Slow to the point of tedium. Then, just at the point when the film managed to construct a coherent justification as to why this should be, it blows itself apart with a climax of bizarre stupidity so intense an intelligence vacuum formed in my brain large enough to make me think my skull might cave in.
Before the film Al said how Eli Roth had taken this under his wing and his presence was throughout it. What this means is some folk came to him with a good idea for an exorcism movie and he got them funding with the understanding they would tack on a gay as shit extra five minutes which goes a long way to ruining what would have been a very neat little 80 minute movie.
ReplyDeleteIf you see this I would recommend watching until the characters are driving and spot a previously mentioned bar then stop the movie or walk out and assume it ends there.
Yup - a very clever, refreshing and effective horror which turns very stupid, hackneyed and nonsensical in the last five minutes. What a waste.
ReplyDeleteIt's not the most ridiculous point, but I wonder how many teenage boys in what's already been established as the most god fearing place in the deep south would make the kind of admission to strangers as that guy does?
I have to take umbrage here.
ReplyDeleteI think James is being terribly unfair laying blame at the feet of Eli Roth, I haven't seen anything that suggests he was responsible for the ending. None of Roth's films contain such a haemorrhage of common sense at the end. If anything the mans fault was to read the script and NOT try to change the ending, really everybody involved here is to blame.
And I must disagree with the assertation of both James and Joe that before this atrocity of an ending the film was good, it really wasn't. It was stupid, hackneyed and nonsensical (not to mention dull) all the way though, the last five minutes were just in another league of stupidity altogether.
This film sucked in a major way, the best place to stop watching it in order to increase your enjoyment is at the beginning.
Instead watch Exorcism Of Emily Rose, by no means a great film but a much better stab at what the first 80 minutes was trying to get at with the added bonus of you not having to risk instant retardation at the end.
Apologies for the umbrage. This film really pissed me off.
I think I'll give this one a miss. I either get a completely pointless 85 mins or an ending 5 mins that renders the last 80 pointless. Every which way you lose.
ReplyDeleteI suspect you've been possessed by a demon (possibly Umbrage - I'd have to check my big old-timey book) and you're now spewing venom over an effective and well paced little film with a shit ending.
ReplyDeleteBegone foul demon! The power of Christ compels you!
While my Eli Roth comment was tongue in cheek the evidence that the ending was his is that the first 80 minutes are atmospheric and subtle while the final 5 are retarded and rubbish. Eli Roth's career consists of Cabin Fever (rubbish with 2 funny sequences and a weird moment in slo-mo) and 2 Hostel movies (the first of which is one of the biggest ass rapes of a great idea ever), both of which are much more in line with the final 5 that the previous 80.
ReplyDeleteI forgot I said I wouldn't watch this and did. Wish I'd stuck to my original conviction cos this was shite. I'm with Al - barring a half decent sense of creepy atmosphere, the film was predictable throughout and nowhere near as clever as thought it was. Still better than Pontypool though - the second film of this evening - not far off The Happening in terms of being a non-film. Here's hoping for better at tomorrow's all-nighter!
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