*Some definite spoilers here

You know what I liked about Villains? I truly had no idea what I was walking into when I saw this movie and let me tell you Juicers out there, I was very pleasantly surprised. Villains is a horror comedy that really takes you to many different places, all while staying in the same house. It is an intimate story that keeps you on the edge of your seat with one crazy scene after another.

Directed by newcomers Dan Berk and Robert Olsen Villains is about two amateur robbers/lovers (Bill Skarsgard and Maika Monroe) who stumble onto a house after a robbery at a gas station. Now this is not a normal house, it is owned by two people (Jeffrey Donovan and Kyra Sedgwick) who take pleasure in playing games and messing with captors. Once the two couples start facing off we have a very fun, weird, and quirky game of cat and mouse.

The two great aspects of this movie are the performances of the four main characters, and the continuous feeling of being thrown another way by the story. You really have no idea where the story is going to go and when you think you have a handle, they throw a different variable at you. I also really enjoyed how small the movie felt in scale, it is really only one set and four characters. The scale definitely made it much more enjoyable to focus on the story and the power of the acting.

The only issue I really had with the movie is that I did not quite know the full tone of the story. Were they gong for a serious but funny story, or more of a satire of hostage situations?

Stock Watch

Stock Up – Bill Skarsgard has been buried behind clown makeup for the IT movies, this movie however finally gave him a chance to shine with a really fun role. He played Mickey and he absolutely crushed it in this movie, playing the frenetic yet smart character with so much energy. His chemistry with Maika Monroe was also a reason why this movie worked as well as it did. He did slip into his accent a tad so I will take some points off for that, but other than that he was the big winner here.

Stock Neutral – Maika Monroe was good in this movie as well, however it seems like she is getting typecast a bit in her roles. I do not know if this performance will really push the needle that much farther for her.

Stock Up – Jeffrey Donovan and Kyra Sedwick OH MY GOD did they murder it in this movie. Obviously Donovan has been known as the Burn Notice guy, but he has steadily been building a solid Filmography. There is a scene early in this movie where him and Skarsgard have an acting face off for the ages and my jaw was on the floor. Kyra is of course The Closer but she also has a great history of movies, and she also has a jaw dropping scene with Skarsgard. They both really went for it in this and I loved them as a couple.

*A couple other tidbits

• The story with their daughter was a little far fetched and felt kind of icky if I might add.
• The use of silence in the background of scenes really brought a nice element to the visual plot of the movie.

This was definitely one of the bigger surprises of the year for me. I think they could have cleaned up the tone a bit, but their is a lot of great stuff in here. I had a lot of fun in the theater and that is all that really matters.

Juice Rating:

*You can find all of my Movie Ratings here.