Movie Review: Fingerprints (2006)

Fingerprints (2006)

Should Have Been Terrible

Directed By: Harry Basil
Starring: Leah Pipes, Kristin Cavallari, Josh Henderson, & Lou Diamond Phillips
MPAA Rating: “R” (for violence, language, some sexuality and drug/alcohol content - all involving teens)

So often my reaction to a straight-to-video horror film is, “It should have been great...” but Fingerprints (2006) is one of the rare occasions when I left saying, “It should have been terrible.” Let’s look at this film broken down to see just how terrible it should have been. It has Lou Diamond Phillips, the man who has starred in just about every bad straight-to-video horror film ever made. It also has Kristin Cavallari...yes, the girl from Laguna Beach. This is not to say that she is bad, but it makes a film seem desperate when they hire a reality television princess for a role rather than a more serious actress. It also had a very troubled time getting released. The film was made in 2006 and had to wait until mid-2008 for a dinky DVD release...again, this is not a good sign. On top of all of this, it sports some of the ugliest cover art I have ever seen.

Fingerprints works because of its initial premise, which is rather unsettling on its own. Melanie (Pipes) is fresh out of rehab and is trying to settle into a new life with her family in a new town. On the way home from the airport (or bus station or wherever, I don’t know), Melanie’s sister, Crystal (Cavallari), takes her by the supposedly haunted train depot, where years earlier, a bus filled with children was hit by a train. According to urban legend, if you put your car in neutral in front of the tracks, the ghosts of the dead children will push it safely across the tracks. When Melanie, Crystal, and a few other friends attempt to prove the legend, they find themselves plunged into a bloody nightmare against what may very well be the ghost of the deranged train conductor.

What surprised me most about Fingerprints is just how effective it was. The suspense was present, as were gruesome pay-offs, even when the production values were not. Leah Pipes does quite an admirable job leading the cast, and the rest of them are all quite serviceable in their respective parts. You heard me, guys and gals; Kristin Cavallari has enough talent to make her part work. She may not be the next Meryl Streep, but she comes out looking better than some of the other pampered rich kids trying to make it into film (one of which, Alex Quinn, just gave a boring performance in an equally-boring film, Lake Dead). Lou Diamond Phillips is again miscast (first Bats, now this) and, though he is certainly a good actor, he can’t pick the right parts to save his life.

I find it unfortunate that Fingerprints was shuffled off into obscurity with a micro-budgeted production and a lackluster DVD release when Prom Night (a decent, but not particularly noteworthy teen slasher) just received a huge theatrical release and even the atrocious Lake Dead managed to find a place in the “8 Films to Die For” festival. There is a real passion behind Fingerprints that manages to make it transcend the trappings of it own silliness. I wouldn’t say that it was great or even that it will be remembered a few months down the road, but it was fun to watch and it is one that I will watch for in some Wal-Mart bargain bin from time to time. When it comes right down to it, give me Fingerprints over the big-budget, special effects-laden Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem any day of the week. Sometimes, production values don’t make a movie...and the lack thereof don’t always ruin one either.