Such a frustrating disappointment

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

I was at a film convention the other day where there were a lot of DVDs for sale; I chose Choose. I didn't choose Choose because I thought it was going to be innovative and fresh (I could tell it was going to be a weak derivative of Saw, and it was); my choice wasn't based on reviews or word of mouth (I hadn't even heard of the film before then). No, Choose was chosen for one reason only: Katherine Winnick was in it. Katherine Winnick, the 'renaissance slut' sister from Satan's Little Helper. That Katherine Winnick.Sadly, Katherine's presence alone is not enough to make this worth watching, director Marcus Graves going through the 'torture porn' motions but failing to deliver what audiences really expect. Not only is there very little worthwhile gore but Winnick's character takes two showers and a bath amidst all the screaming and bloodletting, but is only seen through a heavy plastic shower curtain and submerged shoulders-deep in a tub full of bubbles. Certainly not what most horror fans would opt for given the choice.

Choose is an ambitious horror movie, featuring a psychopath who makes their victims choose their fates, stating that every choice has a consequence. The story is a seemingly good one and the key to finding this person is finding the pattern, a good old fashion detective story. It's a very solid story too, in the beginning they actually pretend you have a brain, and let you try and figure some things out for yourself. Initially, I was fascinated with this film, but somewhere along the way they figured that we wouldn't get it and they started dumbing it down for us, leading to an ending that just destroys the film. I absolutely hate it, when I sit through and enjoy a movie, only to have it ruined at the end by some ridiculous, sensationalized, Hollywood ending that doesn't make any sense! The story was strong, the cast was great, and I was really into this thing, but like our economy, things just started getting worse and worse, leading up to an ending that was completely idiotic. It's not a bad movie, in fact it starts out as a great movie, but if you decide to give it a try, I'm warning you ahead of time, you won't like how it ends!

Pros: Beautiful lead Cons: everything else...sigh Amateurish at best. Winnick's acting leaves a lot to be desired. Right from the beginning she was irritating. She's better suited to being a nameless victim. She just kept missing opportunities to act. I think she's confused acting like a bitch with every other emotion. This is the first time I've seen a movie with her in it and I'm going to make sure to avoid any future movies starring her.The premise is interesting. But a premise is just that, a kernel of a a great film. The rest is a collection of scenes that drag or were borrowed/stolen from other films. There were scenes where I thought I was watching: Scream, Se7en, The Last House on the Left, Saw. The only thing chosen can claim to have in common with those films is that people died. But! These people died and I didn't care! There wasn't time to care about these victims.The movie is all about style over substance. It suffers from phoned in acting, scenes that do nothing to move the plot forward, scenes that don't belong in the same movie, mediocrity. If a movies is going to be this bad it had better be charming. If I hadn't watched it on Netflix I would have been really irked.Please do yourself a favor and just select a horror film that you've already seen and like. Much like Chosen, you've already seen it. But you can feel confident that you will at least like the movie.p.s. Kevin Pollack: Even you couldn't save this movie.

While I will admit that I wouldn't classify this film as the best i've ever seen, it really wasn't that bad. It has been compared to Saw quite a bit and although I suppose some aspects are Saw-esque, you really cant compare them. Saw ended up becoming about torture rather than the value of life, in my opinion, whereas Choose really wasn't like that. Its nice to watch a film where they don't get torn apart by something or other (not that i'm complaining, I like the Saw films but sometimes enough is enough and you want to see something a little different) Just wanted to get that out of the way.Choose is great in that it comes up with a few fresh ideas. I don't know about anyone else, but I have never seen a film where a teen has to choose who survives between their parents. I found that quite fascinating. While some of the plot would be recognisable in various other films (I'd figured the twist out within the first 15 minutes of the film starting... I watch a lot of movies, what can I say?) you never really come across a movie that hasn't taken an idea from somewhere else and changed it to suit their script. Such as the Resident Evil films and 28 days/weeks later. They have so many similar aspects I could scream!! I'm aware that 28 days later came out a few months after so they were the ones who took the idea but you catch my drift.What was also good was that they weren't determined to show every 'choice' they were to make. Some movies like to prolong death or torture scenes whereas in this film they got the point across, showed what they needed to and moved on. After watching so many gory slasher movies, its nice to see it done simply.The only real issue I have with this movie is predictability. They made it far too obvious where the story was going to end which almost spoilt it for me and probably others too. I give it a 7 due to that fact and although it was good, it still didn't merit any higher.I hope that this was somewhat helpful, I didn't want to give too much away because where is the fun in that?