[Trackman]
Plot:Three thieves and their hostages take refuge in the abandoned tunnels of the Moscow subway system after a bank heist. Little do they know, they are in the lair of the "Trackman". A serial killer who strips people of their eyes.

Cast: Dmitry Orlov, Svetlana Metkina, Alexander Vsokowski, Julia Wall, Alexei Dmitriev, Oleg Kamenczykov, Thomas Mockus.

My Thoughts:The trackman bores me.

Review:It amazes me that horror films draw this contrast to real life. Most of the time in real life, when a bank robbery goes wrong...the worst that happens is a few people get shot or the crooks have to dump the money. But in horror films, they end up running into some creature, psycho killer, or something like that. Such is the case with "Trackman", a Russian horror film written by Valery Krechetov and Viktor Sorokinand and directed by Igor Shavlak. The film follows a group of bank robbers who pull off a heist, and on the way out to keep the heat off of them, take a few bank employees as hostages and escape into an abandoned metro-tunnel system.

Of course they are not down there alone. In fact, they all are in serious danger of getting picked off one by one by a mysterious masked man who sort of resembles the maniac cop from those old "Maniac Cop" films. Only this guy prefers an axe to a sword. This guy also possesses a distinct ability to be heard coming by the viewer yet not heard at all by the potential victim. This is one of the many problems with this movie. The killer, who is labeled as "The Trackman" in the film...wears these knee-high boots, which as most people know make a very loud, and obvious sound when someone is walking towards you with a purpose while wearing them.

Yet in this movie, he manages to surprise attack or sneak up on every one of his victims. Now if "Trackman" dealt with a group of deaf kids who got lost down there...hey it would've worked like a charm. But in a film where everyone has their hearing, I couldn't figure out how anyone could not hear this guy coming. The trackman as a killer is your typical mute, quiet, man of very little words. He walks up, slashes a person, and then moves on about his business. He's a large man, and seems to have a penchant for snatching out his victims eyes after he kills them.

The problem with this movie is it really doesn't go anywhere. The dary, dank, dingy setting of the abandoned tunnels makes for a perfect horror movie tone and feel...but the acting and story are extremely weak. The film stays inside a safe box and seems to be terrified of stepping outside of that box. It's one of those movies where we watch the group (robbers and hostages), get picked off one by one, and about near the end when most of the group have bitten the dust...the final folks left decide to put aside their differences of being on the opposite side of the law, and instead try to defeat the trackman so they can escape with their lives.

There's nothing really innovative, fresh, or new about this film. It's been done before, over, and over, and over again. With all white characters, a diverse mix of characters, or all asian characters. Either way...it's just another one of those "watch uninteresting people die one by one" films. Movies like this are only fun if the killer is a total badass, the victims are developed, likeable, and interesting, and the deaths are gory, unique, and innovative.

This movie.....fails on all of those levels. The killer looks awesome, but doesn't live up to his intimidating demeanor, the characters are so underdeveloped it's sad, and the deaths are shot so badly and are so repetitive that it just becomes a total scene by the final act. The film does however manage to deliver a semi-clever ending to make up for it's many failures. "Trackman" is one of the few disappointments to come out of the Russian horror genre. Which goes to show that even foreign horror can have a few misses from time to time.

Positives:The killers intimidating look. Semi-clever ending.

Negatives:Bad script, bad acting, weak characters, the killer doesn't wreak enough havoc, uncreative kills, and a really lousy story.

Overall:Nothing to get excited over.





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