Otis (2008)

OTIS is a story of suburban America gone haywire. In the midst of a serial abductor/killer?s rampage a beautiful young teen Riley Lawson (Ashley Johnson) goes missing. When her desperate parents Will and Kate (Daniel Stern and Illeana Douglas) are contacted by her kidnapper an insufferable FBI Special Agent (Jere Burns) takes charge of the case. But from deep within the psychopathic subterranean world created by Otis (Bostin Christopher) Riley turns the tables on her tormentor manages to escape and to contact her parents. Fed up with the tragi- comic inability of the FBI to find their girl Will Kate and Riley?s brother Reed (Jared Kusnitz) decide to take matters - and justice - into their own hands. But when Otis brother Elmo (Kevin Pollak) shows up unexpectedly the Lawsons find themselves mired in one of the more unusual and macabre consequences of vigilantism. Far from proclaiming ?Mission Accomplished? the backed-in-a-corner Lawsons will further complicate their already deadly predicament with a surprising unfortunate and frankly hilarious final choice.Running Time: 100 min.System Requirements:Running Time: 100 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: HORROR/KILLER Rating: NR UPC: 883929005420 Manufacturer No: 1000036048 Product Description

Two movies in one

I'm a horror buff in the making, catching up on classics and cults and devouring what's new (with exception of brainless torture porn).

Otis falls prey to a young director (Tony Krantz) having too many ideas for one movie, which takes a top-notch premise and clouds it with bells and whistles.

Otis' character is fleshed-out, sympathetic, and wonderfully acted by Bostin Christopher. I went back and forth between hating and loving him. Also, a bravo to Ashley Johnson (What Women Want and others) for an overall wonderful performance.

Where this movie fails is:
- the score, which is near constant and distracting. I understand to homage it makes, but it should never overlap key dialogue.
- Edits skip from the exquisitely handled basement scenes to the family, which is cut like a sitcom at best and weak kitsch at worst.
- the twist at the end. Not so much a negative as a missed opportunity. Yes, unpredictable. Yes, lots of better opportunities with these great characters.
-Some characters sucked the life out of the film. Jere Burns as Agent Hotchkiss. Yes, he was intended (I hope) to be a caricature for inept and useless cops in a visceral situation beyond what the law could do, but does he always have to be chewing gum? Being insensitive? Overt characters have a purpose, but if you lose the subtley there you have to make it up somewhere else.

Some positives
+ GREAT basement scenes and use of filters
+ original concept in a wash of the same
+ some great characters and relationships
+ Kevin Pollak with the convincing supporting role??? wow.

In short:
Well worth a rental for horror junkies and enthusiasts. You owe it to yourself to see how Otis and Riley play off each other. The ending twist, schizophrenic production and overpowering score confuse an otherwise good film.

Parents: Not too much gore in this movie beyond an intense scene at the end. Nothing above what a mature teen could handle. Some drug references and mild sexual situations and an expected amount of violence.

June 18, 2008

Enjoyable at best

Otis is not a bad movie. Otis is like The Last House On The Left, only more campy. All the actors had good chemistry, but what bothered me was Daniel Stern and Kevin Pollak's part. Stern looks more like Otis than his on screen brother, Pollak. Other than that, I had myself quite a few laughs and loved what few scenes of violence there were. This isn't your typical horror movie. I'm sure it's a few virgin's fantasies, but not a typical horror movie. 3 and a half stars. Worth the rent. June 15, 2008

Dull, Silly, Cliche, and Time Wasting

This straight-to-video flick was pure junk-food for the brain. The film was a waste of talent. "Otis" was an ambitious project, but ultimately, the result is a mess. Who allowed this movie to see the light of day? I cannot recommend this movie to anyone--unless you host a "bad movie night" film showing at your home theater.

The actors really screwed the pooch on this one...blame the screenwriter for the awful dialog and the ludicrous story. Surprisingly, the title character, "Otis" was the only semi-believable character. "They call that a paradox." --Frank Costello (from "The Departed")

On a positive note: the use of rock `n' roll music was an interesting choice. I noticed several wonderful music cues throughout the movie. But rock music could not save this P.O.S. from rising above the rank of "B-movie."

Give me a million dollars and a camera, I could write and shoot a better movie. Film-makers: STOP using the F-word EXCESSIVELY! Excessive profanity is simply bad writing.
June 14, 2008

Highly entertaining, but not for everyone

This is a STRANGE movie. We saw the trailer for it on "The Orphanage" DVD and thought, well that movie looks pretty funny, let's get that.

Short Synopsis: Otis is a hulking pervert who captures teenage girls and takes them home where he fulfills his high school fantasies, forcing them to "play along." Otis got more than he bargained for when he abducts Riley whose family has a collective screw loose to begin with.

This movie was funny in a dark and almost sad way. Everyone in the film is warped so the only character you can really identify with is Riley... and she doesn't say much. The scenes between Riley and Otis are by far the most well acted in the film, they are both disturbing and hysterically funny. Riley's family however never seemed to click, what should have been the funniest scenes in the movie were overacted which seriously drained the humor out of them. Each character was funny in their own right, but as a unit they never meshed completely. Still this was a very enjoyable film with much less gore than anticipated, no nudity (sorry boys) but for those of you who don't like profanity, this movie is full of it. I don't have an issue with profanity in R rated movies... but the profanity in this one feels a bit forced, as if either the actors weren't comfortable using it, or they just couldn't get the rhythm of what they were saying.

Even though the acting was a bit off, this was a really fun movie with quite a few laughs. I would say its best viewed in a group setting with a couple of beers and popcorn.

Since it's unrated I'll give you my rating synopsis -
Nudity - None, though there is a girl in her underwear.
Sex - None seen, though it is mentioned and alluded to
Violence - I'd give this an R for one particular scene
Profanity - Definite R
Drug use - There is mention of drugs, and you see the son popping pills.
June 12, 2008

Great black comedy

I caught Otis at the SXSW film festival in Austin, and it was one of the stand out films of the event.

Otis is a serial killer who kidnaps young pretty girls to fulfill his own dreams of what he missed in high school. Eventually these girls fight back and die. His latest victim, Riley (the beautiful Ashley Johnson) has a bit more fight than he's used to. And her family is even more aggressive.

The cast does a great job pulling the story together. Illena Douglas, who always does a great job, is incredible as the mother who has gone a little crazy. Ashley Johnson is perfect as Riley. She has that nice combo of being both hot and yet very sweet at the same time, much like the character she played on CSI.

I think the stand out actor on this is Jared Kusnitz, who I also saw in Dance of the Dead (incredibly good movie). Somehow the movie gets a little funnier every time he's in a scene.

One note on casting...I couldn't help feeling like Kevin Pollack and Daniel Stern were cast in each others roles as the brother of Otis and the father of Ashley Johnson, repetitively. They both did a great job, but Daniel Stern looks much more like the brother of Otis than Pollack. Although I do love the scenes with Stern and Kusnitz.

Otis is a movie best viewed with some friends who enjoy black comedies. This film's pretty dark, but really enjoyable. May 27, 2008

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