Removal
Removal
R | 07 November 2010 (USA)
Removal Trailers

Gothic horror meets industrial-strength cleaning products in this spine-tingler about a pill-popping cleaning service employee and a sprawling mansion with secrets of its own.

Reviews
Leofwine_draca

REMOVAL is your standard psychological thriller set in a dark and sprawling old house. The main character is a cleaner who soon discovers his new place of work has some dark and disturbing murderous secrets to hide. While I appreciate that the filmmakers went out of their way to shoot something other than your bog standard CGI ghost film, the problem with REMOVAL is its familiarity. That, and the fact that protagonist Mark Kelly just isn't a very interesting actor.This is a film which thinks it is far more original and cleverly-written than it really is. I could name one or two obvious inspirations on the story but I won't as these would give the game away. Let's just say that the film should have given thanks to those movies in the end credits. What we have in REMOVAL is your typical low budget filmmaking, a just-about-adequate type of movie that never really grips or blows you away as it should. It does feel very talky and bogged down in places. The cast features TWILIGHT's Billy Burke, a cameoing Elliott Gould playing a psychiatrist, and a big role for Oz Perkins (son of Anthony). Kelly Brook is here too, and the quality of her acting doesn't seem to have improved with the passage of time.

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thesar-2

If NOT for the fantastic performance from Mark Kelly playing cleaner Cole Hindin (it helped that I had a huge crush on him during this, but that didn't alter my review), some good cinematography and a great soundtrack/score, 'Removal' (5/10) would be a complete waste. Why? Well, I can't say without spoiling the movie's over-used "secret" that I almost missed. I'll be honest, I usually see this coming, and I did kinda get it through the movie with the numerous clues. Part of the problem was the enormously bad acting from the movie's homeowner, Henry Sharpe (Oz Perkins). In fact, it was so obviously bad, you knew something was up. That said, again, Mark did such a good job, you'd think you were watching a Class A movie vs. the B-movie it was. It's worth a rental if you like those suspenseful (lite) thinkers involving a recovering and separated man, Cole, who witnessed his best friend, Eric, kill himself following Eric killing his own wife. Time has passed and now Cole's being summoned to conduct a solo yet "3-Person" cleaning job at a massive mansion overnight. Cole's suspicious of the owner's secretive nature regarding the quick/quiet job and the weird disappearance of his own wife. See it on the cheap.

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whiteshadow1606

I'm not really a fan for a movie this type. So, I give it a 5 for neutral. The twisting plot is so awesome. It's like I've been thinking the whole time what the hell is actually happened? And wanted to know how the ending's gonna be. Well, at least the ending told the whole story.But, what's weird though is how the two-characters talk to each other. It doesn't seem like he was talking to himself. More like a real conversation to another guy. That's not how hallucination looks like. Yeah, i know he created another identity for himself so that he can cover up what he had done from the past, but it doesn't looks right. The characters should be played differently.As i don't really likes psycho movie, so I can say the movie wasn't so bad, and not so good. Just average.Note: I do a lot of fast forward while watching this movie. :)

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ginatbryant

I'm not usually a big fan of low-budget thrillers with all their gratuitous gore and hacky flashbacks but for its genre, I think this movie is a 10. I love its offbeat intensity. It has all the fun of a campy movie while avoiding being....well...campy. For a thriller it's remarkably gripping, sophisticated and well-acted, without taking itself too seriously. Mark Kelly's flammable character is an edgy yet cool carpet-cleaner. Oz Perkins (son of Tony) gives us impeccable poker-faced comic relief as an uptight millionaire. (Makes me want to look for them in other films.) Billy Burke is his penetrating, sensitive self. There's also a great cameo by Elliot Gould playing a psychiatrist. And there will be blood- plenty of it. But it's the story's ending that gets you. It made me want to turn around immediately and see it again! There's nothing better than walking out of a film reeling! (pun?)

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