I don't usually write reviews about films that I didn't like, but in this case I had such a nasty reaction to it, I thought I should come here and leave some of my impressions...
I really DO like the premise. It's very rare to see a truly creepy modern 'Devil Cult' film that is really effective, so I was honestly hopeful. I also really did like the Retro electronic score too. BUT... to me anyway, whenever film makers, despite a good premise or even some nice stylistic touches, like the soundtrack, immediately dive into the lowest, mind-numbingly STUPID behaviour and dialog, then they lose me right away. ANY Horror film where they immediately depict the young people as Oh-So-Excruciatingly-Hip with their bass level crude remarks, style, and manner, to me that honestly completely ruins whatever really GOOD story or any potential that a film may have. I like the review above by the fellow from New Zealand. He didn't really quite know what he just saw or if he really liked it, or if he could recommend it to others. He thought it was 'original', but not much else.
I think the reason why I feel such a strong negative reaction to this movie is because it's like the film makers come across as thinking that the audience is SO blindingly senseless, that we will automatically think it is SO cool to be barraged with painfully crude, UNrealistic dialog and behaviour. It's like we are supposed to 'buy' this idea that young people all act this way today, and it is somehow 'Normal' or expected. To me anyway, the characters come across as SO plastic and affected, and trying SO hard to be 'cool', that it completely takes a person right out of the movie and ruins any kind of resonance with the characters or involvement in the story.
Sadly, if the film makers would have just put the exact same story out there and pretty much developed the plot, tension, suspense, and even the violence in an ARTFUL way, WITHOUT all the 'cool' self-referential 'oh I am being so youthfully crude and hip' crap, THEN, sure, the story about a Devil Cult and the young people who fall prey to them could really have been quite good.
So, PLEASE... just leave out all the crude, supposedly 'hip' nonsense and give us characters, young or not, who ACT NATURAL & NORMAL enough, so that the rest of us can actually relate to them and buy into the story and the believability of who they are and what is happening to them. Otherwise, as far as I am concerned, the whole thing is pretty much just a pointless collection of crude, violent images strung together for shock value, and not much else because ultimately, you simply end up not giving a flying $hit for anyone here...
I fully agree with COVENTRY'S review above: Stupid, senseless, and above all, incredibly INSULTING to the audience that we have to have a story packaged this crudely for us to think it's so awesome. The current average '5' rating is honestly still far too high for this in my lowly and wretched opinion...
I normally do not go out of my way to write bad reviews of films I don't like, but this is one of the rare cases where I honestly felt so insulted by the style and approach of the film makers, that I just had to write this. Sorry the review is so one-sided, but as you likely can tell, this movie really provoked a VERY negative response from me...
I really DO like the premise. It's very rare to see a truly creepy modern 'Devil Cult' film that is really effective, so I was honestly hopeful. I also really did like the Retro electronic score too. BUT... to me anyway, whenever film makers, despite a good premise or even some nice stylistic touches, like the soundtrack, immediately dive into the lowest, mind-numbingly STUPID behaviour and dialog, then they lose me right away. ANY Horror film where they immediately depict the young people as Oh-So-Excruciatingly-Hip with their bass level crude remarks, style, and manner, to me that honestly completely ruins whatever really GOOD story or any potential that a film may have. I like the review above by the fellow from New Zealand. He didn't really quite know what he just saw or if he really liked it, or if he could recommend it to others. He thought it was 'original', but not much else.
I think the reason why I feel such a strong negative reaction to this movie is because it's like the film makers come across as thinking that the audience is SO blindingly senseless, that we will automatically think it is SO cool to be barraged with painfully crude, UNrealistic dialog and behaviour. It's like we are supposed to 'buy' this idea that young people all act this way today, and it is somehow 'Normal' or expected. To me anyway, the characters come across as SO plastic and affected, and trying SO hard to be 'cool', that it completely takes a person right out of the movie and ruins any kind of resonance with the characters or involvement in the story.
Sadly, if the film makers would have just put the exact same story out there and pretty much developed the plot, tension, suspense, and even the violence in an ARTFUL way, WITHOUT all the 'cool' self-referential 'oh I am being so youthfully crude and hip' crap, THEN, sure, the story about a Devil Cult and the young people who fall prey to them could really have been quite good.
So, PLEASE... just leave out all the crude, supposedly 'hip' nonsense and give us characters, young or not, who ACT NATURAL & NORMAL enough, so that the rest of us can actually relate to them and buy into the story and the believability of who they are and what is happening to them. Otherwise, as far as I am concerned, the whole thing is pretty much just a pointless collection of crude, violent images strung together for shock value, and not much else because ultimately, you simply end up not giving a flying $hit for anyone here...
I fully agree with COVENTRY'S review above: Stupid, senseless, and above all, incredibly INSULTING to the audience that we have to have a story packaged this crudely for us to think it's so awesome. The current average '5' rating is honestly still far too high for this in my lowly and wretched opinion...
I normally do not go out of my way to write bad reviews of films I don't like, but this is one of the rare cases where I honestly felt so insulted by the style and approach of the film makers, that I just had to write this. Sorry the review is so one-sided, but as you likely can tell, this movie really provoked a VERY negative response from me...