Yes, this is a schlocky movie, but...
It rises to Aristotle's definition of art: tragedy which move us to terror and pity. By the end, I found this movie surprisingly and strangely moving. Even haunting.
Unfortunately, the film's ambitious themes are not matched by the filmmakers' and the cast's talent and technical expertise. (Exception: the sound production and original music are first-rate.) This is failed art, but it is not bad art.
Ironically, the one director in the history of cinema who could actually have done justice to this movie is the one director who could never possibly make it: Roman Polanski. What a masterpiece THAT could have been, on many levels.
So what is this "horror" movie REALLY about? The best review I have read here is the one that gives it (a way too generous) 10 stars and is titled, "Is All that We See or Seem but a Dream Within a Dream?" It's truly insightful. Give it a read...after you've watched the movie.
It rises to Aristotle's definition of art: tragedy which move us to terror and pity. By the end, I found this movie surprisingly and strangely moving. Even haunting.
Unfortunately, the film's ambitious themes are not matched by the filmmakers' and the cast's talent and technical expertise. (Exception: the sound production and original music are first-rate.) This is failed art, but it is not bad art.
Ironically, the one director in the history of cinema who could actually have done justice to this movie is the one director who could never possibly make it: Roman Polanski. What a masterpiece THAT could have been, on many levels.
So what is this "horror" movie REALLY about? The best review I have read here is the one that gives it (a way too generous) 10 stars and is titled, "Is All that We See or Seem but a Dream Within a Dream?" It's truly insightful. Give it a read...after you've watched the movie.