A feared critic, an icy gallery owner and an ambitious assistant snap up a recently deceased artist’s stash of paintings — with dire consequences.
The premise of the movie was so interesting and it could have made for a entertaining horror movie. Unfortunately the screenplay and direction by Dan Gilroy is a big let down. Had huge expectations from the movie after watching the trailer and having loved Dan Gilroy’s Nightcrawler. The movie needed more scary scenes and it needed a better ending.
Jake Gyllenhaal was excellent as the snobbish art critic Morf Vandewalt. Rene Russo was good as Rhodora Haze, the art gallery owner. Toni Collette was good as Gretchen in a smaller role. Zawe Ashton was very good as Josephina, the ambitious art gallery assistant. Natalia Dyer (Stranger Things fame) was good as Coco in a small role. John Malkovich was good as Piers, an artist but his role made no sense in the larger scheme of the movie. His role can be completely removed from the movie and it wouldn’t make a difference. The rest of the cast was good too.
The movie has been described as a satire on the art world by Dan Gilroy. If that was the case then the movie should have avoided the horror and supernatural part. The movie ended up being neither a good satire nor a good horror movie.
Tags: Jake Gyllenhaal Toni Collette
