A ChucksConnection Film Review

 

Jake Hoffman wears black high top Converse “Chuck Taylor” All Stars in the film.

 

Enter the Dangerous Mind

by Jack Hunter

 

When Jake challenges him to go on a date, Jim walks away.

 

If you’ve been to a nightclub, or large bar in the past five years, you’ve probably heard EDM. If you’re not a fan or not sure what that is, EDM (electronic dance music) is that loud, heavy-bass sound with a bunch of weird noises playing loudly all over the speakers. The genre has exploded in the past few years with dance music festivals like EDC and Ultra becoming huge seasonal draws and artists like Calvin Harris and Skrillex becoming players in the top of the popular charts. Films have begun to jump on this burgeoning trend. One not so great example is the recent Zac Efron bomb We Are Your Friends. Taking that DJ on the rise theme and putting a psycho-twist on it, Enter The Dangerous Mind melds the mind-bending sounds of dance music with psychological horror in a blend that surely wouldn’t make it on the Top 40 charts.

Wendy and Jake have a brief fling.

 

Jim (Jake Hoffman, son of Dustin) is a computer tech who also makes dubstep tracks in his spare time. He lives with his roommate Jake in Los Angeles, yet as it turns out, Jake (Thomas Dekker) isn’t real. Despite Jim’s quiet nature, he is in fact a dramatically traumatized young man who’s schizophrenia is the result of an extremely traumatic event he suffered as a youth. While on a call to help his former therapist Kevin (Scott Bakula) with a busted computer, he meets Wendy (Nikki Reed) and soon develops feelings for her. She takes him to a local nightclub where he shows his DJ talents and tracks to a pumped crowd. However, their attempts at romance go awry, and Jake is rejected by Wendy. He then begins a fast spiral into madness as Jake’s influence gets stronger and Jim’s action turn quite, quite dark. An ultra-violent climax follows and an ending twist shows Jim may not be the only mad hen in the henhouse.

 

After his rejection, Jim goes on a drug taking and drinking spree.

 

The film’s premise, initially, is quite interesting. Despite the title’s terrible attempts at being subversive (look at it real quick, think “EDM” as you read it out), Jim’s psychosis is presented in a somewhat new perspective. At first, we think Jake is in fact a real douchebag of a roommate, yet it obviously becomes quickly apparent he isn’t. Jim and Jake’s exchanges are somewhat funny at first and the parlay is great to watch. Yet following his falling out with Wendy, the film devolves into standard modern horror fare of gross out after gory gross out.

 

Kevin and Wendy try to deal with the situation as Jake starts to act weirdly.

 

Had the film focused on Jim’s mental state and inner struggles with Jake, the ending would have gone much better. It seemed as if the worse Jim got, the less his voices appeared and instead became a part of him. Furthermore, the initial traumatic event that sent him into madness takes far too long to explain and come to fruition. Saved for the end, the full detail of the event is brought to light with a twist meant to be shocking yet really does nothing for the film. The film’s supporting cast is essentially no more than filler material, as Wendy is basically a one-dimensional victim and Kevin basically a boy who cried wolf. Its twist ending is actually kind of good, yet would have been much better as an earlier plot point.

 

Best Chucks Scene

 

Closeup of Jim’s chucks on the street.

 

Chucks show up a few times in the film. Jim can be seen wearing black high tops in a few scenes, on the street and in the violent ending.

 

The camera gives us a brief glimpse of Jake’s chucks during his rampage.

 

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