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When evil resides in the penthouse

By Jeannette Catsoulis
NY TIMES NEWS SERVICE, NEW YORK
Friday, Jun 30, 2006, Page 16

Whether pursuing acting careers or state governorships, professional wrestlers generally fare better with a minimum of dialogue. The makers of See No Evil understand this, allotting their star, Kane (aka Glen Jacob), a mere handful of syllables to play Jacob Goodnight, a lumbering psychopath holed up in the penthouse of a derelict hotel.

Resembling nothing so much as a better-exfoliated version of the Thing, Jacob works out his mommy issues by murdering the hapless homeless who wander into his territory. Armed with a meat cleaver and a manicure Barbra Streisand would envy, he excavates their eyeballs and pops them into pickling jars. Yummy.

When a busload of delinquents from the local detention center arrives at the hotel for cleanup duty, See No Evil devolves into an increasingly bloody and creative string of butcherings and impalings. The director, Gregory Dark, and the writer, Dan Madigan, ensure no sympathy for the foulmouthed victims, who spend most of their premutilation time drinking, toking and showering as if auditioning for the Spice Channel.

Film Notes: See No Evil Directed by: Gregory Dark Starring: Kane (Jacob Goodnight), Christina Vidal (Christine), Michael J. Pagan (Tye), Samantha Noble (Kira), Steven Vidler (Williams), Cecily Polson (Margaret), Luke Pegler (Michael) Running Time: 84 minutes Taiwan Releaase: Today

Shooting everything with an inebriated camera that bounces off walls, crawls over cockroaches and, at one point, roots around in an empty eye socket, the appropriately named Dark has no use for actors as anything other than body-bag fillers. He does, however, provide us with one of the most inventive cinematic examples of death by mobile phone. Parents, please don't try this at home.
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