Peppered_Productions
Marcus (Reshad Strik), an aspiring director, sets out to remake an unfinished Romanian horror movie (how he got a production still from a movie no one saw isn't really explained). Mysterious and tragic events plagued the first attempt - the question is: Will this time be any different?We open with a little exposition & look at the last day of the original filming. Hungarian director, Bela Olt, is making a film about a gypsy curse legend. A young Romanian woman makes a deal with the devil, promising her unborn child in return for marriage to a powerful man. The child is born with a mark of the devil, and is eventually tortured to death. The devil will not lift the curse until the crime is brought to light, and another woman carries his demon seed.During filming, it becomes obvious that the set is haunted and cursed - allegedly by the ghost of the gypsy girl herself. The film grinds to a halt as Olt searches out the spirit, and ultimately disappears.Except it isn't exactly told as a flashback. It seems Marcus has some sort of psychic/physical connection to some things haunted/traumatic. We flash between Marcus' seeing seizures & the actual series of events that caused the original film to go unfinished. He sees freaky things.... all the time.Before flying to Europe to make this masterpiece, Marcus visits his dying girlfriend, chased out by her bitter brother.We cut to the winding road to the movie set. Marcus and his producer, Josh (played by Henry Thomas) are being driven by their guide/Guy Friday, Grigore (Lothaire Bluteau). It's not coincidence they make an Igor reference - he is the schlepping, nervous assistant. And, for some reason, in his first scenes, he is dressed like a 70s pimp. He is the first to notice odd characters and happenings on their set - the exact location of the original studio.The cast & crew arrive, including the lovely Romy, who was especially keen to work with Marcus. Almost immediately, problems start on the set. There are horrible smells, power drains, ghosting images, and, of course, gory deaths. And, flies - lots of flies.The fly special effects have been done before - and better (Case 39, for example). Here, they mostly swarm, sometimes leading to death.The film goes back and forth between current happenings and Marcus' seizures. The weird occurrences escalate, strange characters are introduced, and the crew clearly becomes scared, then violently mad.The action culminates in two very convoluted and confusing scenes that first involves Marcus meeting the gypsy devil and becoming part of the story; then, he confronts the effected women in this story - the two actresses playing the original gypsy woman, the real gypsy woman, and Marcus' own girlfriend.Somehow, without knowing what the heck has to be done.... he makes SOMETHING happen.Yeah, very unclear.And, in an outro, there is a scene meant to explain a bit of the story, but is totally unnecessary.Overall, the acting is pretty good, and there are some clever devices used in the movie. However, the plot holes are definitely a major drawback, and the ending was definitely lacking. It was watchable, and middle-of-the-road quality-wise.
engelofdestruction
I originally picked this movie to watch after reading the plot. It seemed different from most movies so I thought I was seeing something new that would grab my attention. When getting the movie home, I read the reviews on here and saw it was a "bad" horror film. Still, I took my chances.I can see why many do not like this film. There is no definite beginning or end, leaving you to question the purpose of the entire movie. The plot seems to change focus from the movie production to the mental state of the producer.Let it be known, this is NOT a horror movie. There are "intense" images placed in scenes without much thought (i.e. the flashbacks the main character gets). The idea is probably to shock the viewer when they least expect it. The "gore" in the movie is less frightening than taking a stroll through the butcher's shop to pick up dinner. I do not understand how this movie is rated R. It lacks the core elements which would make a movie "R" - gore, language, and nudity. This movie is all about the deteriorating mental state of the "producer" inside the movie, which is fun to watch if you're into that kind of thing. The acting was subpar; I think a high school play crew could act the scenes better than the actors hired for this movie. Overall this movie gets a 3/10. They tried and came up short.
Claudio Carvalho
In the Dark Ages, a gypsy woman made a pact with Beng, the gypsy devil, to marry a powerful man; in return, Beng asked her first born child. Her daughter Matya (Zelda Williams ) had the mark of the devil and was killed by the haunted villagers.In 1928, the Hungarian director Bela Olt (Eli Roth) decides to shoot Matya's story with the lead gypsy actress Lila Kis (Rachael Murphy); however, the director, the cast and the crew vanished with the film that has never been seen.In the present days, the discredited medium director Marcus Reed (Reshad Strik) and his producer Josh Petri (Henry Thomas) head to Romania to make a film about Matya's story. Marcus had a breakdown some time ago and now his friend Josh has given the opportunity to return to his promising career. However, the director, cast and crew are haunted in the set by an evil spirit and the survivors drive insane."Don't Look Up" is a terrible film with a messy and incoherent screenplay. The idea of a movie in a movie is not original and I have recently watched the potentially cult "The Hills Run Red" (2009) and the romantic "La Vita Che Vorrei" (2004). But "Don't Look Up" is confused and does not make sense, and my advice to the reader is to not waste your time watching this film. My vote is three.Title (Brazil): "A Semente do Mal" ("The Evil Seed")
Katie
This movie started with some promise, considering that it's from the same writers of "The Ring," and directed by (until now) promising director Fruit Chan.The beginning is fairly intriguing, but maybe fifteen or twenty minutes in, I was losing interest, and wondering where the plot had gone. In my opinion, the writers definitely missed out on an opportunity to really scare us, to give us the next "Ring," or "The Grudge," but they passed it up. God knows why.I didn't find Chan's direction particularly riveting or impressive, which was disappointing, to say the least. Without any notable exceptions, the acting is dismal and unconvincing, making a bad movie worse. The fake Romanian accents, in particular, started to get to me after a while. (Our hero's name is MarCUS. Not MarCOOS.)I still felt they might have managed to salvage it at the ending, but this, as well, was a disappointment. Any brief horror they had managed to drum up had been whizzed right down their legs in roughly fifteen seconds.Yes, there is some gore, and at times I felt an uneasy sense of foreboding, but this film ultimately failed in delivering the punches. Rent it if you like, but beware that it won't live up to expectations.