The Girl in the Photographs is a decent modern-day thriller/slasher, but where it holds promise in the beginning as a straight-up psychological horror, it soon heads into cliché territory during the last act and becomes something you have seen too many times before. Directed by Nick Simon and written by too many people which could be the reason why it went off the rails, it is not a terrible movie, but where you really enjoy where it is going, you feel just a little let down by the way it ends off. There is a good chance that it could have ended well if there was a little more concentration and effort put into the film, a little direction on just what kind of a film that they wanted to make, but such as it is, while it is a little disappointing in one respect, you at least do not feel like you have wasted your time which is an even bigger sin that a movie could make.

As it is, the title is an apt one as it does indeed focus upon a girl in a bunch of photographs and not just one either, but many. Said girls always look as if they are in distress and they are usually used to taunt the next victim of the killers who are sending said photographs. Soon, Colleen starts to receive the pictures and she is more than a little disturbed by them. Simultaneously, a photographer in L.A. has heard about these photos and is intrigued enough to head out to find the origin of them and if he can, gain a little inspiration along the way. Both Colleen and photographer Peter are going to run headlong into the killers and not everyone is going to have a happy ending.

As previously stated, the film does begin as more of a psychological horror/thriller and it does so successfully, building up the tension and suspense with each photograph that is eventually discovered. One could say the magic breaks when the killer’s face is revealed for the first time, taking the air out of whatever sails that the filmmakers had going. After that point, because you knew just who the killers were, it was no longer as much of a guessing game as to who it was that was going to attack or kidnap or kill our heroine. Still, for the most part, the suspense still managed to build, albeit not as much as it had previously and finally, when the movie went full slasher, it lost its steam altogether as it was no longer the same movie you started watching in the first place.

Claudia Lee as Colleen is the best out of all the actors represented and Kal Penn is quite good as well. Penn’s character Peter is utterly contemptible and it takes a lot of talent to make you really hate someone on screen, especially from an actor that usually plays funny or comedic parts. Most of the cast is utterly forgettable, either playing bit parts or getting killed off negating any character development they might have shown, yet when it comes right down to it, they do help to fill the story out which is centered on the two killers and their intended victim Colleen.

As it is, The Girl in the Photographs is not a bad film, it simply lacked focus. There is still enough here for the average horror fan to enjoy, but if looking for something that will reinvent the genre, it is not this movie.

3 out of 5