moruten13
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!
Scarecrow-88
Well, this one sets things up as you might expect. We see someone setting up traps in a river with surrounding land containing reeds. A group of London adults wish to unwind on the river with the reeds, and they are looking for a pub. Before even leaving, their boat has suspicious looking brats who are rude and silent, not moving as our cast demands. They hire the boat from Mr. Croker who, at first, doesn't seem to have one available, only to steer them to the one with the kids inside. Once the kids remove themselves, our cast head off on the river, and soon come across a path that all of us viewers scream at the screen in unison, "Noooooo, don't take the path! Don't go over there!" But, they take the path and come across a metal spike which breaks through their boat and into antagonistic Chris(Will Mellor), the bloke whose temper is short and bark loud. Chris' chances of survival are slim as any movement would cause him to gusher as the stake is completely through his stomach. Even worse is the fact that they are located in the middle of nowhere. Joe(Daniel Caltagirone), operating the boat, searches for help as those kids run about, finding them around a fire as another mysterious presence, with a shotgun, pursues them. Meanwhile, a gasoline canister and a flare gun end up igniting a fire on board the boat, an explosion, two dead bodies, Helen(Scarlett Alice Johnson)is burned badly, Nick(OT Fagbenle)twists his ankle while seeking out a boat he sees from a distance, and the kids continue running free as if someone is chasing after them. We soon discover that something is off as characters see themselves with darkened eyes, the killer is in two different places at the same time, Laura(Anna Brewster)witnesses a horrifying crime involving the kids being blown away by the shotgun-toting killer in a slicker, with Nick finding Croker, hoping to go for help. Laura also watches in horror as Joe and his girlfriend Helen wind up in a most unfortunate fate. Laura's significance in the plot, regarding her being found as a child, raised as an orphan, is important as it pertains to unraveling the odd goings-on and she will need to finish a deed long overdue as it concerns the killer. Really, "The Reeds" has a weird structure. We all know, I imagine, pretty easily who the killer is..it's just too obvious. And, we can see that there are specters loose, and that a crime has been buried away, but the haunting remains..restless spirits desiring payback. This movie has one of those loopy time paradoxes where a terrible event continues in a cycle seemingly never to end unless someone is able to break it..the only witness to a crime is the one who must disrupt the ongoing cycle. But, and this is what induced my eye-rolling..the filmmakers couldn't allow for this to happen, as we must always have a twist which pulls the rug out from under us. One cycle begets another and all that jazz. The structure of this movie, which constantly sends us around in circles, is a bit of a mess and eventually I was tired of it all. Maybe others will find this kind of movie a refreshing spin on the whole "six young adults take a boating trip, meeting their doom at the hands of a psycho in a slicker, with few places to run, caught in a place unknown to them", instead of irksome as I did. One direction the movie didn't go in, I was figuring it would, was setting up the kids as possible threats to the adults of "The Reeds", instead they contribute in a different fashion. I did find the underwater cages containing the skeletal remains of victims rather effective. I also thought the setting was perfect for a thriller..too bad, the filmmakers had to go and craft such a convoluted, puzzling scenario to complicate matters.
Heislegend
Rarely do I ever give a movie 1 star. I've seen some truly awful crap that I gave at least 2 or 3 stars for effort. But maybe that's the problem with The Reeds...it's not trying. At all. The only effort I could see going into this film was the attempt to cobble the whole mess of crap together at the end, and even at that it failed miserably. I have to agree with another reviewer who compared it to Triangle, but perhaps because I watched that only a few months ago so it happens to be somewhat fresh in my mind. But the big difference is that Triangle managed to keep it's warping of time linear whereas The Reeds just sort of went "screw it...it doesn't need to make sense". To make matters worse, it was presented as part of 2010's Afterdark Horrorfest...a festival that usually produces movies that are at least decent.The plot is almost pointless to explain. A group of friends takes a boat out onto...a lake or something. They become marooned and start dying in truly ludicrous ways. Then things become all weird with the time line and past events are played over again...sometimes involving the main characters and sometimes not. Again, just a random mash-up of crap that I guess is supposed to be spooky or something. Then it ends on a completely unrelated note that might as well have been a different movie. Nothing here is redeeming. Not the story, direction, cinematography, acting...nothing. Ditch this trash.
