Nine Lives (2002 Video)
6/10
Quite disappointing and meandering
11 May 2015
Arriving at a friends' secluded house, a group of friends partying for the weekend find themselves killed one-by-one by their friends possessed by a murderous ancestor and tries to stop them from continuing the rampage.

This was quite a decent if flawed effort. One of the better elements within this one is the rather enjoyable setting here, with the increasingly elaborate layout in the different floors, overflow of rooms and snowbound setting all creating an absolutely phenomenal setting for the events here that not only plays into the isolation of the group but the disorienting nature of the house makes the stalking even more chilling. That also becomes another big part of this one in that the pretty-tense stalking here throughout the film comes off rather nicely with the tension starting with the initial attack in the bathroom and the discovery of the body that affects the group rather deeply being a fine start here. There's a couple of rather intriguing assaults here based on the knowledge acquired from that attack comes into play for them, as scenes of the group going through the halls or down into the basement that follows up the film's best part in the fun chasing in the final half as the impact of the storyline and the layout makes for some really fun action scenes with a sense of tension from the feeling of who's who in here as the possession really takes hold for a frantic, enjoyable time. There here are enough to hold this off somewhat from the flaws within here. The biggest issue with this one is the fact that the film never manages to go all the way with anything in here, as the gore is simply non-existent relying solely on knives impaled in places which is just quite dull both in concept and execution as the same, continuous death scenes just get old after awhile. Likewise, the lack of action here from that low-key nature really stands out by managing to drain the tension out from a large portion of the film by never going all out the way its premise provides the potential for. That as well is the film's final flaw which really stands out here being the rather puzzling premise which certainly allows for a great time here with the possession and stalking angle yet never does anything really interesting or original with it. These here are what keep the film down.

Rated R: Violence and Language.
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