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Isabelle (2018)
Misunderstood
*Warning - Spoilers below*
Great Premise, but the movie needed more runtime. It felt like there were two stories being told, one for Larissa and one for Isabelle..
Many reviewers were not kind to this film, but I found it a decent thriller.
I don't think the film was meant to be jump-out-of-your-chair scary. I believe it was meant to have that eerie, goosebumps, supernatural thriller flavor.
Anyway...onto my opinion of the film take it or leave it....
Matt and Larissa move to a new town and purchase a gorgeous home next door to some creepy neighbors. Larissa suffers a tragic loss and the film explores her struggle with the anguish and mental fatigue of coping and trying to resume a normal life again. Her spirit is weak and vulnerable to the attack she doesn't realize is coming for her.
Isabelle (Zoe Belkin) was born paralyzed and mute and was abused by her father and forced to participate in satanic rituals and later, according to her devil-worshiping father, was 'given over to the dark lord'. It made me feel bad for Isabelle since she was not a willing participant in any of it. She's a prisoner in her own body. She's unable to move, or at least not well, and is also mute. She just watches the world go by and cannot convey her thoughts, nor act on her own behalf. She sits in a room watching the world pass her by until she sees Larissa and Matt move in next door. Larissa has the life Isabelle has always dreamed of and she wants it. Belkin does an amazing job at conveying what Isabelle is feeling with only a facial expression. Some reviewers seem to feel that Isabelle is channeling an evil entity that wants Larissa, but I think that she is just using that dark energy to get what she wants because she can.
Isabelle's mother, Ann, has a room full of candles and religious items seemingly to makeup for Isabelle's father's transgressions. She's a very odd lady and does not speak much and seems to be wrought with guilt over her daughter.
While checking the mail, Larissa doubles over in pain and begins to bleed and holds out her phone to Ann to dial 911. (Apparently, she can hold out the phone at arms length but cannot dial it. Do people really have to be told they need to call 911 by the victim? I hate that in movies!)
At the hospital, the nurse tells Matt that, Larissa was clinically dead for 60 seconds and the entire movie is based on her experience in that minute in the 'afterlife'.
Larissa's baby doesn't make it and she's deeply depressed and begins to hear a baby crying. She begins to see Isabelle invading her space accompanied by a foul odor. Matt cannot see the spirit or smell it and begins to feel that Larissa is losing her mind. I think Amanda Crew did a great job portraying Larissa's fragile mental state and her spiral into depression and despair amplified by Isabelle's tormenting.
One night, while Matt and Larissa are sleeping, Isabelle appears hovering over their bed. Larissa wakes up and smells the odor which Matt cannot and tells Matt to check the alarm. Meanwhile, we see Isabelle in the closet caressing Larissa's wedding dress which is our first clue as to Isabelle's endgame.
The next day, Larissa sees Isabelle wearing her wedding dress and looking in the mirror which shows that Isabelle wants more than just the dress. Isabelle turns around and gives Larissa a sinister gaze and growls "Get out of MY life!" Larissa fires a gun and the wedding dress falls to the floor empty. Matt finds Larissa on the floor with the wedding dress and Larissa laments about how her mother thought she was a bad person and begs Matt not to divorce her. Nothing was mentioned of the dress nor what transpired which seemed odd. Matt kisses her and they make love. Isabelle watches with focus, envy and determination.
In the middle of the night, Larissa gets out of bed to go to the bathroom. This scene is punctuated by a shot of Larissa's hand and Matt's hand with fingers intertwined. Larissa slowly separates her hand from his and gets out of bed. This will be noteworthy later. Larissa comes back from the bathroom and finds Isabelle lying in her place next to Matt and smiling wickedly as though to say "I belong here, not you." and Larissa starts screaming. Matt wakes up and of course doesn't see what Larissa is screaming about.
Matt visits Pedro, a spiritualist, who warns Matt that Larissa is in a state of mind where she doesn't value her own life and that the spirit that is haunting her is angry and will take it from her if she can, exchanging Larissa's life for hers. He warns that Larissa must be strong and the will to live is everything. We already know from Larissa's suicide attempts that her will to live is weak and that Isabelle's is very strong. He also explains that because Larissa has bee 'through the gate that separates life from death' that she can see spirits as clearly as he and Matt can see each other. He explains that he will see Isabelle when she's ready to take Larissa's place or already has.
Matt comes home to find Larissa passed out from taking too many pills and makes her puke them up. Larissa tells Matt that Isabelle has been staring at her from the window. Matt and then goes next door to prove that there is no one there. No one is home so he creeps around and finds Isabelle's room. He finds Isabelle's body and calls the cops.
The police arrive and Larissa seems distant and is sitting on the bed. Matt tells her that he's going to talk to the police. She just blankly stares and turns her head as Matt goes down to talk to the police. It's as though her body were vacant. We never see Isabelle actually takeover, nor do we know if Larissa left her body or if Isabelle forced her out, but in either case it seems that this is the point where Isabelle succeeds in taking Larissa's place.
The next scene, to me anyway, is the best in the film. It has an eerie, sinister, supernatural vibe with the perfect musical score. When Matt returns, Larissa's eyes have a red glow as Matt climbs into bed. Here the background music really sets the mood and is absolutely perfect for the scene. As Matt puts his hand on his wife's body, and as soon as he speaks his wife's name and tells her it's over and everything will be okay, we see blue 'veins' move across Larissa's face an neck and then, Larissa morphs into Isabelle. I'm not sure if Matt has to accept Isabelle as his wife to complete her takeover of Larissa's body or not, but the timing seemed purposeful. Her hand, now adorned with Larissa's wedding rings, moves on top of his and their fingers intertwine. It's the exact same shot as earlier except in reverse as though to illustrate Larissa letting go and Isabelle taking hold. Isabelle moves their intertwined hands under the covers. Isabelle smiles a wickedly triumphant smile as she prepares to consummate her new marriage with her new body.
Next we see Larissa in Isabelle's wheelchair unable to move or speak. (Larissa is still wearing her wedding ring which I would have gotten rid of for the scene. I would have also dressed Larissa in the same thing Isabelle wore to further illustrate their lives had been exchanged and her marriage was now Isabelle's.) Isabelle now has what she desired; Larissa's healthy body and everything that goes with it. Isabelle knows that Larissa is now on the outside looking in from across the street and thoroughly enjoys making love to Matt while Larissa watches. I wish the lighting was a little brighter for this scene, but it's enough to show both Matt and Isabelle enjoying intense pleasure with their positioning such that Larissa can see both of their faces. They should have gotten at least as much screen time as Larissa's muffled screams, but the 3 seconds is enough to get the point across.
Isabelle had watched Larissa and Matt make love and envied Larissa and coveted what she had and now, it was hers. Matt gets up and Isabelle is glaring out the window with a look of sinister satisfaction. She can clearly see the tortured Larissa sitting in her old room with a look of terror as Isabelle stands in Larissa's place. Matt comes out of the bathroom and when he sees Larissa sitting in the window he realizes that it's Isabelle there with him, but I'm not sure he realizes that he'd made love to Isabelle and not his wife. It's a bit confusing. Isabelle attacks Matt and says "It's too late". Next she's downstairs in her old clothes throwing Matt around saying "You can't save her" Since Isabelle goes from wearing Larissa's clothes to her own it's confusing as to weather she actually took over Larissa's physical body or if Isabelle's spirit took physical form and replaced her in bed. It was never really explained that well.
Personally, I like a darker-themed film in the supernatural thriller genre. I think that Isabelle should have occupied Larissa's body for a lot longer. Larissa should have been made to watch more of her life being taken over by Isabelle and Matt should have gone longer before he realized that Isabelle had taken over Larissa's body. A larger struggle to reclaim Larissa would have been more thrilling, at least that's my opinion.
As with nearly every film of this type, the dark forces do not prevail, but sometimes I like a darker ending. What a wonderful twist ending it would have been to see Isabelle getting out of the car with the baby at the end and looking up with a smile as Larissa looks down from Isabelle's bedroom window as Isabelle goes inside the house with Matt and her new baby. Isabelle could have easily entered Larissa's body in that one minute and once she was inside and Larissa's spirit would have been drawn into Isabelle's body.
I would love to find a copy of the screenplay and read it for myself.
A Sister's Obsession (2018)
Entertaining, but predictable
This movie was so predictable, but enjoyable. Five minutes into the film, they showed Kendra's birthmark so I knew that the 'good' twin would prevail, and the scene in the bar where they pretended not to know each other set things up for Amber to trick Dane. Saw that one coming...as I said, predictable.
Lindsay Hartley did such a nice job with her dual role, I would have liked to have seen the plot take a different direction rather than the typical Hollywood 'evil twin' plotline.
When Amber first visits the house, she signs for some packages that Kendra had ordered online. Some clothes and nail polish. I would have liked to have seen Amber break in and take some of Kendra's actual clothes, or use the same online shopping to duplicate her outfits. Taking the packages raises suspicion.
Amber was a thief by trade, so getting seen at the house was her first mistake that really shouldn't have happened and why didn't Kendra and Dane notice the big blank spot on the wall from their missing wedding photo? Amber took pictures of everything else with her phone, why not that?
Amber stole Kendra's credit card info and went on a shopping spree at the same boutique and maxed out her cards. Stupid. If her plan was to get rid of her sister and take over her life, she was doing it all wrong. For her plan to succeed, she should have worked from the shadows gathering information, not going out in public dressed as Kendra and running into her friends. When she went to have her nails done and fooled Kendra's regular manicurist, I was hoping that Amber was practicing her 'Kendra' persona and working her way up Kentra's friends to see if she could fool them, but alas, it went downhill from there and she ended up having to murder people to keep them from telling Kendra. I think it would have been more sinister for Amber to insinuate herself with Kendra's friend Monica and even her mother to make them begin to doubt the real Kendra as she worked her way to Dane.
Amber had also stolen Kendra's epi pen and safe deposit box key. Who carries their safe deposit box key all the time? Really? Kendra went to the bank to get some jewelry from the box and couldn't find the key, then shortly after, Amber shows up with the key wearing different clothes and of course, the same bank employee helps her. The smart move would have been to wait until the following day when the change in outfit would have been less suspicious. And bank employees NEVER stand in the room and chat you up while you open your box. Only in the movies. I'm still not sure what the box's contents had to do with the storyline.
Amber's friend, Lotto who employed some typically bogus movie hacking techniques accessed Kendra's email allowing Amber to have some visibility into Kendra's life. Why not her social media? Why not clone her phone? Why not bug the house to listen in? It would have been nice to see an 'Amazon Echo' or some other device in the house that Lotto could have hacked to give Amber more current information. If you're going to use fake hacking...do it right. Amber needed a way to spy on Dane and Kendra's intimate moments if she wanted to successfully take her place, especially fooling her husband.
When Amber lands Kendra in the hospital with an allergic reaction to poppy seeds (you can buy just the seeds by the way, you don't need to scrape them off bagels) , she deliver's Kendra's speech flawlessly and then goes to the bar to seduce Kendra's drunk husband by playing their little 'we just met' game, as predicted. Dane notices that 'Kendra' isn't wearing her wedding ring and Amber kisses him to distract him. (Kendra should have had a prettier, more distinctive wedding set than the plain gold band anyway and Amber should have devised a scheme to get it.) Dane, of course, forgets his phone when he goes off with Amber just as Kendra tries calling again. Again, this all would have been so much better if they didn't know that Kendra had a twin.
When Dane sees the missing birthmark, he is suddenly sober as a judge and Amber has to knock him out and her plan falls apart. With these movies, the impersonation usually only lasts a few hours before they're hauled off in cuffs.
If I were writing this movie, I would have sent it down a darker path. I would have not used the birthmark so the two would be nearly impossible to tell apart and I would have had Amber gather more information and stay hidden until it was time to switch places. Amber wanted what she thought was rightfully hers, Kendra's life and she wanted to make Kendra suffer for 'abandoning' her at the orphanage. What better way than to keep Kendra tied up and drugged in a dingy basement somewhere while she took over her life? Visit her daily wearing her clothes and her wedding ring and brag about sleeping with her husband until such time as she became 'disposable'? The pregnancy was another giveaway that the good twin would prevail. It would have been better to see Kendra unable to get pregnant and then see Amber get pregnant in her place while sleeping with her husband. Maybe even have Kendra escape and try to confront Amber in a psychotic, drug-induced rage, then being hauled away in cuffs while Amber, wearing Kendra's sexy nightwear, is comforted by Dane who is now convinced that the imposter is his real wife.
I remember watching a movie called 'Echo' with Jack Wagner where a twin successfully takes over his brother's life and sleeps with his wife while the brother is forced to watch. It was a well-executed plot and the 'bad' twin prevailed. This movie could have been much more exciting and less predictable, but it was entertaining nonetheless.
Woman on the Run (2017)
Seemed to have missing elements
This would have been a much more believable situation if they'd used the 'estranged twin' or 'lookalike stranger' approach rather than the nanny. It would have made Nomi's job that much harder and perhaps Jane would have been more easily convinced.
When Nomi encounters Mark and Greta for the first time, her eyes seem to fall on her wedding ring now on Greta's finger, a deliberate act given how Greta placed her hand on Mark, but I also wonder if Greta is wearing Nomi's cocktail dress since from that point on in the movie, Greta gets a noticeable wardrobe upgrade. Nomi's reaction seemed a bit tame for that type of scenario.
In the police station, the fact that the detective uses an easily faked social media page as defacto proof of identity is pretty lame, not to mention that they can't tell the driver's license in Nomi's possession is fake. Also, when being served with a restraining order, like any other court document, the recipient has to admit that they are the person named on the document or be identifiable by another acceptable means. Nomi is there filing a claim for identity theft. For most police, wouldn't that raise doubt as to whether the restraining order is enforceable? The escape from the psychiatric hospital was ludicrous. Hospitals are designed to be occupied during a fire emergency and usually run on a two-alarm system. The first notifies staff of a potential emergency and patient room doors are closed by staff and fire doors automatically close. The staff doesn't run around in a panic chasing patients and losing track of them as the spill out into the parking lot. Also, as Nomi and Oscar leave through a back entrance, we notice that it's fenced, even on the top for security yet the gate is unlocked.
Oh...the rental car. It wouldn't have taken a lot of effort to track down the person that rented the car to Greta or the surveillance tapes.
The police officer that responded to Jane's 911 call must be very fragile since Greta running past her and pushing her into the car renders her unconscious for an extended period of time. In my opinion, something that is overused in cinema. Most healthy people regain consciousness in seconds, not hours unless it's drug-induced.
It was entertaining, but could have filled in the holes a little better. It makes me wonder what ended up on the cutting room floor.