Crush

Scott (Lucas Till; The Hannah Montana Movie) is a star athlete who has everything in High School including a creepy stalker. After he blows out his knee he’s on the path to recovery, but as he gets stronger so does the attention from his stalker. Can Scott find out who it is before people start getting killed?

There are a few reasons why this film makes it as one of those rainy day selections instead of a complete throwaway. The first pat on the back goes to Casting Directors Kellie Gesell (Insidious) and Anne McCarthy (Requiem For A Dream). The cast for the film is pretty solid. Crystal Reed (Teen Wolf) is cast as Bess, Scott’s secret admirer. She’s creepy, awkwardly funny (even when she’s not supposed to be), and mysterious enough that you never really know if she’s the one giving Scott’s life so much grief.

Aside from Bess, Scott has many frenemies, from his soccer teammates to his clingy girlfriend, to even his distant father who is played by Holt McCallany (Fight Club), who I can only remember as ever really playing a bad guy. Off to the side we even have a stalker’s stalker in Reid Ewing’s (Modern Family) character Jeffery. In any case everyone embodies their roles with precision leaving no cracks in the plot to shine light on who or who may not be the protagonist of the film.

The writing is a good 95% perfect. The reasons it is not 100% we’ll get into later. For now we can talk about the fact that Bess is written well as the creepy stalker girl who follows Scott around, though she keeps her distance literally hiding in the shadows, and pretty much all of the characters display some type of instability. Match that up with Scott’s story, a star athlete whose real motivation is getting a scholarship as a means of dealing with his life’s many disappointments in the security sense. His character isn’t great, but you empathies with his plight which makes it easy to get caught up in the moments where it looks like something bad is going to happen to poor Scott.

The reason the story isn’t brilliant is that the surprise twist is quickly blown by the BD’s cover art. Fortunately I just popped the disc in without looking at it until afterwards, but fair warning, if you haven't already, do not look at the cover art. Whoever is responsible for that aspect of production should be fired, quick. Another problem is that the surprising ending comes out of nowhere. I know. That’s what surprise means, but it felt like a convenience rather then a well thought out ending. Fortunately, because the first half of the film is mostly all suspense and, let’s face it, a little boring at times, when the twist jumps out at you the film finally makes it’s way to exciting, creepy, scary, and all of the other adrenaline inducing categories that make a suspenseful film what it should be.

Crush is far from stellar. The soundtrack is great, the casting competent, and as long as you take it for what it is, you’re going to have a good time laughing at the awkwardness of teenage crushes, gritting your teeth at some of the more violent aspects of the film, and having some edge of your seat moments. Just don’t expect award winning entertainment.

PICTURE QUALITY:
Like most straight to home video offerings that no one’s hear of or really even care about, the film looks immaculate. Colors are so vibrant it’s almost off the scales how green lawns look, how blue the swimming pools are, even in night scenes detail is high and sharp.

BONUS FEATURES:
~Making of Featurette