Product Description

It's Christmas Eve, when even the most voracious corporate climbers generally head home by dinner time. But not ANGELA (Rachael Nichols). She's the last one left at the office, determined to close one more deal before the holiday. The long hours she keeps will have an impact, but not the kind she's been hoping for.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #13116 in DVD
• Released on: 2008-04-08
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: AC-3, Anamorphic, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 98 minutes

Amazon.com
Stalker in a parking garage. You've got to give the makers of P2 credit: They've tapped a universal source of anxiety and stretched it out into a feature-length film. Underneath a Manhattan skyscraper, chic businesswoman Angela (Rachel Nichols) is knocking off for the Christmas holiday. Everybody else has cleared out of the garage--everybody but freaky-friendly attendant Tom (Wes Bentley), and his little dog too. Before long, Tom makes it clear that he'd like to have Angela for holiday dinner, whatever that might mean. Our heroine must summon all her resources, and the challenge of a low-cut dinner gown, to fight back. P2 (no, it's not the sequel to P) at least allows Angela a measure of common sense, as she actually thinks of some logical ways to fight back, and director Franck Khalfoun (working from an idea by Haute Tension guys Alexandre Aja and Gregory Levasseur) does indeed get the most out of the parking garage location. But the movie's at a loss to make these two characters interesting in any way, even at the Coyote vs. Roadrunner level. Tom's little quirks, like miming a dance to Elvis Presley's "Blue Christmas," feel like a desperate attempt to add flavor to an otherwise standard-issue creepo. Bentley (best known for American Beauty) does have the face of an obsessive, and Nichols has the face (and did we mention the cleavage?) of a movie star, so they're not hard to believe. But most of the time this movie is stuck on the wrong floor. --Robert Horton

Customer Reviews

Yuletide terror in the garage
As usual, Angela (Rachel Nichols) is working late. It's the Christmas season and she's one of the last people to leave. All she wants to do is get in her car, parked in the P2 level of the parking garage, and meet her family for festivities. As expected, her car won't start, and she solicits help from the building security guard Tom (played by that creepy guy from American Beauty). They have no luck with the car, and in no time at all, it's clear he has the building wired with more secret cameras and video surveillance than the Big Brother house. What is it with this guy and bad video footage?

As Angela walks aimlessly throughout the parking garage, the lights go out. Queue the scary appearance of Tom out of nowhere, as he tries the old "win her heart with a rag full of chloroform" technique. When she awakens, Tom has her in a fancy dress (read: tons of cleavage), chained to a table, and sitting in front of an impromptu Christmas dinner prepared via microwave. Yummy!

Interesting mind games ensue as Tom attempts to learn more about Angela as she slowly weaves a web easily uncovered lies. It becomes quite intense when it's evident that Tom has been keeping track of Angela for quite some time, quoting facts about her family, job, life, and the late hours she keeps.

From there it's the classic cat and mouse game, as Tom chases Jerry, er, Angela throughout the building. With intimate knowledge and access to the building, and absolutely no qualms about ruthlessly murdering someone, Tom has an overwhelming advantage over Angela - not to mention the fact that she's getting absolutely atrocious cell-phone reception from Nextel while in the parking garage. Unfortunately, the movie never really gets out of the plot basement.

Will Angela survive, or will she suffer from Stockholm Syndrome? Will she show full frontal nudity? Will she make ignorant horror movie decisions throughout her ordeal? Will a rottweiler be portrayed as a ruthless killing machine? Will she turn into a revenge-seeking pyromaniac with a nasty leg wound? Sadly, the answer to all but one of those questions was the exact opposite of my hopes, and despite the fact that I was left wanting when the credits rolled, somehow I still enjoyed the ride.

Nothing says Happy Holidays like getting Trapped in a Parking Garage
While P2 was a tense little horror/thriller,
Nothing about it's plain-as-jane plot really stood out to me,
(A woman is held hostage in a paking garage during the christmas season, by a love-struck sociopath.)
that is until...............
I remembered whose name was attached to the screenplay!
None othr than Mr. Alexandre (High Tension & The Hills Have Eyes) Aja.
"Hooray!!!!" My heart yelped when I initially saw this.
"Hoo-freakin-ray!!"
It yelped even louder when I witnessed the positively outstanding, gorey death-scene, about half-way through the flick.
(Thank Aja for that, as it was the films only truely saving-grace!!!)
Identifiable characters hook you in.
Loads of tension keeps you glued to screen.
Great dialogue gives some insight into the characters minds.
And that explosive death scene...well that's the creme-de-la-creme.
Check this flick out, at the very least.

MORAL OF THE STORY:
Some guys can be let down the easy way,
while others just need a sharp object jammed in their eye.

Effective Little Thriller
The parking garage is a great setting for this cat and mouse stalker film. It has a few truly creepy moments and some severe bloodletting as well. Nichols reminds me of a younger Briget Fonda here. Overall, pretty good for what it is.