P2’s opening doesn’t just employ the most obvious horror movie clichés, it all-out fellates them. As the camera pans toward a seemingly innocuous car in a parkade, muffled Christmas carols play out of a battered speaker, until the trunk flies open and a shrill scream rips through the lot.
P2 then instantly propels us back to the beginning of the story, where we meet Angela (Rachel Nichols), a workaholic businesswoman working late on Christmas Eve. When she finally goes to get her car at the end of the day (parked in P2, of course), it won’t start. “You’ve got to be kidding me!” she exclaims. We couldn’t agree more.
Shortly thereafter, Angela wakes up to find herself kidnapped by her building’s parking attendant, and it’s at this point that you realize you may not be watching the predictable horror movie you expect. Wes Bentley (best remembered for his angsty American Beauty videographer) turns in a great performance as the delightfully psychotic Tom, the parking attendant who has been stalking Angela for at least long enough to know the names of her family members. At first, Tom actually comes across as kind of endearing – he’s prepared a romantic Christmas dinner for Angela, which is slightly spoiled by the fact that she’s chained to the table. Tom eventually does go a tad too far once the murder attempts begin, and it’s at this point that the promise that presented itself in the dinner scene somewhat fades. Still, P2 possesses a lot of positives that are lacking from the current crop of horror and slasher films.
Nichols and especially Bentley are terrific, and they have a script that gives them something to work with. Tom’s violence and psychotic episodes begin from what is at least a remotely believable place, whereas most of today’s villains come out of the gate as bloodthirsty maniacs. The film also has a legitimate sense of humour, rather than shoehorning punchlines in where they don’t belong. Some laughs come as a direct result of Tom’s delusional logic, as he seems legitimately hurt that Angela doesn’t appreciate her Christmas dinner. It isn’t enough to propel P2 to cult-classic status, and the film is just as predictable as any other horror movie, but it is a welcome respite from the brainless gore movies that have been flooding theatres of late.
