DVD Release
Folks, Hollywood is a fickle place. One minute you’re accepting an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and the next minute you’re smoking Crystal Meth and riding somebody’s face in the Paramount Pictures mail room. It’s not an easy life for sure but that’s the business and it’s a rough one indeed.
Case in point, Marisa Tomei; the woman was incredibly hot. Women wanted to be her, men wanted to be in her. Shit I remember watching, and drooling over, Marisa back when she was the token white girl in the horrid “The Cosby Show” spin-off, “A Different World!” She had this “average gal” appeal that many to this day still obsess over.
*strokes laminated Marisa Tomei autograph*
Yeah…so…from the looks of things now Marisa is about two gigs away from headlining a Lifetime Channel original film. Yeah Lifetime Original…it’s a cruel cruel world.
A few weeks ago while walking through Blockbuster I happened upon a flick that caught my eye called, Danika. Hey, hmmm…looks interesting…Craig Bierko (Scary Movie 4), Regina Hall (Scary Movie 1, 2, 3 & 4) and Marisa Tomei…hey wait a minute is this a psychological thriller or another entry into the Scary Movie franchise?
Thankfully, Danika is a psychological thriller and truth be told it’s an interesting one to boot. I suppose one might classify this as a “mindfuck” flick but I find that a bit insulting. I’d like to think I’m smarter than MOST psychological thrillers and therefore safe from having my mind fucked but Danika did catch me off guard quite a few times. Color me impressed.
Danika is the story of a middle-class mom (Marisa Tomei) carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders. Danika constantly worries about her children and her marriage to the point of suffocating her loved ones. Her fears soon begin to spin horribly out of control and Danika finds herself having vivid, terrifying hallucinations and dreams.
After a rather embarrassing incident at work, Danika is forced to see a therapist and discuss some of these fears and what may be causing her hallucinations. Her therapist Evelyn (Regina Hall) makes some headway but ultimately Danika refuses to allow anybody to help her with her kids while she gets some much needed rest and relaxation. Randy (Craig Bierko), her husband, is worried that Danika’s condition may worsen if they don’t get her some help soon.
There’s one problem though…some of Danika’s visions are actually coming true. Could these be real premonitions or are these visions nothing more than random images emanating from a fevered mind on the brink of insanity?
Danika’s life is about to change but only she truly knows whether it’ll be for the better or worse. Will she save herself and her family before it’s too late?
As I stated above, I was relatively impressed with this film. It was a few notches better than a Lifetime Original film and I can’t say I wasn’t more than a little shocked that a film starring Marisa Tomei, Craig Bierko and Regina Hall ended up going straight to DVD. Granted, Tomei isn’t really what one might consider an A-list actress any longer and Regina Hall’s only real claim to fame is her long-running stint in the Scary Movie franchise but what about Craig Bierko? Isn’t “Boston Legal” making this guy a scorching hot Hollywood commodity?
I guess nowadays direct-to-DVD means nothing, just look at Edison Force! That flick had Morgan Freeman, Kevin Spacey, Justin Timberlake, LL Cool J, Dylan McDermott, John Heard, Cary Elwes & Damien Wayans (Damon Wayan’s cousin) fer christsake! I mean you can say what you want about Justin Timberlake but this cast should have pulled in a few easy mill, right?
Anyhow, Danika’s cast worked quite well and the acting was top notch despite its humble direct-to-DVD status. I will admit I kept expecting Bierko and Hall to crack jokes after recently watching both of them in Scary Movie 4 but they obviously did a fantastic job in this.
There was a little gore and for what was there it was decent. There was one particular scene involving a decapitated head that made me jump outta my seat but the head was a bit iffy on closer inspection. It was a psychological thriller after all so I can understand detailed and accurate gore not being one of their biggest priorities.
I’m sure some of you are wondering about the whole mention of this being a “mindfuck” film and it definitely fucks with you. Despite seeing the ending coming a mile away I was impressed to find myself right and yet very wrong. That’s right…THE SWITCHEROO! Just when you think you’ve got a movie pegged…BLAMMO…you were right and you—BLAMMO BLAMMO…good goddamn where the hell did that ending come from?!!
I wouldn’t say Danika is the kind of film I’d recommend purchasing but I can definitely recommend renting this. Don’t let the silly J-horror-ish cover fool you. It’s not a ghost story in the strict sense though there are ghosts aplenty here. This almost qualifies as a family film but not quite, you do get to see an incredibly hot chick in her roos and the ladies get a Craig Bierko buttcrack shot. Otherwise, enjoy.
