You won't be disappointed!

An Exercise In Nonsense

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

This is a thriller that is not what you would expect. It leans more on drama but also gives you tension as well. Dominic Monaghan plays the awkward man well, while his captive, played by Ksenia Solo also provides a great performance. From the beginning, Dominic Monaghan manages to make us root for his character, and even his kidnapping of Solo's character makes it look like he was being foolish, but not evil. Solo's performance is brilliant too because she manages to keep you guessing how she can outwit Monaghan's character and escape. The dialogues sound more like a philosophical back and forth but the acting body language is very obvious and requires careful observation from the audience. In the end, it is a good movie because you care for the protagonist, and it keeps you quietly wondering. The shortcoming was that the tension was too low key. The ending is interesting and if you fail to watch till the end, you will never appreciate the story.

It's been a while since I wrote a review, but this movie was so interesting that I took the time to write down my opinion. It is about a young man and the woman he wants. When she shows no interest he starts to stalk her and build a cage to imprison her.Even though you get the feeling that he's the bad guy and she's the victim, the movie shows his motives and emotions so well that you can understand them. According to the young woman's analysis he suffers from insecurities, self-hatred, depression and loneliness. Undoubtedly this combination can lead one to dark and dangerous paths. Yet the movie manages to surprise you by revealing that things sometimes aren't as they appeared to be. Quite the opposite actually. And as things unfold and secrets come to light you'll find yourself wondering who to root for.The story is interesting enough and the acting is significantly better than I would have expected given the topic and the summary I had read before watching. Lately there seem to be many movies around that thematize crimes and delinquents (often mentally ill ones) from a very unique and special point of view. This is one of them. Much like "The woodsman" (2004) it may not be suitable for everyone, but I found it interesting and worthwhile.

"Pet" is nowhere close to the worst made horror film I have seen, as a fan of horror (even the bad ones sometimes) I have watched my fair share of god-awfulness, but it is not a very good one either.The 1st half of the movie is generally well-done and unsettling, but not very original: Lonely creep stalks pretty girl. There scenes that are well-crafted, one in a diner is almost unwatchable it is so awkward (intentionally so), and give us a good feel for Seth's loneliness, frustration, and (a tad too quick) devolution into complete obsession. His target, Holly, is less developed at this time. She largely just gets increasingly unnerved by Seth.Then comes the 2nd half, and the film goes off the rails a bit, even as it tries to add more originality to it. After Seth has locked Holly in the cage, the movie's big twist, about Holly, is revealed. Sure the twist is pretty ridiculous, but being a horror movie, it's nothing too unreasonable. The twist just didn't have the intended impact with me however, largely because the movie up to this point has gotten us to know Seth, not Holly. So the big twist about her is rendered kind of "meh". The psychological battle that follows Holly's imprisonment is fairly predictable, as is its final result. The wildly inconsistent characterization of Seth also hinders the film's 2nd half, especially its 3rd act. During the 1st half Seth goes from lonely loser to a cackling madman, then in the 2nd from that to controlling kidnapper to groveling wimp who maims himself, with not a lot of segue in between. Almost seems more like Seth turned into whatever was convenient to move the story along, rather than a character of his own. The acting by the leads was pretty good. Despite having to put up the poor writing of his character, Dominic Monaghan is convincing as Seth, especially during the 1st half. I am a big fan of Ksenia Solo and think she is one of the best young actresses working today, and she doesn't disappoint as Holly, even if it isn't an extraordinary performance (just a tad over-the-top in a couple scenes). Their lines could have had some work though, more than a few of them are remixed clichés ("So, you think you know me?" and the like).More than a couple scenes in the movie also require some suspension of belief, the ending pretty prominent among them.As a whole "Pet" just doesn't offer much anything special, even if it isn't terrible. It is suspenseful at times, but not to the point of discomfort like a good horror movie can ratchet it up too. The movie's twists don't land with a lot of weight either, though they aren't awfully done. I'm not a fan of a lot of gore in movies, but the film does have one really violent scene and it works pretty well. But there are also a couple of gross-out scenes that I thought were just cheap. At times "Pet" also veers toward wanting to be psycho-sexual, but never achieves much there either. There just isn't anything it does, or tries to do, that other movies haven't done better. If you like horror like me, than it could be worth checking out for some mediocre thrills and suspense, but if you're looking for an actually good movie to scare and/or unnerve you, than this isn't it. 5/10.

If Travis Bickle ( from Taxi Driver ) worked in a kennel, and kidnapped Amy Dunne ( from Gone Girl ) , this movie would be the result. An obsessive, lonely guy runs into his girl, gets rejected by her, subsequently kidnaps her, holding her hostage in a cage in the cellar of the kennel he works in. The plot thickens, when we learn the girl is a schizophrenic, sociopathic killer, who then manipulates this nitwit to commit the murder of this film's equivalent of Scatman Crothers ( from The Shining ) . After several lengthy, ponderous lectures about love and sacrifice, the filmmakers tried for an ironic twist ending, but it's​ such an obvious twist, that one can see it coming from a mile away. It's also completely implausible, and not believable for a second.Mediocre melodrama, with bursts of violence and bloodshed, the kind of film that should have gone straight to DVD, in the early 2000s, not be shown in a cinema. I do specifically​ mean * a * cinema, as in ONE SINGLE CINEMA, for one single week, where it proceeded to make $63US opening weekend, $70US total, placing at number 149 for its sole week of release. ( Source: http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/? page=weekly&id=pet2016.htm )Wow. Just, wow