Stained (2010)

Stained: Directed by Karen Lam. With Kayleigh Shikanai, Lucy Rohatynchuk, Louise Seidel, Tinsel Korey. An intense thriller about a lonely bookseller’s obsessive love affair, and her protective best friend, who alone knows the horrible truth about her obsession.

“I kept watching this movie to the end because I was fascinated by its badness. And because there is a trio of attractive cat actors who take up more screen time than the story justifies but who are about the only thing about this disaster that are attractive or interesting and the only ones that a person might care about. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe story is about Isabelle, a bookstore owner and cat lover who evidently is cracking up. Sheu0026#39;s getting flashbacks from her past with weird sounds in the background. You have to wait to nearly the end of the film to see what the flashbacks are all about. Because Isabelle is crazy sheu0026#39;s not a very likable or interesting character. She lacks affect and has zero personality. I donu0026#39;t blame the actress who plays her, sheu0026#39;s playing a very damaged and evil person, but sheu0026#39;s damaged in a way that makes her boring and repellent. I believe that people like that really are boring, unlike Lucy in the famous opera. Not only is Isabelle boring, the movie is so sluggish as molasses in unfolding the plot. Only the cats make it the least bit interesting. O yes, Isabelle has a sister, or sister surrogate, and theyu0026#39;re always talking on the phone about Isabelleu0026#39;s mental state and sinister events in the past the nature of which are never really clear. For some insane reason the sister thinks she has to rescue the pathetic Isabelle..from herself? u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI hope Iu0026#39;ve said enough to make you not want to see this flick. I wonu0026#39;t reveal the plot which grinds to a halt after way too long. Thereu0026#39;s quite a bit of blood at the end, but itu0026#39;s still boring. Instead of suspense you have ennui. Like many low budget films the problem isnu0026#39;t the low budget but the fact that thereu0026#39;s really no story here and no interesting characters (except the cats). The plot has no twists and turns but plods along in a straight line to a sticky conclusion. Run away!”