Plot Synopsis: A group of friends take a sick person to the hospital, only to discover it’s eerily similar to an amusement park attraction where a tragic event took place.
Justin Oberholtzer
It’s amazing how similar this film is to “Silent Hill: Revelation”. It came out before that sequel, which was based on the video game “Silent Hill 3”, so I’m not sure which one borrowed elements from the other. Not that either is a remake or a rip-off. It’s just that their editing and stories strike bearing resemblances. The difference is I actually enjoyed the “Silent Hill” sequel more than I did this.
Both films deal with teenagers being haunted by their past. Both spend the first half with them discovering (or in this case, re-discovering) what is haunting them, with a series of flashbacks helping to spell things out. Both films suffer from weak characterization, though Daisuke Hosaka’s screenplay for “Shock Labyrinth” tries harder in developing drama. Both wind up becoming film versions of haunted house attractions halfway through, with Michael J. Bassett’s film utilizing this aspect much better.
The main difference is that “Silent Hill: Revelation” throws as many freaky and creative monsters at you as possible, with most of them being done with practical effects. In “Shock Labyrinth”, Takashi Shimizu goes for atmosphere, but stumbles due to the erratic editing. Not to mention when freaky things do begin to happen, they’re almost all unintentionally hilarious. The woman crawling out of a stuffed bunny takes the cake! The only thing that truly frightened me in this film were the living mannequins.
While I wasn’t completely on board with the teenagers, I did appreciate the effort put into their back story. I won’t go into heavy detail, but will state it deals with guilt on their part for forcing a friend into a scary haunted house ride. A ride that ended up being deadlier than they expected. This premise can go a long way, but it gets lost in the shoddy CGI and lousy 3D effects. And no, I didn’t watch it in 3D. I can just tell what was supposed to be in the third dimension, solely because most of it (including the rain) looked like a terrible CGI effect.
This review has kind of devolved into a recommendation for “Silent Hill: Revelation”. I don’t want anybody to think that film’s a masterpiece. It has it’s fair share of problems. However, that film at least delivers on the horror front, while “The Shock Labyrinth” falters badly. Both films are on Netflix Instant. I’d recommend checking out the “Silent Hill” sequel instead.
Why Should You Put This In Your Queue? The premise is promising, there’s an attempt at giving the characters depth, there are a few creepy moments, mainly when dealing with the mannequins.
Why Shouldn’t You Put This In Your Queue? The horror elements are both underwhelming & laughable. The CGI is awful! The flashbacks are done in bright white lighting, reminding me of the red sepia tone that plagued “The Angry Red Planet”. It’s not as engaging as it could be.
Matt Stetler
I always tend to hold Asian films to a slightly higher level, especially when it comes to horror films. There was a period where every popular horror film here in the states was actually a remake of an Asian horror film. In almost all these cases, the original was superior. Shock Labyrinth hasn’t been remade (yet), but that could be because its a pretty average, by the numbers haunted house-like film.
The story plays out like a combination of Stephen King’s It and Final Destination. There’s a group of friends, brought back together for a specific reason, who cheated a supernatural force when they were children and now have to face it again. The difference between this and It, is the story plays out much slower, with the main pieces of the puzzle being slowly revealed and the payoff not coming until almost the very end. Also, the first act is a rushed mess. There’s a lot of backstory, which is necessary for making the whole film work, and they run through it all a little quickly to get the characters to the main plot destination.
Once we arrive at the location where 80% of the film takes place, this is where the film really starts. You’ll be getting a lot of the same old, same old haunted house type of scares here. Not saying that there is anything wrong with any of this, but it does make for a somewhat predictable experience. The fact that none of the characters come across very well defined did make it hard for me to have a vested interest in what happens. Not sure if that is on the director or the actors. I also didn’t realize until after viewing Shock Labyrinth that it was made in 3D. Viewing it in 2D doesn’t cause you as the viewer to lose anything, but it does make sense why the backstory was so rushed in favor of getting to the scares…backstory doesn’t provide any great opportunities for cool 3D effects.
All this being said, this isn’t the worst film you could watch for Halloween. The third act does make up for a lot of what you’ll have to sit through to get to it. Bottom line, Shock Labyrinth isn’t the best but it’s not the worst either. It’s a serviceable revenge/haunted house film that would be a good pick to watch with a group of friends with the lights off.
Why you should put it in your queue: It’s a simple premise done simply. It’s a perfect, middle of the road scary movie that people who don’t usually watch a lot of horror films look for at this time of the year.
Why you shouldn’t put it in your queue: It IS a simple premise DONE simply. There’s just a lot of wasted potential here. It’s not terrible, but it could have been so much better. Also, there’s the subtitle thing.