Okay, so I finally watched this. Other than some fun little scare moments, I didn't get the hype at all. For me, the heavy-handed self-indulgence of the director really distracted me from getting into the film. The deliberate 70s/80s nods both in music and visuals, the sexual variation on the Ringu narrative, the ambiguity of the backstory...it all added up to "STUFF KIDS WILL TALK ABOUT ENDLESSLY ON SOCIAL MEDIA". OOOOHHH!!! WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN? I kept reading reviews about it being a "modern classic" and "innovative". I really saw neither. Just some occasional bits of fun horror slugging through a quagmire of derivative effort. Luckily, I didn't see any of the metaphorical theories until after I'd watched the film. Otherwise, I would never have seen it.
As for the smartness of the characters, I didn't see that, either. I think there was one smart moment in the big climactic scene among a bunch of really STUPID decisions based on what the characters knew at that point. For style, I give it a 5 (luckily, it never sunk as low as House of the Devil, but it loses points for borrowing from it) and for entertainment, I give it 6. I would have given it a 7 for entertainment if I wasn't constantly reminded of the director's cleverness in every scene.
My favorite horror films recently have been Babadook and Housebound. This is really more of a Ring or Grudge sequel with some Ti West thrown in than anything else.
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
Updated On: 10/27/15 at 08:15 PM
.jpg?format=auto&width=365)
