It’s Christmas Eve and Angela (Rachel Nichols) leaves her office burdened with gifts for the family Christmas party she is headed to. One of the last employees out, she walks down alone to the P2 level of the underground parking lot. She discovers that her car won’t start, calls a friend to tell her she will be late, and seeks help from the security guard on duty, Thomas (Wes Bentley). Turns out, Thomas has a crush on Angela and flirts with her inappropriately. He dials it back a notch and when he can’t get her car to start, accompanies her up to the building lobby, where she calls for a cab. He disappears and she waits. The cab arrives and when she tries to leave, the doors are locked so she can’t get out. When she goes to find Thomas to let her out, he knocks her out and she wakes to a whole new, terrifying reality: she’s being held and courted by a psychopath.
I can’t believe this movie is thirteen years old. It seems like it should be five years old, at the worst. But yeah, it came out in 2007 and I did not see it then because I honestly thought it looked dumb and cliched. A psycho chasing around a woman in a locked parking lot. Wow. It also looked like fairly mainstream Horror, and I sometimes get snotty about those things. Over the years, I’ve heard nothing but good things about it, so since it’s a Christmas Horror film, and ‘tis the season, I decided to give it a go. Turns out, P2 is a pretty good little movie. Yeah, I was right in that it doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but both actors really carry the film and make it interesting and suspenseful, even when things sometimes get absurd (as they always do in this kind of film). I find these types of movies funny because they act like “this is what really could happen,” as if they are gritty and realistic. And then of course, crazy shit goes down that probably wouldn’t happen in a million years, coincidences and the like. Still, it was fun and many of the set-pieces were entertaining. Nichols is great as the distressed victim who turns fighter (of course) and Bentley is awesome as this passive-aggressive weirdo who doesn’t mind a little murder and mayhem. In the end, P2 is a satisfying romp, even if it never breaks fresh ground.
So yes, add this one to your Christmas Horror movie list. It’s the kind of movie you can show to your friends who aren’t into hardcore Horror, ones that want some chills and thrills with very little brainpower required. This is the kind of movie that makes you think “If that was me, what would I do?” And those can be fun and entertaining, as P2 certainly is. A joyous ride into yuletide terror.
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