SiREN Review
SiREN started life in the film VHS as the segment Amateur Night. The story saw three friends trying to secretly film their own sex tape via Google glass style specs, then have the tables turned on them when the girl they bring back isn’t all she seemed. It’s a fantastic short and is one of the strongest stories in all the VHS films. It should come as no surprise that it was decided to make it into a feature length film. It’s a common trend at the moment and you only have to look at the success of recent release Light’s Out to see that there is money to be had.
So how has the film changed from the source material? Well this time around Jonah (Chase Williamson) is a man about to get married. His older brother Mac (Michael Aaron Milligan) is the best man and wants to throw the best bachelor party ever. Forgoing the usual bachelor spots like Vegas, Mac thinks he’s found the perfect place elsewhere. Disappointment soon sets in though as his selected venue is rather sad. In a desperate attempt to salvage the night and still give his little brother a night he’ll never forget, he agrees to visit a secret club spot recommended by a shadowy stranger. Once the group arrive they are greeted by masses of striking females, but things soon take a sinister turn. Looks like Jonas will definitely get his night to remember, just for all the wrong reasons…
Tonally the film is a little unsteady. The screening that we caught at Frightfest had the audiences laughing throughout, but it was unclear whether we were meant to. A lot of the time it fortunately seems like we were; Mr Nyx (Justin Welborn) is hilarious and I can only hope that he is meant as comedy relief.
SiREN Review
The effects work is impressive, the creature only glimpsed in Amateur Night takes centre stage this time around. Kudos to Hannah Fierman as she spends the entire film nude. It’s not gratuitous nudity though as her lady parts are obscured the majority of the time. She’s merely an animal, and as such remains nude.
SiREN has it’s work cut out for it from the very beginning. Amateur Night was such a strong, and in many ways complete, story that it must have been hard to reinvent. Particularly when what made Amateur Night so good was the shock reveal of the girls real identity. Having already seen the original short, this time around we already know the twist and a lot of the spark is diminished. That’s not to say that the film doesn’t try in earnest, adding a plethora of exotic ladies.
They say that lightening never strikes twice and sadly SiREN is a strong idea that is somewhat squandered. An example of less would’ve been more.
