House of 9 (2005) R - 2 Stas

At first, I was going to say what is Dennis Hopper doing in this film? After thinking about it for a moment, of course he's in this bizarre mystery film. This is a movie where you suffer with bad acting and a ridiculous story line, up until the very end of the movie which is the best part, also you cheer because it's over. Maybe the main problem is, these nine people, randomly kidnapped and thrown in a locked mansion together , have nothing to do with each other making it impossible for you to give two cents about any of them. Other than the dancer, the others are all people you yourself would hate to be locked up with. Maybe that's the point. Perhaps it was trying to be a game like "Saw," or "The Cube," but it never shows you anything about the owner of the game and seems so pointless. I did liked the DVD cover, which enticed me to watch the flick but the ending leads one to believe there could be a sequel, ugh, as I hope they avoid this.

Nine Strangers, a priest Father Duffy (Dennis Hopper), the dance Lea (Kelly Brook), the cop Jay (Raffaello Degruttola), husband Francis (Hippolyte Girardot) and wife Cynthia (Julienne Davis), drug addict Shona (Morven Christie), pro tennis player Claire Leevy (Susie Amy), and Max Roy (Peter Capaldi), are kidnapped and all awaken in a small mansion type setting with bricked in windows and steal locked doors. An announcers voice comes over a PA system explaining the nine are in a game of survival where there can be only one winner. The doors will not open until there is one survivor, who can walk through the door with their prize of 5 million dollars.

Bauer Martinez Studios, Deffender Film Fund Production
Director: Steven R. Monroe
Writer: Philippe Vidal
Producers: Philippe Martinez, Alan Latham, Karen Hamilton (II)

I viewed 2/10