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7¼ Pies

Reviewed by Limey

Plot Summary

The team of a local radio station are isolated when a deadly virus infects their small Ontario town.

Review

I do hate films of two halves. Actually, no - scratch that. I don't mind so much when a film starts bad and becomes surprisingly good. It is when things are going really well only to take a sudden turn for the worse that really bothers me, and sadly that is the case here.

What makes it even sadder is that the first half of this particular film wasn't even merely good – it was incredible. I honestly loved everything about it. The acting, the writing, the directing, the music, you name it, I loved it. It was well on its way to becoming a personal favourite and possibly a future classic.

And then about halfway through, it began to lose its way. For example, the dialogue in the second half consists almost entirely of ham-fisted explanations that add nothing to what we had already come to understand from the much more effective and subtle writing of the first half of the movie.

They also spend ages building up a character that we never even see as a sympathetic and likeable person, only to throw in a line that alters our opinion just as we should be mourning their demise. I know what they were trying to do, but not only does it come from nowhere, it also goes nowhere and thus achieves absolutely nothing except to cheapen one of only two deaths we have any reason to care about.

And as a final example, the conclusion does not work at all. I really do not mind how a movie of this nature ends – whether it is with something hopeful like a last minute rescue or something utterly depressing like total destruction – as long as it is done well. Alas, despite a few nice moments, that was not the case here. Shame really.

Quotes:

Grant Mazzy: So, what does it mean? Well... it means something's going to happen. Something big. But then, something's always about to happen.

Grant Mazzy: It's not the end of the world; it's just the end of the day.

Spook Factor: ½ Pie

I don't think anyone is going to be scared by this one. How the virus travels is thought provoking, the fate of two people that we get to know is sad and the first half certainly captures the sense of isolation and confusion generated inside the radio station, but is it truly spooky? Not really.

Antagonist: ¾ Pie

The antagonist is a combination of both the virus and its victims and they were well on the way to earning an entire pie until the heavy handed attempts at explaining the virus put a stop to all that. It was such an original concept but when they started hitting me over the head with it, I just stopped caring.

Story: ½ Pie

Given what I said in the review, this one had to go half and half. According to online reports, the script was hashed out in the space of 48 hours, which might explain why it started to lose its way towards the end. Again, I did like the story; it just felt like there wasn't enough of one to fill up the time they had.

Acting: 1 Pie

This is one of the few areas with which I have no complaints. While I was not always thrilled with the direction the script took with the characters or the lines it gave them, the actors were superb throughout. Georgina Reilly is also just about the most beautiful woman I have seen on film in years.

Directing: 1 Pie

This is another of those areas. In particular, it really made the most of the tension created by the small cast and limited locations, which a lesser director may have struggled with.

Soundtrack: ¾ Pie

The soundtrack is kept fairly simple, which is fine. A full blown orchestral score was of course out of the question but it would have also been out of place. As such, there is nothing bad to report; it did what it needed to do and went home.

Special Effects: ¾ Pie

There is not much call for special effects due to the film taking place entirely in one location – we never see the world outside the radio station and the horror currently taking place there is created purely by the dialogue. However, we do have one opportunity to see the virus at work and it is pulled off with style.

Gore: ¾ Pie

Again, we have just the one chance to truly see any gore and it is done well. It is far from earth shattering but as always, I think the most effective gore is not the most detailed or gruesome, but gore that you care about and so this worked for me.

Replay, Rewatch, Rewind: ½ Pie

I have actually watched some of it twice already and everything that was good about it the first time held up to a second viewing, so I will eventually watch it again - just not as soon as I might have had the whole film been as strong as its beginning.

Pros

The first half.

Cons

The second half.

Final Word

OK, maybe I am simplifying things by separating the movie into the ‘good' first half and the ‘bad' second half. There are things I like in the second half and positives such as the first rate acting run right the way through.

Still, it definitely becomes a much weaker experience. The exact moment that things take a turn is when the doctor arrives – from then on it just feels like the makers had ran out of things to do and were at a loss as to what to do with the left over runtime. As much as I would like to, there is no pretending otherwise.

Kill is kiss.