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moruten13
Reviews
The Reeds (2010)
Not a simple film...
At first I was not expecting a great movie, most reviews where low and said the plot was just gibberish or blurry. But when I saw the film, I noticed, those people hoped just for the general, slasher horror film, where something is somewhere slaugthering the group.
But let me start at the beginning:
The story starts with some friends from London renting a boat to party and get lost in the nowhere. Here most people already are turning their brains off, thinking about the usual teenager horror flick, but no. These people are more adult, acting more reasonable and not predictable in a horror film way of sense, but in a more logical sense. Which is refreshing, if you ask me! The acting is good, the faces new and not well known. Their British and the scenery (some kind of reeds covered swamp) not to much exploited.
While being lost, they meet some really strange teenagers. (Spoiler, from her on you need to keep aware of what is happening more carefully).
A bit later on, they kinda drove into something and one of the group get impaled by something, that was in the water, forcefully. Here it is a bit "overgored" but it's not too much.
I don't want to spoiler too much, even though I warn of spoilers... it would ruin the film and the mood.
The story is complicated, everything is connected somehow. This is the point, where some say it's too much and others (like me) say it's a really good story! It is rare for a film nowadays to be more than just entertainment but also giving you a story to follow, to connect clues and with such complex story and still making sense!
I can recommend this film to everyone who wants to see a horror film, which is something else, way off from those gore and monster film. You won't be disappointed! In my opinion one of the best horror films I've seen so far! Everything is just above average and still, it is a budget movie from the U.K. Some of those American big players should stop coping Japanese or other horror films, or do sequels/prequels to already bleed out film series and focus on doing a story telling like in this film!
Fertile Ground (2011)
A shortcut for sleepless people
To write a review about this film is hard, when you don't want to sound like you hated it, when you thought it was okay... It is not scary, so horror or thriller is overreacting, but if your girlfriend can't take much gore or is easily scared, this film might be the perfect one, before you start with something like the ring or saw.
The story has potential, it is a common horror story plot line, with a couple moving to the countryside, but with a bit more background than most of those plot lines. Here I at first got some hope, that it won't be as boring as most films with these plot lines are... But... Yeah, as mentioned, disappointed viewer.
When Emily starts to see things, you kinda get a bit creeped and wonder what is the reason, but it soon is boring. Nothing happens, besides her seeing ghost, who do nothing but being their. Even the breathing sound in paranormal activity is scarier than this, after it happened twice. Wasted potential A.
Since she found this kinda box, the story gets interesting about the people who lived there before and later on, they find a skeleton in their yard.
Nate turns kinda like Jack Nicholson in the Shining and you have this unseen, only mentioned panting on which he is working and you get hinted to many times. But later on, when it's revealed you get, yet again, disappointed... Wasted potential B.
Emily gets pregnant again and stops taking her pills, now *hit is getting serious... You at least hope so. But, no, the ghost still appear, do nothing and then are gone. Nate works on his painting and behaves still weird.
The way in which the story is told, won't help to let you fell like it's needlessly stretched. It's repetitive and leaves a feeling of "buying time" so the film won't end after 30mins (which would have improved it to at least 6.5 starts in my opinion...).
At their housewarming party Emily gets again one of those "psychomoments" and the first really mysterious thing happens. A friends dies, which is something you think would have a deeper impact on the story but isn't mentioned to much. When you recycle those boring ghost presence, make it so you think at least they'll do something. Wasted potential C.
Now, finally, the end is in sight. But again, you get not a good, tight packed end which is thrilling or scary. You get the long, boring, every-move is predictable ending, which is a classical horror film ending. In the ending I see wasted potential D.
The final scenes of the film are not needed if you didn't fall asleep during the final, but just in case you did, it will kinda explain it to you.
Making a good horror film is hard, yes. Especially with ghost, since the genre is overloaded. But when you got such a good idea, decent actors and wasted potential don't make a film needlessly longer so you can get it to be a long-running film. This film would have been a real gem as short film, it saddens to see, how it was stretched and many things clearly made to make it easy to understand, which kind of lead to a really "see-through" storyline. In the end a film you can see with someone who is easy scared and can't take to much gore. When you see it as a couple maybe a bit more scaring than as single.