I have not HATED a movie this much in YEARS.
I'm not sure I've ever felt more misled by hype. Albeit the content itself feeling potentially cliche, the trailer was so tasteful in a visual regard that I felt the movie might deserve a watch. But it was the immense hype on Twitter that's been pushed into my feed the last couple days that made me believe it would truly be something special. That assessment could not be more wrong.
First, I will acknowledge the movie's few strengths. Shot on location in Italy, many of the environments are relatively gorgeous. The costumes and set design are well done. And I found that the cinematography was very tasteful, and most of the lighting and color grading looked very nice. But the positives END THERE...
First and foremost, if you have a hollow script and hollow characters, it is very rare that any other elements will redeem your film. NONE of these characters have ANY depth or actual personality, with the exception of maybe Maria Caballero, the only actress who gets the chance to bring even the slightest bit of charisma to this film, even if its on the most base level. Thus, by default, the majority of the dialogue is a slog to sit through, as it mostly consists of basic exposition, and stale exchanges. Around the half hour mark, I began wondering if I should leave and get my money back, but I decided to hold out and give it a chance. Now, I can say that that was a mistake. It's been quite a while since I sat through an entire movie in which I could not wait for it to be over.
Through the first half, it was floating around a 5 out of 10 for me, but as it carried on, it kept giving me more and more reasons to despise it. I must say that it's greatest offense is that it features hardly a SPECK of originality. This is one of the most uninspired movies I have ever seen. Clearly the director chose some very excellent classic horror movies to rip off, but the problem is that outside of it's VERY blatant rip offs, it has no personality of its own. The only memorable scenes in the entire film are clear lifts from other iconic moments. The most memorable death sequence in the first half begins with a nod to the original Omen then attempts to take the original Suspiria's most iconic death scene and "up the ante" - while it is probably the coolest scene in the entire film, seeing how uninspired the rest of the film was afterwards makes me look back on it with the sourest taste in my mouth.
On the subject of SUSPIRIA, much of the music score was a direct lift of cues from Goblin's iconic Suspiria score. This director very much seemed to be a fan of Argento's legacy, as he seemed to cast a girl who very much resembled young Asia Argento as seen in Dario-produced films like The Church. And noting The Church, another one of this film's "primary horror sequences" was a direct ripoff of a scene in that! But WORST OF ALL.... WORST OF ALL.... was the BLATANT ripoff of the greatest scene of all time, Isabelle Adjani's subway breakdown in Possession. When THAT happened, this film created an eternal grudge with me, and I will never forgive it. It is VERY obvious that the director had lead actress Nell Tiger Free study the scene and try her best to replicate it EXACTLY. ALL of the details were ripped off - there was nothing subtle about it. It was PAINFUL to watch. To see THAT, the most legendary horror sequence of all time, ripped off to a T in a movie this vacant of any merit or inspiration, enraged me to my core. Who let this happen? I have never hated a scene in a movie so much in my life.
I had read a lot of hype about how stellar lead actress Nell Tiger Free's performance was, as well. While she gives a respectable effort, this script is honestly not giving her much to work with. The movie is actually mostly plotless and there's not a lot of legit connection from one sequence to the next. Because of this, the tension never really gets built up at all. And, I felt what the "big plot twist" was gonna be about halfway through the movie.
Uninspired, vapid, and straight up disrespectful to the classics, I am gonna go ahead and say this is one of my least favorite horror movies of all time. I was really hoping that this would be a solid year for American horror films. American horror films have primarily been garbage for the majority of this century. We NEED a revolution. That's what I want this year. I was hoping this would help to kick things off, but this is the epitome of the type of insincere, uncreative carbon copy garbage that has made horror the worst genre in American movies for the last 20 years. When will it end?
I'm not sure I've ever felt more misled by hype. Albeit the content itself feeling potentially cliche, the trailer was so tasteful in a visual regard that I felt the movie might deserve a watch. But it was the immense hype on Twitter that's been pushed into my feed the last couple days that made me believe it would truly be something special. That assessment could not be more wrong.
First, I will acknowledge the movie's few strengths. Shot on location in Italy, many of the environments are relatively gorgeous. The costumes and set design are well done. And I found that the cinematography was very tasteful, and most of the lighting and color grading looked very nice. But the positives END THERE...
First and foremost, if you have a hollow script and hollow characters, it is very rare that any other elements will redeem your film. NONE of these characters have ANY depth or actual personality, with the exception of maybe Maria Caballero, the only actress who gets the chance to bring even the slightest bit of charisma to this film, even if its on the most base level. Thus, by default, the majority of the dialogue is a slog to sit through, as it mostly consists of basic exposition, and stale exchanges. Around the half hour mark, I began wondering if I should leave and get my money back, but I decided to hold out and give it a chance. Now, I can say that that was a mistake. It's been quite a while since I sat through an entire movie in which I could not wait for it to be over.
Through the first half, it was floating around a 5 out of 10 for me, but as it carried on, it kept giving me more and more reasons to despise it. I must say that it's greatest offense is that it features hardly a SPECK of originality. This is one of the most uninspired movies I have ever seen. Clearly the director chose some very excellent classic horror movies to rip off, but the problem is that outside of it's VERY blatant rip offs, it has no personality of its own. The only memorable scenes in the entire film are clear lifts from other iconic moments. The most memorable death sequence in the first half begins with a nod to the original Omen then attempts to take the original Suspiria's most iconic death scene and "up the ante" - while it is probably the coolest scene in the entire film, seeing how uninspired the rest of the film was afterwards makes me look back on it with the sourest taste in my mouth.
On the subject of SUSPIRIA, much of the music score was a direct lift of cues from Goblin's iconic Suspiria score. This director very much seemed to be a fan of Argento's legacy, as he seemed to cast a girl who very much resembled young Asia Argento as seen in Dario-produced films like The Church. And noting The Church, another one of this film's "primary horror sequences" was a direct ripoff of a scene in that! But WORST OF ALL.... WORST OF ALL.... was the BLATANT ripoff of the greatest scene of all time, Isabelle Adjani's subway breakdown in Possession. When THAT happened, this film created an eternal grudge with me, and I will never forgive it. It is VERY obvious that the director had lead actress Nell Tiger Free study the scene and try her best to replicate it EXACTLY. ALL of the details were ripped off - there was nothing subtle about it. It was PAINFUL to watch. To see THAT, the most legendary horror sequence of all time, ripped off to a T in a movie this vacant of any merit or inspiration, enraged me to my core. Who let this happen? I have never hated a scene in a movie so much in my life.
I had read a lot of hype about how stellar lead actress Nell Tiger Free's performance was, as well. While she gives a respectable effort, this script is honestly not giving her much to work with. The movie is actually mostly plotless and there's not a lot of legit connection from one sequence to the next. Because of this, the tension never really gets built up at all. And, I felt what the "big plot twist" was gonna be about halfway through the movie.
Uninspired, vapid, and straight up disrespectful to the classics, I am gonna go ahead and say this is one of my least favorite horror movies of all time. I was really hoping that this would be a solid year for American horror films. American horror films have primarily been garbage for the majority of this century. We NEED a revolution. That's what I want this year. I was hoping this would help to kick things off, but this is the epitome of the type of insincere, uncreative carbon copy garbage that has made horror the worst genre in American movies for the last 20 years. When will it end?