Heartstopper 2006 Anchor Bay Entertainment   Buy It Now

Would two of your all time favorite horror films happen to be Halloween II and Wes Craven’s forgotten Shocker? Have you ever wished that there were a way that you could watch them both together? Well, that’s too bad, because it’s not going to happen (and seriously, who liked Shocker anyway?) However, there’s another solution. What happens when you take these two horror films and mix them together, hoping that everyone has forgotten about them. Why, you get Heartstopper of course.

I’m becoming more and more convinced that the glory days of horror are long behind us, and the genre has fallen victim to bad remakes (mostly) and “original” creations that lacks scares, originality, and just about everything else. Heartstopper does in fact have many similarities to both Halloween II and Shocker, and the story goes a little something like this:

Convinced killer Chambers (James Binkley) has been sentenced to die in the electric chair, and now his time has finally come. While en route to have the autopsy performed, Sheriff Berger (Robert Englund) has a chance run in with a teen, Sara Wexler (Meredith Henderson) who wants to kill herself. The Sheriff however has her transported to the hospital, in the same ambulance as Chambers, but that’s not the end of the tale. Chambers returns from the dead and is now stalking Sara, as well as every other patient and staff member, as his brutal killings continue.

First off, I really do feel some sympathy for Robert Englund. Try as he might, it seems that he will forever be remembered as Freddy Krueger, and the horror films that he’s found himself a part of that are not a part of the Nightmare franchise has been less than memorable. But, I guess it’s better that he be remembered for that role than, shall we say, Willie from the V television series. Robert Englund however shouldn’t be the draw to this film, and in fact, nothing should.

Heartstopper is your average “teens in trouble” horror film where a mysterious killer stalks them at every corner, though in this case there are only two teens, Sara and classmate Walter (Nathan Stephenson) and our killer is not so mysterious. While many horror serial killers aren’t too vocal in their intentions, Chambers is, but his character is portrayed with many lines of dialog that are supposed to be menacing religious quotes and he comes across as being a rather bland Pinhead type of villain, minus all of the cool things like hell-hooks and puzzle boxes. And Chamber big claim to fame as a killer is that he rips out his victim’s hearts, something that we see a few times in the film, and while there are attempts to make these a bit different (the skin peeling scene is probably one of the best) it gets tired.

Okay, think about this, what’s cooler to watch? We know that Jason is somehow going to kill a teen or three, but how exactly is he going to do it, that’s the real question. Chamber however, we already know that he’s going to tear someone heart out (though there are a few other methods of death, but not many) and there’s only so many times you can do that before it gets old. And again, there are a few good gore scenes, but nothing that’s really out of the ordinary and nothing that is groundbreaking or unique.

Most of the film is spent in the hospital with Sara and Walter trying to escape Chambers, and that’s where you’ll find the Halloween II element in the film. This is yet another overdone horror element, and there’s only so far you can take the “run and hide” premise before it also gets a bit stale, and that’s exactly what happens here. It’s nothing we haven’t seen before countless times, and it’s not even done well. Instead it’s just another bit of predictability that comes with the film.

There are other things in the movie that really are pointless. There are often flashbacks to some of the other murders that Chambers has committed, and it seems to simply be an excuse to toss in a bit more gore. Now, I’m one who is all for blood, and in fact the bloodier the film, the better (Day of the Dead still remains one of my favorite horror films) but there needs to be a point, and it’s just not present here. Heartstopper also is a victim of some very poor script writing (the line about “nice PSP” kills me for some reason) and often, bad lighting.

Now, here’s what I don’t get; how can a film like this suffer when you have Bob Keen working on it. You might now know the name immediately, but he’s worked on special and make-up effects on films such as Hellraiser (the first three), Alien, The Empire Strikes Back and a number of other feature films, and with some very prestigious and well-known films under his belt, you’d think that the transition to directing would be an easy one. Sadly, it isn’t bad ideas and dialog that drag this film down, but bad lighting, a few bits of shoddy effects, and virtually everything else.

The DVD comes with a lacking extra features section. There are interviews with Robert Englund and Bob Keen, but that’s really all. While this segment runs around 30 minutes, I always enjoy seeing other behind the scenes features, like a look at the effects and such, no matter how bad a film might be.

Heartstopper isn’t going to make any serious waves in the horror genre, and I have a feeling that it’s going to be quite some time before a director comes along that can grow to legendary proportions and stand proud among elite names like Romero, Craven, Carpenter, and many others, though Alexandre Aja (director of High Tension and the remake of The Hills Have Eyes) is coming very close. Heartstopper is a forgettable journey into horror rehash and the only thing that is truly frightening is that again, we find a lackluster idea getting financial backing.

-mike-

 

Directed by: Bob Keen   Written by: Vlady Pildysh & Warren P. Sonoda   Cast: Meredith Henderson Nathan Stephenson James Binkley Michael Cram Robert Englund Laura DeCarteret Scott Gibson Ted Ludzik Lori Hallier John Bayliss Wayne Flemming Celine Lepage David Roche

DVD Features: Interviews w/ Bob Keen & Robert Englund