DVD Review: Meeting Evil (2012)

Could the troubled housing market lead to murder and mayhem? The people behind the film Meeting Evil (based Thomas Berger's 1992 novel of the same name) seem to think so. The film, starring Samuel L. Jackson and Luke Wilson, is set squarely against the backdrop of the U.S.'s fading economy. However, this film is not an exploration of the current financial crisis. It is a B-movie thriller where the good guy can't get away from the menacing bad guy no matter what he does. The film fails to rise above the confines of its generic thriller plot, but it is not without a handful of fun moments and some genuine thrills.

I have to imagine Samuel L. Jackson gets plenty of scripts to read. What attracted him to this dime-a-dozen, straight-to-video fare is beyond me. This film also makes me wonder why Luke Wilson doesn't get better film roles. He showed a lot of promise in films like Bottle Rocket and The Royal Tenenbaums, and he’s been in some commercial successful stuff like Old School and Legally Blonde. However, his filmography is filled with films like Vacancy and Bad Seed, just to name a couple, so it's not a huge surprise to see him in this one.

Wilson plays John, a man having just about the worst day of his life, and that's before he even meets the sociopathic killer about to knock on his door. John is a real estate agent who has just lost his job, has a stack of unpaid bills, is about to lose his own house. He has an icy relationship with his wife Joanie (Leslie Bibb). To top it all off, it's his birthday. After his wife leaves to take the kids to the park, John finds himself alone in the house. There’s a loud pounding knock at his door. John opens it to find Richie (Jackson) on his doorstep. Richie says his car has stalled and wants John to give him a push to get it started again. It becomes clear rather quickly that Richie means to kill John, but at the last second he changes his mind. Instead he convinces John, who is unaware of the aborted attack, to get in his car.

Article Author: Sherry Lipp

Sherry writes mostly music and DVD reviews, and on occasion she gets to do an interview. She plays the guitar, loves to read, watch movies, and write. Sherry also is a gluten free food blogger, and enjoys coming up with grain and sugar free recipes.

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