Film Filter: Off- This movie is definitely two things on the surface, pre-viewing: vague, and misleading. This movie is also two things post-viewing: vague and misleading.
Pros- It definitely has the mysterious quality going for it. Nothing in this movie, on the surface, is what it actually is. That being said, they deliver this dual plot in a very up front and humorous way, while still leaving enough information to be discovered to keep the story interesting. Well done.
The cast is fresh enough, with just a dash of familiarity to keep it from being a bust. One of my rules for a successful horror flick? If you consider yourself fairly well versed in actor/actress knowledge, and you haven't heard of ANYONE in the cast, it's probably a bust.
It's pretty refreshing to see a scary movie try to do some things right, despite that it breaks every successful scary movie rule. It's nice to see this one attempt realism by having their cast react the way normal people would when faced with a terrifying situation- run away from the problem. No one really TRIES to run toward danger, and if they do they're hopefully equipped with something to combat it. This movie makes the characters look like they value their lives enough to think intelligibly, which is nice to see.
Think of the funniest person you know...what makes them so funny? Probably some ability to make fun of people, his or herself included. It's healthy to laugh at yourself every once in awhile, mainly for the fact that hopefully you can beat other people to it so it's not so awkward. Anyway, this movie does a good job of healthily making fun of itself and the genre, kudos.
Cons- I would argue there are almost as many things that make this movie freaking weird as there are that make it interesting to watch, so it's sort of a crap shoot depending on how you look at the film.
First off, it was decided that the most frightening part of the whole film was the opening credits where they slap the title of the movie abruptly on the screen. Other than that, it's almost unfair to classify this film as a horror film. While, yes, there are deaths, elements of horror, and grotesque images, there isn't much more than that that makes this movie scary. Throw into the mix the frequent moments of humor, and it deviates from the horror genre even further.
Secondly, I am slightly irked with the progression of the plot. If we break the flow of the story into percentages, the first 70% runs smoothly with information gained yet questions to remain as well. The last 30% of the film, however, takes a nose dive into an abysmal mess of heavily effected villains, an over abundance of grotesque deaths, and weird plot turns. This movie could have gone in many directions, but the one it went in was a weird one for sure.
Also plaguing me after the film is by far one of my biggest pet peeves with any movie: lack of information/back story. Young people need to be sacrificed for the ancient gods to remain dormant. Okay, but it looks like all they REALLY need is a bunch of blood flowing throw ancient hieroglyphics to make them happy sooo....why not just kill animals? I say this because one of the carved hieroglyphics runs with blood when they THINK someone's dead who's really not...so if they can't tell, why do people need to die in the first place? Along this train of thought is the need for five sacrifices of various qualities: athlete, whore, virgin, fool, academic. Apparently, of all the countries performing this ritual, the one featured in the film is the ONLY one that has had any deaths. So...if many countries participate, how many need to be successful in order for the ritual to work? Only one? Then why not sacrifice only 5 people and get it over with! Quality over quantity, people.
Lastly, keeping in mind my enjoyment of the believability of the actors and their personas, is the UN-believabilty of how they react when injured. Someone gets stabbed in the shoulder blade, bear trapped in the back, thrown around by a hulking beast several times, and half eaten by a werewolf and they aren't in any severe pain? Please.
Wrap-up- Unanswered questions and lack of believability aside, this movie actually isn't bad...if you're looking for a laugh. I actually don't mean that as sarcasm, either. If your looking for a funny, entertaining film (up until the end at least) you could watch it. If you're looking for a scary movie, though, you may want to keep looking.
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