‘P2′ Review

     When I saw ‘Black Christmas’ last year, I walked out feeling like I had just opened a worthless Christmas present wrapped in a dirty diaper. Tonight when I saw ‘P2,’ I walked out rather satisfied with something that was so simple, but somehow, despite the original storyline, there were still so many elements that served as reminders of prior films of the horror genre. The best way to think of it is ‘Red Eye’ landed in a parking garage with a little more blood, but a little less terror that can probably be predicted in advance.

     When a corporate employee gets stuck working late on Christmas Eve, she soon becomes the next target of a psychopathic security guard who has her trapped inside the nearby parking garage. Caught in a realm of darkness with no help in sight, she must overcome her fears and fight her way to freedom.

     Using two lead actors with rather small reputations, ‘P2’ depends purely on its white-knuckle terror to make its point. Wes Bentley (Ghost Rider) and Rachel Nichols (The Amityville Horror) both turn in decent performances for a quick 98-minute show, but ‘P2’ tried way too hard to survive on just terror. The quick pace and timing was well felt, but still, in a genre that is haunted by endless remakes and mostly unscary stupidity, ‘P2’ doesn’t quite reach as high as its trailer led us to believe it would (Keep in mind, however, I go see so many films, I generally know the trailers by heart before I even see the film they advertise).

     More than likely, for the remainder of 2007, most films, regardless of genre, will be set around the holidays, and it’s always been an interesting treat to find some terror tucked under the tree. Anyone who saw ‘Black Christmas’ would probably say that that piece of garbage should’ve been tightly gift wrapped and disposed of before it even had a chance to screen. ‘P2’ may not be the best way to cap off another year of rather unsatisfying horror flicks, but it does contain enough originality to be worth seeing. Anyone who enjoys simple, one-setting short films may have found their best deal for this year (compared only to ‘Vacancy’), but Cillian Murphy and Rachel McAdams already put a tighter lid on the psycho male chases lonely girl storyline.