I was looking for a thread on this film, and didn't find one. I did see it mentioned in the IFC Midnight Films thread (apparently, CPT HOOK found it none too enjoyable), and I just saw it over the weekend. Really liked it. I'm not a fan of home invasion type movies, I think Straw Dogs did it best, and even some of the 70s outings (House on the Edge of the Park, Fight For Your Life) were just pale imitations. But Kidnapped is pretty fresh, in that it was done in long single takes (12, to be exact), so it's got a similar feel to Birdman. You really feel you're "in the moment". There's some great split screen work too. I'm surprised I liked this so much, as I even found You're Next and The Purge to be rather dull, but Kidnapped is one of the better entries in this subgenre, in my opinion. Check it out.
I haven't seen it since it came out so it has been a few years, but yeah, I hated it. The goal seemed to be realism, so it's very straight-forward and matter of fact. I just failed to see any entertainment value in the movie whatsoever. I don't remember there being any cat-and-mouse stuff, it's just a lot of screaming and people being tortured. There's not a moment where the family really gets the upper hand. It's pretty much devoid of suspense or scares, the whole thing was just dull and mean-spirited. The way the movie ends makes the whole movie seem pretty pointless. Plus, the single-shot gimmick felt really pretentious and destroyed any tension they might have been trying to create. I guess the point of the movie was to depict a realistic and nihilistic version of what a home-invasion would actually look like. There's no creepy masked figures lurking in the background like The Strangers, no cat-and-mouse ala You're Next, no social commentary or subtext ala Straw Dogs. It's just a bunch of guys breaking into a family's house and stabbing / shooting them as they scream and cry. There's really nothing more to it than that. So in that regard, I suppose the filmmakers succeeded in what they set out to accomplish. It's just not a movie I personally care to watch.
Thanks for the head's up about this one, watched it tonight and really liked it. I've been going right off modern horror over the last few years, with one too many disappointing, mediocre and unconvincing movies after another making me reluctant to pick a horror movie over another genre these days, but this one worked for me. Not saying it's a masterpiece by any means, but a good solid 4/5 and definitely worth a watch. Some of the negative reviews I read about it were referring to a dubbed version, which I can imagine would ruin it, so go for the original Spanish version with sub's if you can.
