You may remember a while back I submitted a review of "In Bruges" where I admitted that my sole reason for watching the movie was due to a snippet in the trailer? This was also the case with
The Tattooist.
The scene in question opens with a Middle aged Eastern man standing in front of a bed where lays a sickly looking young boy. Cut to a young tattooed Western man who states
"He Needs a Doctor."
To which the older man replies
"No...he needs a tattoo."
My initial reaction of "well, he needs to be 18 mate" was quelled by my urge to see this cinematic wonder, partially because of my profession but also with a scene like that this must surely be a modern day classic.
It had worked with "In Bruges" why not with this?
Directed by Peter Burger (pronounced Burrgher as apposed to ham burger),
The Tattooist is the story of Jake Sawyer (Jason Behr of the tv series Roswell), a tattooist who has seemingly fallen from grace and is now peddling tattoos that can cure ailments, much like the travelling snake oil salesmen of old. Through a series of events he unwittingly unleashes an evil spirit that starts killing off his customers and threatens to add his new found love interest to the ranks of the deceased.
Dun dun dun!
Now to me this movie had all the right elements for a decent horror movie. Samoan mysticism, supernatural suspense and cool tattoos. Alas all this offers up is a Scream-esque level of horror. I think the main reason for its failings is Jason Behr's Character. For all intents and purposes the viewer should dislike him as his character is basically a thief and a liar but you could come to sympathise with him due to the circumstances of the movie but no. Rarely does his character raise more than a "meh" through what is supposed to be a horrific ordeal.
The personal highlight of this movie for me was picking the faults in the very few tattooing scenes there where. with the hygiene standards and aftercare advice being given from this tattooist having your customers being bumped off by a demonic spirit may be a blessing.
The "spirit" itself isn't even that innovative a villain and is content to use the tried and tested "flash past in the background" as a means of attempting to build suspense. By half way through the movie it went from a slow start to basically giving up on itself and is simply hobbling along to the final Scooby Doo twist, providing the last layer of flimsy cheese on Burgers movie.......see what i did there?
The Tattooist is out on Import DVD
Official site and trailer
