Ruined by the third act
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ThatNoodleLizard — 10 years ago(October 20, 2015 01:15 AM)
The "big twist" is not a twist, it's a slow reveal. There's no "SHOCKER!' moment at all.
Well, there is. There's a very clear moment where they reveal it and actually leave pause for the audience to gasp (which they did, in my screening). Also, the film wouldn't be very effective at all if you were meant to know that Lukas is dead/imaginary from the off. -
carjones51 — 9 years ago(January 15, 2017 09:00 PM)
I definitely agree that there is a "big reveal" moment in the movie. It didn't work for me b/c I had already guessed that about FIVE minutes into the movie.
Your last sentence is on point. The movie wouldn't be effective if the viewer knows Lukas is dead, which is why the movie was a failure to me and others. It was blatantly obvious - to me and my sister at least - that one twin was dead. No parent is going to feed one child but not the other, and when questioned why she wasn't giving that kid food, the response of "You know why" made it clear to me that the one twin was dead. And then you see she never speaks to that twin. By that point, I was just hoping the movie was about something else or would have another twist, which it, sadly, did not. -
indyj1 — 10 years ago(December 08, 2015 04:00 PM)
I agree that the reveal being what the boys suspected would have been more interesting. I have to admit, I got distracted when the key moment of the reveal happened, so I read the summary on Wiki. Upon reading the twist, my thought was "Oh, so they remade The Uninvited/A Tale of Two Sisters. Quite frankly, as you pointed out about all the misdirects that weren't really explained, just used as trickery, they made for a meandering plot that took too long to get to the finale.
I think this film had some of the ingredients of being much better, but all in all I found it did not live up to the hype. -
jenna-side — 10 years ago(August 12, 2015 09:52 AM)
You consider it ruined because the movie turned out to be really realistic and you were probably expecting some kind of grand Hollywood exposition where the spooky ghosts and special effects kick in.
Uh no. I find it laughable that you went with that poor, predictable argument to disprove my opinion on this movie since you don't even know me and know nothing about my tastes for movies. Well I would probably do the same if I were you That's why I thought it was so funny.
I actually like "realistic horror movies" (I suppose you're talking about movies who are apparently paranormal, horror tales and turn out to be a story about a mentally ill and/or delusional character and everything that was shown before was product of imagination or simply a misguided point of view of what was going on? - the last example being the case of "Ich seh, Ich seh"). Those are the ones I tend to like the most actually, instead of mediocre extravanzas like "Mama". But the problem is that "Ich seh, Ich seh" came in too late It has already been done before. In better and worse ways. -
ThatNoodleLizard — 10 years ago(October 20, 2015 01:13 AM)
You consider it ruined because the movie turned out to be really realistic and you were probably expecting some kind of grand Hollywood exposition where the spooky ghosts and special effects kick in.
Mm no, they're probably people like me who have seen a lot of films (horror or otherwise) which use the exact same device - or an approximation thereof. I was confused when people gasped at the reveal in the cinema, as since around the 10 minute mark where they make it painfully obvious that she only interacts with one of them, I'd just assumed it was a given that one of them was either imaginary or dead.
So just because the film didn't screw up the third act in the same way as most modern horror films do (with the daft CGI ghost overkill) doesn't make it good. I definitely understand the OP's reservations, and I'm sure his sentiments are shared by many other cineliterate people. The people who panic and throw out the "Ah you're just stupid Hollywood this is art go watch Transformers" retorts are usually the ones I'm more skeptical of. -
jenna-side — 10 years ago(August 12, 2015 10:16 AM)
Oh! I forgot to mention how
glad
I was that the whole "dead brother" "plot twist" wasn't treated like a plot twist at all and that we get to know that he's dead from the beggining. I liked how they knew they were playing with such a tired clich, so they wouldn't underestimate our cleverness and reveal it in the end as if it was a big thing or an actual plot twist.
That was one of the things I really liked about the film. -
nevenavasovic — 10 years ago(August 16, 2015 04:47 PM)
I have to agree. The ending to me felt out of place. The tone and the way the story developed was somehow thrown out of window and instead the movie went with the usual torture Hostel IV style. If they wanted to show consequences that were real and had real effects on the characters, they didn't have to stray away from the creepy, tense but eerie atmosphere.
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songod-95003 — 10 years ago(August 22, 2015 09:08 PM)
Okay I admit
I had an inkling something bad happened when the boys were either swimming or going into what looked like an old mining shaft\cave; but then snapped out of it when the mom came home and that aspect f the film kicked in. You saying you knew from the beginning the brother, Lukas, was dead. Good for you! I didn't. Now that you mention it yeah, I recall feeling that maybe they both were dead or something along those lines and the rest of the film would turn out to be a dream\dying moment illusion and we'd be brought back to that mine scene ala "Jacob's Ladder". Speaking of, was that scene with naked mom in the woods doing the JL head spinning part of Elias' delusion? Or was the mother off in some way??
Overall without reservation I enjoyed the film. It was different for me in the way so many moan and groan for "different" in today's horror genre. Funny thing is when they get it, they moan and groan that it wasn't different enough!! Shakespeare said ages ago that there is "nothing new under the sun" and that holds true for stories, movie plots, and music. Want something completely new and never ever before seen\heard? Can't help you. There is even a genre of music called "Atonal" that is purposely off key!! -
kinwardog — 9 years ago(October 24, 2016 11:41 PM)
"Jacob's Ladder" is exactly how they should have went with this story. I recently just got done watching "Stranger Things", and I have to say.
If they did a bit more with the boys "dying" in the mine shaft then coming back home to a different mother and world, I think it would have elevated the film quite a bit. Everything would start to make sense at that point. The skulls, the cat, their longing for their real mom, the religious symbolism, and their trip into a strange and almost desolate town. Everything would point to them having to move on and come to terms with their death. But having said that, any horror film benefits from referencing "Jacob's Ladder". That movie is still a hard watch and still gets to me to this day, lol. -
redd4576 — 9 years ago(January 03, 2017 02:16 PM)
Okay I admit I had an inkling something bad happened when the boys were either swimming or going into what looked like an old mining shaft\cave; but then snapped out of it when the mom came home and that aspect f the film kicked in. You saying you knew from the beginning the brother, Lukas, was dead. Good for you! I didn't. Now that you mention it yeah, I recall feeling that maybe they both were dead or something along those lines and the rest of the film would turn out to be a dream\dying moment illusion and we'd be brought back to that mine scene ala "Jacob's Ladder". Speaking of, was that scene with naked mom in the woods doing the JL head spinning part of Elias' delusion? Or was the mother off in some way??
songof-95003>>>>I too didn't know Lukas was dead from the very beginning. But I don't catch a lot of things right off the bat all of the time either. But whatever, I went in with an open mind and didn't read too much into it. I agree with some other posters that the trailer was misleading and was expecting something more of a supernatural ending or something else. However, overall I did enjoy the movie and liked it.