Walled In (2009)

The O.C.'s Mischa Barton stars as Sam Walczak, a demolition engineer whom first job is to demolish a building located in the desolate swamps of Scotland. Upon arriving she finds that the building isn't as empty as she was led to believe (some tenants have inexplicably stayed), as well as the fact that the location may very well be haunted by the victims of the people that the architect of said building happened to entombed within it's walls.

What started off as a slightly intriguing original story soon and all too readily devolved into a badly acted, scare-free, soap opera-ish. Barton does absolutely nothing to entice the viewer's waning interest and her co-stars (some of whoms acting is laughably bad) are not any better. Just when you think it can't get any worse, one of the characters (who shall remain nameless as to avoid spoilers) falls down a hole and it does... Perhaps with better acting, a more cohesive story, some scares and better directing, this film might have worthwhile to watch, as it stands now, that's sadly quite simply not the case. (and don't even get me started on the ending)

My Grade: D

Fmovies: "Walled In" definitely looked like a horror movie with massive potential and several aspects about the synopsis immediately appealed to me, like the guaranteed horrific theme of claustrophobic death, isolated buildings with a macabre past, lunatic architects and a slowly unfolding serial killer plot. I became even more convinced of the potential after witnessing the terrifically uncanny opening sequence in which a small child is trapped between four walls and screaming her lungs out whilst cement slowly filling up the concrete grave. This is a harsh and nightmarish sequence that you don't expect to see in modern day horror movie, so I started to feel very confident this could become a gem of a film. Unfortunately I shouted victory way too early again, as the walls of the productions literally come crashing down promptly after the opening credits. The screenplay is adapted from a graphic novel written by Canadian writer Serge Brussolo, and I certainly don't doubt the idea makes an absorbing book, but the film version is unstructured, confusing, preposterous and utterly implausible. Furthermore, the film itself is extremely unpleasant to look at what with its grainy photography, grim ambiance and vile characterizations. "Walled In" is one of those movies that make you nervous and uncomfortable without actually scaring anyone, so I was really glad when it was over. Sam Walczak is a freshly graduated engineer and the heiress of her family's destruction company. Her father offers her the opportunity to be in charge of her very own project: organizing and supervising the demolition of a remote and sinister apartment building, originally designed by the notoriously eccentric architect Joseph Malestrazza. The building has a dark past, as reputedly over 15 previous tenants were entombed in the walls, and Sam quickly experiences there's truth in the rumors. Together with the slightly offbeat teenage son of the evicted caretaker, she develops a theory that the mysteriously vanished architect might still be entrenched in the building. Pretentious and lethargic, "Walled In" is basically a totally absurd movie with an overload of transparent red herring and atmosphere building elements that are boldly stolen from other (and much better) genre classics. The ending is downright pathetic and actually a direct insult on the viewer's intelligence. Don't expect any gore or bloodshed, neither, just a whole lot of wannabe shocking undertones leading absolutely nowhere. The performances are very much below par and the overall conclusion regarding the film is, simply put, embarrassing. If these walls could talk Â… they would advise us to throw all copies of this movie in a hole in the basement and subsequently blow up the building.

This movie had its promise, really interesting building and background legend. Unfortunately the authors forgot that the beauty is in the simplicity. The first two thirds do have some promise, but after that the movie slips into really over-combined mess.

Too much characters are packed in very small place and strange and totally illogical things do happen without any logical reason. This mess actually only confuses the viewer, it does not add drama nor thrill.

I seriously do like movies about strange buildings like "The Toolbox Murders" but the beauty of it is in clarity and simplicity. You simply do not want to see story in which the catharsis is mess of various scenes without any logic or reason. You basically know how the movie ends but you have no idea why it ended this particular way.

This movie would need serious clean up and simplification of the last third part to be actually good. It is just incomprehensible and the characters introduced in the first two thirds are mostly wasted. What a disappointment!

Walled In fmovies. I rented this movie yesterday and really didn't expect much to be honest. Many current horror titles are very uninspired and frankly rely too much on gore and not enough on story or atmosphere. I was surprised though, it was an engaging story, taking inspiration for Poe perhaps, Agento and others which isn't a bad thing, and actually keeping a sense of its own identity and style. I love horror movies, especially ones that rely more on imagination and atmosphere, this one does to an extent but then focuses on the human element and becomes more of a thriller, in this I felt a little cheated.

The building which is the object of the movie is simply a nice piece of Gothic, deco art. Sinister and yet elegant in its simplicity, huge and monstrous in its presence. The premise works in the beginning and the actors do not disappoint. It is suggestion that works here as well as a psychological drama that is as twisted as an abnormal Mother and son relationship and dark secrets of the past mingled with arcane knowledge of the architecture of forbidden temples. Sadly though, I wished for more emphasis on the later aspect, it held my interest and fascination, but it veered into a film about a demented teenage crush. If more time had been spent on the architect, his history and theories as well as the previous murders then the chill factor would have been amped up.

The building should have been the real star here and its creator and to a large extent it is, yet it slowly is pushed into the background and dwarfed by a teenager's obsession and some of the dwellings rather seemed to be almost inconsistent in their art direction. The inhabited dwellings almost seemed cheap, bland compared to the overall presence of the building. It caused a sense of confusion, perhaps intentional.

Enjoyable yet flawed and could have been developed into a much richer film. It is still a fun view. I hope the director continues with the genre, though this film has its flaws, the director has potential.

The talented and beautiful Mischa Barton is a good actress well above the usual CW standard. She deserves to make it big on the silver screen. However she seems to be doing a lot of bad b movies recently especially badly written horror movies. This movie was interminable, unpleasant, not very scary and overall a waste of time. Set in a gloomy building set for demolition, Mischa plays a demolition expert sent to assess the building and she encounters an even gloomier cast of characters there. The pace is glacial and the situations are just boring. Cameron Bright of the Twilight sequels isn't quite enough to carry the movie as supporting cast either.

Unfortunately even as a fan of Mischa, it was a struggle to finish this boring dud.

PA-THE-TIC If you find boredom scary then 'Walled In' is truly terrifying.

I'm not sure what the producers' plan was to take an incoherent story, really bad acting, really really bad production quality and mixing them together.

The plot: A small town's (the typical horror movie small where cell phones and the internet don't work per horror movie criteria) factory and only source of employment closes down and leaves a 10 story apartment building standing in the middle of nowhere. A serial killer begins picking off the residents and entombing them into the building.

15 or so years after the murders Sam Walczak (Get it!) your typical female, recent college grad, demolitions expert is sent to demolish the almost abandoned building.

"Almost" as there are still people living there. Sam even decides to stay in one of the apartments. Of course it is never explained why a 10 story rotting building with only a few squatters and set to be demolished still has working utilities.

So what scary things happen to Sam? Nothing! And no the squatters don't turn out to be the ghosts of the victims. It's just plain boring.

I cannot think of a single reason to see 'Walled In.'