Gone

Written by Allison Burnett, Gone stars Amanda Seyfried as Jill Conway who a few years previously was kidnapped and abandoned in a hole, which contained human remains, in the forest. Jill escaped from her kidnapper and told the police of her ordeal but they never found the hole containing human remains. In the present day, Jill lives with her sister, Molly (Emily Wickersham), but when Molly is kidnapped the night before a test Jill fears that the kidnapper has returned, however the police believe her crazy story to be balderdash. 

There is a question to whether Gone is a study of misandry or just plain misandric, however the answer to this question becomes obvious as the film drags on. Almost every man in this film is portrayed as (delete where appropriate) incompetent, inappropriate, odd, arrogant, obsessed with sex or a potential rapist. The somewhat sexist attitude this film holds certainly does not help gender relations, but that aside Gone is a truly bad film. Gone is any inventive writing here as the film travels the various clichés and conventions of the genre leaving the viewer with a rather silly story that grows more and more ridiculous as the film goes on. 

The most pressing issue is that director Heitor Dhalia never creates a unnerving atmosphere; never does the darkness create a feeling of tension, even at the film’s conclusion. Amanda Seyfried is poor in the lead role not bringing any of her character’s past traumas effectively to screen, but her co-stars equally poorly supported her in their own performances. As the films drags on, the central character’s actions become more and more implausible (she confronts her killer without a gun) and the longer the film goes on the less we care. 

1/5