Coffin Dodger
Sean Justice (Kevin Sorbo) comes to next to his girlfriend Rona (Sunny Doench) but they are not in bed but buried in a large coffin where their activities are being filmed via a webcam. Sean finds a note which says their only hope of escape is if Jack Samms (Patrick Barnitt) rescues them, trouble is that Jack is Rona's husband. Meanwhile Jack Samms (Patrick Barnitt) returns home where he finds on his laptop footage of Sean and Rona trapped before being confronted by a masked man called Trick (Johnny Alonso) who wants money in return for their location. But things don't go to plan and Sean finds himself with cops after him whilst the clock is ticking down on when the air runs out in the coffin.
The first time I sat down to watch "Coffin" it grabbed my attention for maybe three minutes as we became aware of Sean & Rona's dire situation and see Jack confronted by the masked Trick. But after that it lost my attention and I stopped watching because I felt like maybe I had missed something and needed to start again when I was in a more focused mood. Ironically on the second time I went to watch "Coffin" the same thing happened and whilst I persevered I felt like I had to watch it again and when I did it lost my attention again. So something has to be wrong with "Coffin" if it can't hold my attention beyond I would say a maximum of 10 minutes.
Why that is is a mystery as the set up of a husband having to save his unfaithful wife and her lover is good as is the look of Trick with one of those masks which is a sack with eyes and mouth cut out of it. And as the movie plays out with Jack listening in to what is being said in the coffin as Trick forces him to drive around adds something more to a movie which of course throws in some twists.
So what is the problem with "Coffin"? Well partly is the fact that this is a movie which plays out in real time which means we have some people doing really boring stuff. But we also have the story element involving the cops which seems utterly pointless to start with and seems like it has no energy. Energy is in many ways what is wrong with the movie as with 75 minutes for Patrick to save his wife there is no sense of urgency and when it switches to the lethargic work of the cops it breaks the movie up further.
What this all boils down to is that "Coffin" has some good ideas and the whole set up of a husband knowing he is trying to save his unfaithful wife who is trapped with her lover is intriguing. But the way the movie plays out, the lack of urgency and atmosphere ends up making it so uneven that it continually struggles to keep hold of your attention.
