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DVD Crush
 Rating: 5.7 Genres: Thriller Director: Malik Bader Writers: Sonny Mallhi Stars: Crystal Reed, Sarah Bolger, Caitriona Balfe |
| Storyline The promising high school soccer player Scott is injured on the knee in a game and two years after, he is still trying to heel his knee. The teenager Jules feels unrequited love for him but Scott is concentrated in recovering his physical condition and considers her as a friend. The also teenager Bess that works in the store owned by David with her mature colleague Andie has a crush on Scott. When Scott is stalked by a mysterious person that threatens Jules, he believes that Bess is responsible for the weird situations. Is his assumption correct? Written by Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
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| Plot Keywords: high school, crush, secret admirer, high school athlete, athlete | |
| Details: Country: USA Release Date: 13 March 2013 (Belgium) |
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DVD Crush
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4 comments
When I first came to check this film out I did it quickly, skimmed over the names etc. and then just hit play. It wasn't till afterward that I did further investigation that I realized that the director for this film was Malik Bader, the crafty actor/director behind the making of one of the most clever & original films I've seen Street Thief(2006). Crush is, in terms of genre & plot, a completely different animal and Bader handled it masterfully. If you're thinking Crush is the average teen obsession film your wrong.
The new girl in town Bess(Crystal Reed) develops an unhealthy fixation on popular star athlete Scott(Lucas Till). Only Scott's attention is towards his long time friend Jules(Sarah Bolger). As Bess becomes more & more drawn to Scott terribly things begin to happen around him. If you're thinking of this as familiar & predictable I can guarantee you will be dead wrong on that assumption. This film will pull the rug from beneath you with a turn of events you will not see coming. Everything here seems to be in order, the story, acting, soundtrack and camera-work. I was indeed glad I had made the choice to check this out, with no reviews & little votes it was a nice surprise. Recommend it highly -^-8/10-^-
In the case of many thrillers, the rating at IMDb is plain wrong. I like to have a quick look at any that score 5.0 or higher if only to check the first 10 minutes to see if anything hooks me. Most often I hit the delete key. Occasionally, I get stick around right to the end. Rarely, I find a hidden gem. CRUSH, is one of these gems.
Here is a clever director that takes you on a wild ride. He doesn't lay it out for you in the introduction; it's not a simple game of 'who gets the axe next?' It's a game of 'who is the villain and who the hero? Who is the lover and who is the best friend?'
It's a little cinematic technique known as suspense.
Hitchcock it's not, but trust me on this one and fire up the popcorn.
I normally do not watch movies with this type of plot-line because I find the same old tired tropes used again and again. However, the director here made, in my opinion, a refreshing, touching, and realistic movie that gave fresh depth and character to the story.
I was left guessing who the protagonist and antagonist were until the very end, and the ending was well acted, with realistic characters who acted the way I thought someone in their positions would, not the way an audience would be screaming at them not to.
I highly recommend this movie to anyone looking for a suspense/thriller/romance/horror.
*Some very minor spoilers about the general direction of the plot, nothing directly from the movie*
This is not just a cheesy teen obsession film. It looked that way to me when I saw the thriller, but I was pleasantly surprised. Not only does it bend some of the obsessive stalker plot arc's we know of, but it also has a real human and emotional element to it that made me connect to the characters since they didn't just end up as 2D stock people. There are subtle side-plots about competitiveness, jealousy and the normality of obsessive or strange behavior, which helps flesh everything out and adds nuance. Visually and sound wise the film looks great and is not a budget or amateur production at all, it has the Hollywood polish which is nice.
The plot is still familiar, and it does have several of the typical tropes, but at the same time it adds its own originality and personality to the characters in a way that made it refreshing. All in all entertaining and immersing, and touching even!