Viewed – 28 October 2010  Blu-ray

When a movie claims on the front cover to be from the writers of Saw IV-VI, I wouldn’t consider that to be much to boast about, considering that on a whole they were the weaker entries in the franchise.  That being said this does at least offer a fairly interesting premise, that of a professional thief who breaks into a rich family’s house to obtain a priceless diamond so to save his girlfriend from some gangster’s she owes money to.  Yet on entering the house he soon discovers the family have been taken hostage by a deranged serial killer and further more, has set a series of elaborate traps around the house incase anyone tries to escape, or in the case of the thief, interrupt.

Sean Penn look-a-like Josh Stewart plays the thief faced with the decision of whether to take the diamond and run or try to save the family, whilst the killer himself is a wrestler mask wearing bandy-legged freak that is immediately creepy.  As this is from the guys responsible for several of the Saw movies, the traps are imaginative, the murders and torture scenes gut-wrenching and skillfully played out, and the whole movie drips of style and atmosphere.  Now with that in mind, the movie does borrow somewhat from that other burglar enters the wrong house movie The People Under The Stairs as well as the previously mentioned franchise, and often the movie keeps yelling at the viewer that this killer is being set up as some sort of new icon in horror, which sadly he is not, as his look isn’t visually interesting enough to be the next Jason or Michael, and charisma is none existent, so Freddy and Hannibal can rest easy.  Oh and the opening credits rip off Seven unashamedly, to much lesser effect.

Overall though this is competently made horror that although mostly undemanding, has several ‘oh shit’ moments and assured direction.  But a sequel, I’d be very surprised to see.

Verdict:  3 /5