Warning: This text accommodates main spoilers for “Entice.”
There is a in style saying amongst style followers that horror and comedy are, primarily, two sides of the identical coin. It takes very related storytelling instincts in an effort to pull off an efficient scare because it does to ship a real chortle: It is all about setups, payoffs, and messing with our expectations. To that finish, there’s no one within the enterprise who’s confirmed themselves higher suited to that job over the past 25 years than M. Evening Shyamalan. With “Entice” (which I reviewed for /Movie right here), the filmmaker could have discovered the right automobile to kill these two birds with one stone.
Except you’ve got been residing beneath a rock for the reason that flip of the century, you probably know precisely the type of tone to count on from a Shyamalan movie. Deliberately stilted dialogue, barely off-kilter performances, and a recurring tendency to comply with up moments of terror with jarring humor (or vice versa) are all hallmarks of the author/director’s method. In “Entice,” that distinctive alchemy is taken to a different degree completely. With its important hook a couple of serial killer (Josh Hartnett’s Cooper) taking his daughter Riley (Ariel Donoghue) to a live performance and as an alternative discovering himself in the midst of a manhunt designed to seize him particularly, it should probably think of his extra stripped-down and claustrophobic efforts like “The Sixth Sense” or “Break up.” However the ones that it shares rather more DNA with would possibly shock you.
Finally, “Entice” feels prefer it was made particularly for followers of “Indicators,” “The Go to,” and “Outdated,” the three Shyamalan flicks that finest epitomize his pivot in the direction of horror comedies. The tip result’s arguably his funniest film but — and, yeah, audiences are going to really feel divided about this.
In Entice, Shyamalan is aiming for ‘nervous laughter’
At any time when motion pictures embrace components that really feel messy, ambiguous, or merely left as subtext, some viewers are likely to dismiss these as some form of a mistake on the a part of the filmmakers. One instance that instantly leaps to thoughts is, of all issues, a scene from “Kong: Cranium Island.” In a single sequence that goes viral about as soon as each six months, Shea Whigham’s character prepares to heroically sacrifice himself to one of many island’s super-sized monsters and exit in a blaze of glory to save lots of the remainder of his squad … solely to right away get tail-slapped into the aspect of a cliff and explode, rendering his loss of life totally ineffective. And with out fail, folks will paint this as “unintentionally humorous” — by no means thoughts that that is an awfully on-the-nose metaphor for the pointless deaths brought on by the Vietnam Struggle and could not presumably be extra of an intentional alternative.
So what does this need to do with “Entice”? Properly, Shyamalan oftentimes receives related criticisms from some who merely cannot (or will not) settle for that, generally, motion pictures are supposed to make us really feel a bit of uncomfortable. The divisive director stated as a lot in a latest interview with /Movie, when he defined:
“You already know, I’ve at all times had this penchant for doing darkish humor … ‘Indicators’ was most likely one which I added essentially the most humor as much as that time. Nevertheless it’s my intuition now and from ‘The Go to’ on, I’ve added it into every little thing. And I believe nervous laughter is a very enjoyable factor. And since once we go see the flicks within the theater collectively, it is so joyous to listen to everyone laughing after which that turns into gasps and that turns into screams and applause, hopefully.”
In some ways, “Entice” seems like the top of this mindset.
You are both on board with the humor of Entice, otherwise you’re not
“Entice” is many issues directly: a tense cat-and-mouse sport at first, a psychological thriller by the tip, and, sure, a horror comedy at its coronary heart. The mere existence of Marnie McPhail-Diamond’s character, the obnoxious mom of one in every of Riley’s mates, should be sufficient to clue viewers into precisely what sort of tone Shyamalan is making an attempt to set right here. Whereas preoccupied by the prospect of one way or the other discovering a manner out of this live performance beneath the FBI’s nostril, Cooper additionally has to cope with repeated run-ins with this mother making an attempt manner too exhausting to clean over some typical teen drama between Riley and her pal Jody. The absurdity of all of it, significantly when issues get a bit of heated between the dad and mom and attracts the undesirable consideration of close by patrolmen, makes for among the funniest moments in all the movie.
After which there’s the MVP of “Entice,” Jonathan Langdon’s vendor character, Jamie, who finally ends up inadvertently serving to Cooper from the within. Solely essentially the most well-meaning of goofs may ever be oblivious sufficient to offer a serial killer a code phrase so he may pose as a live performance worker and make his manner via the venue just about unseen, and that is precisely what occurs. In fact, this pays off with the hilarious mid-credits scene once we return to Jamie at his house watching the information and see him understand, in actual time, precisely who’s new pal truly was all alongside. Not since Mid-Sized Sedan in “Outdated” has Shyamalan been this overtly foolish. And that is not even entering into his conventional cameo look.
By the point the movie ends with Cooper pulling off one illogical escape after one other, moviegoers will both be on board or not. One factor’s for certain, although: That is Shyamalan’s funniest film in years, and that is going to drive detractors nuts. “Entice” is now enjoying in theaters.
