Oh boy, what to say about this.
Holland doesn't have a horror culture, and if this movie is any indication, it probably never will have one.
Let me get the good stuff out of the way: technically, the movie is adequate, with some good cinematography, decent music and (for Dutch standards) pretty decent effects.
But then we have to start judging the movie on its actual content and what impression that leaves. Which left me wholly underwhelmed (and i'm being kind). To summarize all the aspects: the acting ranges from decent to downright laughable (depending on the actors and on the emotion they were intended to express); the story (what little of it there is) ends up amounting to absolutely nothing the least bit interesting; the movie CRAWLED along, with most of it spent making characters sneak through dark corridors and rooms with flashlights where most of the times nothing ends up happening; the movie is repetitive in the extreme (scene: people rest in room - smoldering fire invades wood around them - people try to escape room - repeat ad nauseum); whenever something happens it is the usual annoying shocks of the "BOO" type with quick cut editing; we have characters that make NO impression whatsoever, and included a main protagonist who spent most of his time crying or making hilarious faces (supposedly representing a mix of shock , rage or crying, or all at the same time).
Put it this way, whatever tension the makers managed to build up initially went down the toilet when this viewer started quickly realizing that NOTHING scary (or gory) was going to happen. You can only have people creeping down corridors with flashlights for so long without payoff before i stop giving a hoot and thinking about turning the DVD off (which i didn't because i wanted to see if it improved).
I have to compliment the guys making the film for the technical proficiency and meaning well, but it seems as if they really thought that throwing ingredients from "Blair Witch Project", "Silent Hill" and "House on Haunted Hill (remake)" into a pot and cooking it, automatically meant the result would be a great tasting horror soup. This soup fell completely flat and tasted like nothing.
Sorry guys. You undoubtedly love horror, but loving it is different from being able to make it and doing a good job.
On a side note: some Dutch reviewers (see "reviews" on left side of IMDb page) have given the movie props for being a successful attempt. These people are obviously a bit too chauvinistic about Dutch "product" and need to regain their objectivity. You're not going to do horror's future in Holland any good by praising this movie if it really sucks. And those that think it really was good, ah well...
Holland doesn't have a horror culture, and if this movie is any indication, it probably never will have one.
Let me get the good stuff out of the way: technically, the movie is adequate, with some good cinematography, decent music and (for Dutch standards) pretty decent effects.
But then we have to start judging the movie on its actual content and what impression that leaves. Which left me wholly underwhelmed (and i'm being kind). To summarize all the aspects: the acting ranges from decent to downright laughable (depending on the actors and on the emotion they were intended to express); the story (what little of it there is) ends up amounting to absolutely nothing the least bit interesting; the movie CRAWLED along, with most of it spent making characters sneak through dark corridors and rooms with flashlights where most of the times nothing ends up happening; the movie is repetitive in the extreme (scene: people rest in room - smoldering fire invades wood around them - people try to escape room - repeat ad nauseum); whenever something happens it is the usual annoying shocks of the "BOO" type with quick cut editing; we have characters that make NO impression whatsoever, and included a main protagonist who spent most of his time crying or making hilarious faces (supposedly representing a mix of shock , rage or crying, or all at the same time).
Put it this way, whatever tension the makers managed to build up initially went down the toilet when this viewer started quickly realizing that NOTHING scary (or gory) was going to happen. You can only have people creeping down corridors with flashlights for so long without payoff before i stop giving a hoot and thinking about turning the DVD off (which i didn't because i wanted to see if it improved).
I have to compliment the guys making the film for the technical proficiency and meaning well, but it seems as if they really thought that throwing ingredients from "Blair Witch Project", "Silent Hill" and "House on Haunted Hill (remake)" into a pot and cooking it, automatically meant the result would be a great tasting horror soup. This soup fell completely flat and tasted like nothing.
Sorry guys. You undoubtedly love horror, but loving it is different from being able to make it and doing a good job.
On a side note: some Dutch reviewers (see "reviews" on left side of IMDb page) have given the movie props for being a successful attempt. These people are obviously a bit too chauvinistic about Dutch "product" and need to regain their objectivity. You're not going to do horror's future in Holland any good by praising this movie if it really sucks. And those that think it really was good, ah well...