Although gruesome, the only mildly satisfying moment in filmmaker Gregory Dark's gory, scummy-looking slasher flick comes when the psycho killer dispatches a particularly obnoxious victim by stuffing her ringing cell phone down her throat, but otherwise this silly, sleazy, unremittingly ugly splatter exercise is simply dreck. In the completely implausible script, a bunch of teen delinquents are sent to clean up a dilapidated hotel in return for reduced sentences. Unbeknownst to anyone, a mass murderer with the obligatory religious mania and various sharp instruments is holed up there, and it's not long before he begins stalking and slaughtering, taking out his victims' eyes in his signature move (hence the title). As per usual, the kids run screaming through dismal hallways and die ghastly deaths (in between making sexual advances to each other), until a big finale in which a few survive (there's also a “surprise” twist at the end that even the most unobservant viewer will have spotted 30 minutes in). See No Evil is a production of Vince McMahon's World Wrestling Entertainment: hence the villain is played (quite ineptly) by a hulking pro wrestler named Glen Jacobs (whose stage name is Kane) and the script was written by a WWE employee. But that's the sole distinction of what's basically just a simpleminded retread of the Friday the 13th formula spruced up with the graphic bloodletting of such recent pictures as Hostel and Saw. Not recommended. [Note: DVD extras include two audio commentary tracks (one by writer Dan Madigan and director Gregory Dark; the other by star Kane and co-executive producer Jed Blaugrund), a 13-minute “Do You See the Sin?” making-of featurette, a three-minute “Kane: Journey Into Darkness” featurette on the WWE superstar's career, a two-minute storyboard-to-film comparison, and trailers. Bottom line: a solid extras package for a bad Friday the 13th wannabe.] (F. Swietek)
See No Evil
Lionsgate, 84 min., R, DVD: $28.98, Nov. 28 Volume 21, Issue 6
See No Evil
Star Ratings
As of March 2022, Video Librarian has changed from a four-star rating system to a five-star one. This change allows our reviewers to have a wider range of critical viewpoints, as well as to synchronize with Google’s rating structure. This change affects all reviews from March 2022 onwards. All reviews from before this period will still retain their original rating. Future film submissions will be considered our new 1-5 star criteria.
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