I'll admit that I haven't recognized Rebecca De Mornay in a movie since The Hand that Rocks the Cradle in 1992. She was in The Wedding Crashers, but I can't say I have any recollection of her at all. I can say I liked her as the cruel maternal person who would slay anyone in her path to protect "her" child from being taken from her in the 1992 movie.
So, to change things altogether, she plays a mother who will do anything to protect her children from being taken from her. Her children in this case are hardened and cruel murderers/thieves. They are fresh from a job gone wrong, in the path of a tornado, without a good way of communicating with their mother (the gang leader), and on the run from a dragnet.
So, they don't know that their mother lost her house, and they go to her for help, as one of their troop is shot. Unfortunately for everyone involved, there is a couple who moved into the house since their mother left. So, we wind up in a hostage situation with the kids running wild until the mother comes back. While I don't recognize anyone in the house other than BSG's Kandyse McClure up until this point, we see the big name, Rebecca, and then we see the hidden talent in this movie - Deborah Ann Woll.
That's right, Deborah Ann Woll, the devastatingly pretty redhead vampire from True Blood plays the shy daughter who is conflicted and just needs a little convincing that she's actually pretty before she will be willing to stand up to her mother's tyrannical reign - assuming the conveniently present doctor played by Shawn Ashmore can touch her soul and do some back-of-the-envelope psychoanalysis.
This movie was directed by the same guy who did Saw 2, 3, and 4, so I had a certain expectation level for a simplicity of storyline and a likely massive amount of gore. The story was a bit more twisted than I expected, and there was less gore than I anticipated. That's not to say there was none. There was a bit of torture going on, and there are various body parts that get lost. One guy bleeds through the entire movie.
All told, it was a better movie than I expected.
Good camera work.
Good special effects.
Good direction.
Very good acting (in spots).
Decent script.
3.5/5