Review – Curve (2015)

For a while I was excited about all the newer horror releases being added to Netflix, but now that I’ve seen all the good ones, it’s been a struggle to find something worth watching. As I was scrolling through the queue, a few popped out at me, including the 2015 horror thriller, Curve. The premise seemed interesting, so I figured, “Why not?” Let’s see if it was a good choice, shall we?

Iain Softley directed this horror thriller and although his career isn’t huge, he’s been involved in some awesome films such as 1995’s Hackers and 2005’s The Skeleton Key. Curve was produced by Emmy award winner Jason Blum’s company Blumhouse Tilt, a subsidiary of Blumhouse, which is best known for 2010’s Insidious, 2013’s The Purge, and The Darkness, a supernatural thriller being released this weekend starring Kevin Bacon. Both dudes clearly know how to deliver an awesome horror story – however, Curve just isn’t one of them.

In the movie Curve, the story follows young Mallory (Julianne Hough) as she makes her way to Denver for her wedding rehearsal. Along the way, her car breaks down. She tries calling AAA but unfortunately has no service. Luckily for her, she doesn’t have to wait long before the charming Christian (Teddy Sears) comes along, he helps start her car so she offers him a ride out of gratitude. To no surprise, the nice man who helped her out isn’t so nice after all, and in fear of her life, Mallory wrecks her car in hopes to escape. Heads up – spoilers coming.

I would much rather give a positive review any day, but unfortunately, that is not the case for Curve. In the very beginning, Mallory plays a mix tape that her sister gave to her and the song “Listen to Your Heart” by Roxette plays. I enjoy that song but maybe not enough to hear it continuously and ironically throughout the whole film. As in, you should not listen to your heart when it says to let that strange hitchhiker man into your car for doing a good deed.  Also, I should probably listen to my heart when I have doubts about a film’s plotline, the actors, and low star rating before pushing play.

Almost 90% of the film takes place in the car; driving along in the car and then being trapped in the car. I love movies that revolve around someone being trapped in an isolated and terrifying situation, such as 2003’s Open Water and 2010’s Frozen, but Curve did not live up to those standards. First, the wreck was her fault and I’m still not sure how she managed to trap herself in the car so badly in the first place while her passenger was able to flee the scene, seemingly unharmed. Secondly, she wasn’t trapped for long very long at all but in short order ants and rats invade her space. In a moment of desperation, she actually debates whether or not to eat a rat and attempts other questionable survival tricks.

The acting from both actors was decent; however, they weren’t very convincing in their roles. Mallory is stereotypically weak, vulnerable, and isn’t much of a fighter, but then boom, she suddenly changes personalities at the end. Christian was just a wannabe Jigsaw but without the creepy doll and meaningful background. Just a crazy dude with no purpose. Yet he had that egotistical and psychotic personality in which he thought he had the right to punish people based on what he considers to be their bad decisions. For example: picking up a hitchhiker without much thought of the consequences. He takes it upon himself to “teach” her why that’s a bad idea.

 

Final Thoughts: I was hoping for a bizarre ending, something that would make the drawn out car entrapment worthwhile, but that did not happen either. Overall, I wasn’t very happy with this horror thriller, but then again you never know until you try. I know some people who liked it, so I won’t say to completely avoid this film. Check Curve out on Netflix, judge for yourself, and let us know how you feel it compares to other survival horror films.