WATCH NOW
From the moment I heard of Don’t Look Away, I knew I had to watch it. Its combination of possessed objects and horror is intriguing, to say the least. So, I decided to spend my weekend watching Micheal Bafaro’s story about a killer mannequin and let me tell you, I was not disappointed. The film does have pacing issues like many films do, but I came out having a good time and most importantly, satisfied. I am excited to see what Bafaro makes next.
Here is how the story goes Frankie (Kelly Bastard) decides to go clubbing after accidentally running a pedestrian over with her car. While at the club, she takes some pills to help her loosen up. Unfortunately, she’s still really upset over her car accident. In fact, ever since that accident, she feels like somebody is watching her all the time. To her horror, she discovers that the pedestrian she hit was not as normal as he appeared to be. He was actually a part of the transport for a deadly mannequin, and now she and everyone she cares about are in danger of the cursed figure. Ahhh!
I won’t say it’s perfect.
And that is why it isn’t. However, there are parts of Don’t Look Away that are pretty decent. The beginning caught my attention and for the first twenty minutes, I was thoroughly entertained. For a while after such a promising start, things seem to drift but do get better towards the end.
The bloodshed on the dance floor in the open sequence is incredibly well-being. The last ten minutes of the movie are equally intense, deeply scary, and strangely engaging. While I would’ve liked to say this about the movie as a whole, I still had fun with Don’t Look Away. I didn’t enjoy watching it, but I’ll give credit to the filmmakers where it is due.
This section of the picture is a bit difficult to get through, which is quite mostly due to the tonal quality. In a film like this is difficult to set the tone. In my opinion, Bafaro was able to find a balance but did not meet the target. The premise required greater acknowledgment and a higher level of humor rather than what is available. I feel like the filmmakers should’ve given better recognition to the premise-like feature. It doesn’t have to be a full-on tongue-in-cheek nod in the middle of the scene. That can be much, much more discreet. But throughout the film, everything is being presented as deathly serious.
The over-the-top feature from which comedy could have easily been drawn could have been achieved by incorporating little dialogue or using a humorous expression of some kind that the characters could use to interact with one another. It doesn’t have to be an over-the-top movement.
These films, however, function best when the audience is somehow given a reason to not take things too seriously. Especially when the murderous antagonist is a CPR doll that mistakenly believes it is alive.
The reason this callback method works is that keeping your audience constantly guessing will make the payoff for the horror much stronger. Knowing how the filmmakers approached the campy tone of the story, one is inclined to be more forgiving. Hence giving them the chance to turn the audial experience upside down. However, for now, these characters are trapped in a perpetual state of dread due to a department store mannequin. But this is all for nothing, as we find out that the mannequin is utterly harmless and can only recreate chaos when no one is watching it.
It’s annoying to be completely honest. In this instance, the mannequin’s major weakness being contact diminishes the amount of suspense present in the film. Imagine if Michael Myers was unable to hurt you the moment your gaze fell upon him. So simple, yet so fundamentally altering.
I do admit that although the doll does prove to be somewhat threatening in some of the more climactic scenes the way it popped out of nowhere was scary, to say the least.
Furthermore, using low lighting together with a haunting score helps to give an otherworldly quality to the character. And that is quite the impact.
Let me sum it up: I enjoyed Don’t Look Away. The film excels in building atmosphere and has a superb start and ending. I do wish the middle had more substance. However, the bookends were ultimately strong enough to sustain my focus during the mid-feature lull.
For those of you who want to try watching Don’t Look Away, feel free to do so. As of this writing, the film is showing in selected theaters.
To watch more movies like Don’t Look Away (2023) visit 123movies
Also Watch for more movies like:
