. Once she did she must do the crime herself or both are shot death. The acting was rather good but Katheryn Winnick (Fiona Wagner) couldn't save this flick. She has a shower scene but just doesn't reveal anything. Sadly, she never does and that's why this flick fails, it clearly made for teenagers and they never went for a X-rated flick or unrated. For me the strongest performance came from Bruce Dern, not unknown for horror or exploitation geeks. Here he's 75 years old and his face still gives me the creeps. It's sad to see that a flick with so much abilities and a great first half hour drops into a bad script. For the geeks, no nudity whatsoever and no gore attached, just a few bloody shots. Gore 1/5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 3/5 Story 2/5 Comedy 0/5

A teenager wakes and finds her parents tied up, and a deranged assailant gives her 60 seconds to choose which one of them must die before forcing her to carry out the killing herself. This pre-titles sequence leads to a story of a psycho nut, offering his victims impossible choices, tied up with a trainee reporter and her Chief of Police dad (and possibly also with her mother's suicide years earlier) The reviews on IMDb all seem disappointed that this isn't Saw, or a variation of it. It is instead a psychological suspense thriller which develops steadily, without much in the way of action sequences, and with a relatively low gore quotient (but I said low, not non-existent). It is well photographed, well acted, relatively well-written, and a satisfying small scale thriller (satisfying unless you want it to be something it isn't). It keeps you guessing throughout and the explanation, as eventually revealed, does not cheat you.The only thing seriously wrong with the film is the ending (as distinct from the resolution of the story), which is somewhat perfunctory and slightly unsatisfying, and followed by a wholly unnecessary and unconvincing "shock" addition.But overall this is not a bad movie.