Hangman (2015) Jeremy Sisto, Kate Ashfield, Ryan Simpkins, Ty Simpkins, Eric Michael Cole, Amy Smart Movie Review

Hangman (2015)   2/52/52/52/52/5


Hangman (2015)

He Sees You When You're Sleeping

Having returned from a wonderful vacation the Miller's good mood is quickly cut short when they return home to discover that their house has been broken in to and ransacked. Having called the police, changed their locks and cleaned up the place they try to settle back in to their life although dealing with a sense of violation and being on edge. What they don't realise is that not only has who ever broken in to their home installed a series of hidden cameras but he is living in their attic and creeping around the place when they are not there and whilst they sleep.

Unsettling yet tedious is how "Hangman" comes across which is a shame as when it comes to the whole set up of not only the video voyeurism but this skilled yet unstable intruder living in the attic this really does deliver on being unsettling. Just watching this mysterious man not just creep around the home but do an escalating series of things from spitting in a carton of juice and looking through their belongings to lacing a bottle of wine with a drug you do wonder how far he will go in his pursuit. Trouble is we don't know what that pursuit is as we never get told a motive we just see his actions and his disturbed, volatile nature as he is prone to moments of screaming and frustration.

But as I said "Hangman" ends up tedious and frustratingly slow because this tries to be clever by purely going down the point of view route with us just seeing things from what the intruder shoots via his hidden cameras as well as a hand held one he carries with him whilst roaming around the home. Some variation would have helped this no end and seeing things from any of the Miller's point of view would have added not only a playful nature when it came to near misses as the intruder hides behind doors but it would have helped create the much needed atmosphere of danger which is simply lacking.

What going down the point of view route also does is rob us of character depth as whilst there are some famous faces in "Hangman" you never really get to know the characters and you certainly don't remember their names. It gets to the point that none of these characters end up interesting and you struggle to care as to what will happen to them.

What this all boils down to is that "Hangman" does have a great side which is the unsettling nature of what are intruder gets up to. But sadly all the good is wasted on relying on going down the POV route as it robs the movie of much of its potential.


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