As the father of what is soon to be two girls, one of my worst nightmares is having one of them kidnapped and sold into the slave trade. Lets face it: This is a problem that goes on around the world, and in some countries, poor families even will sell their children just so they can live. It is a major problem about which little is done because of how hard it is to track such things though international borders. Yet, most caring fathers would agree that they would travel to the ends of the earth and sell their souls to the devil to get their daughters back safe and have their way with the son-of-a-bitch that put them through such misery.
In the case of this film, Not Forgotten: Jack Bishop (Simon Baker), is a loving husband and father living in a small town on the Texas/Mexico border. When his 11-year-old daughter, Toby (Chloe Moretz), is kidnapped, Jack pursues her abductors into Mexico and gets a lead that they are part of an underground society that runs barrios and bordellos throughout the country. Jack soon finds that there is more going on than he had originally thought. He is being accused of killing a local prostitute who is involved in his daughter’s disappearance. As the story develops, it is revealed that Jack has dabbled in the occult and, with nothing to lose, will do anything to find his daughter. With both his daughter’s abductors and the law after him, he will not stop trying to find her and to bring those responsible for her disappearance to justice.
The film starts off very slowly, and not all is explained from the beginning. We know that, besides the fact that his daughter has been abducted, Jack has some skeletons in his closet and we are led to believe that some people with certain deformities and beliefs living in one home may be responsible. Some scenes drag out a bit while others are very suspenseful. As a father, I had that pit-in-my-stomach feeling as I watched this film, but at the same time, I was cheering on the character of Jack Bishop every time he got his revenge. The story and characters are not overly developed, but I was able to understand what was going on in the film and at least be entertained by the story.
I for one never had imagined Simon Baker playing the type of character that he plays in this film. I’m so used to see him in love stories and television shows like Felicity that at first, I was not sure if he could pull off the role. However, his performance is great and it even echoed Tomas Jane’s performance in The Punisher with the take-no-prisoners attitude. The supporting cast is decent, but the film solely resolves around the character of Jack Bishop, leaving the other characters to only fill in the gaps and add substance to the story. The film also features Clair Forlani in a role that is unlike one in which you’ve ever seen her.
The film has some decent production value for such a small budget. The locations and sets are suitable for what the film is trying to accomplish and the cinematography and editing are very good. There are some decent make-up effects, mostly of blood splattering and throat-slashing, including one scene in which a guy is cut up with a broken bottle. The general atmosphere of the film is reminiscent of some of the cult-related films of the seventies and eighties, or of the recent Ti West film House of the Devil.
While the movie is a decent film that stand on its own merit, the DVD does not have many special features. There is audio commentary with the filmmakers as well as a behind-the-scenes featurette and the film’s trailer. Overall, it is not a bad film. I actually enjoyed it for what it is and I especially liked how the ending. It well worth checking out if you a horror fan who enjoys the work of film makers such as Dario Argento (whose work the film greatly resembles), and other European cult-related horror films of previous decades.
– Horror Bob
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
