Kristy - Run for Your Life - DVD

Movie: It's Thanksgiving! For most college students, that means a vacation from studying and off home for the holidays. Not so for Justine (Haley Bennett), who can't afford the flight to her hometown. And also the invitation of her boyfriend Aaron (Lucas Till) to spend Thanksgiving with his parents, the girl refuses with thanks. She prefers to stay alone in the dormitory. At first she enjoys being able to do whatever she wants on the eerily deserted campus. But when she goes shopping in the evening, she gets into a fight with a young woman (Ashley Greene) who keeps calling her Kristy. The situation threatens to escalate, but Justine just manages to save herself in the dormitory, where she thinks she is safe. However, she would prefer it now if there were other students on the premises besides her and the security guard. And this uneasy feeling is not unfounded, because the mysterious woman and her masked companions enter the dormitory and hunt for Justine - the beginning of a real nightmare from which there seems to be no escape...

Six years after the thriller Donkeypunch, filmmaker Oliver Blackburn presents his latest directorial effort with Kristy - Run for Your Life. The interesting basic idea of the story only becomes clear at the very end, which is why the finale can leave quite an impression. Apart from that, the whole thing is a very conventional thriller, which can make up for the numerous clichés with some good moments of suspense. What the movie especially benefits from is the dark atmosphere that the abandoned university campus exudes, over which Justine is chased by her creepy pursuers. It does take a little while for this life and death struggle to occur. But even in the somewhat lengthy first third, which shows in particular how the campus empties out more and more until Justine is there all alone and how she passes the time in this initially refreshing solitude, the haunted campus makes for an engaging atmosphere.

While Blackburn employs all-too-familiar devices to create suspense. From flickering lights to characters suddenly appearing, the genre box is dug deep here time and time again. And even if you can actually foresee everything somehow, the scare and adrenaline moments still work really well. Lead actress Haley Bennett also manages to break free from the typical victim role and embody a pretty strong heroine who wants to avoid becoming the next victim of the mysterious Kristy killers by any means necessary. Sure, both Justine and some of the other characters do act a bit silly at times to the rules of the genre. But all in all Bennett's acting makes Justine a main character really worth watching.

So Kristy - Run for Your Life has enough positive aspects to offer with its captivating atmosphere, the convincing leading actress and the good basic idea to console over the minor dramaturgical weaknesses and logic holes. Although the thriller isn't a groundbreaking masterpiece, it offers exciting and entertaining entertainment at any rate. And for this there is then also a very clear: worth seeing!

Picture + Sound: The visual realization of the DVD captures the gloomy atmosphere of the abandoned campus very well and supports, as well as the harmonious sound mix, well the suspense and goosebumps effect of the film. The image sharpness is on a good level in most moments, only in very dark scenes or with faster camera movements some small weaknesses are noticeable. The sound doesn't offer any big surround moments, but transports the dialogue and the smaller, atmospheric sound effects very well coordinated from the speakers. Here the dts mix is preferable to the Dolby Digital 5.1 mix, which is also convincing. Good!

Extras: Except for the trailer and other program tips, the DVD unfortunately has no bonus material to offer.

Conclusion: Kristy - Run for your life is an atmospheric thriller, which offers no big surprises, but can come up with many successful moments of suspense and a very atmospheric plot. If you don't mind some dramaturgical hangs, you will be really well entertained here. The DVD presents the thriller in good picture and sound quality, only on bonus material the viewers have to do without. Overall, this is enough for a more than satisfied: Recommendable!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp