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Preservation (2014)
A wasted opportunity
This movie could have been decent, but failed. It's not bad per se, but it quickly turns a decent premise into a cliché-ridden borefest.
The first half starts with two brothers: Sean, a veteran who's having trouble dealing with PTSD, and Mike, who's worried about his brother so he takes him HUNTING with his wife. Here's my first problem: why would anyone take a man who's been to war and doesn't explain why he was discharged and is OFF HIS MEDS hunting??? That's like asking for something horrible to happen.
But don't worry, nothing happens. That's all quickly forgotten and the only interesting character in the story gets killed first. Why bother giving him a background when it doesn't add anything to the story? They could have made him go full psycho with his guns and believe he was back at war and hunt his brother and sister in law. They could have made him go all rambo and kill the god-awful psycho teens. They could have done anything and it would have been better than this ineffective You're Next, Eden Lake hybrid.
And don't even get me started on how preachy this movie is. The psychos don't speak to each other, they text, even when they're sitting next to each other. Subtle.
I give it four stars because the first half was pretty good. Too bad the rest of it feels like a different film.
The Last Will and Testament of Rosalind Leigh (2012)
Melancholic and slow, but still worth watching.
The Last Will and Testament of Rosalind Leigh requires patience and understanding, the story starts with a 5 minute monologue by some unseen character who basically tells Leon's family background and his problems with his mother and father, who were members of a cult. At first I thought it was lazy writing, getting a voice-over to introduce the character and his struggles instead of doing so through his actions, but I sat through it because I'd been looking for this film for some time now, but as the film progressed it became clear that Leon's not the main character, his mother is. However, the constant voice-overs explaining her failing relationship with her son get a bit annoying.
For the average viewer, this film requires some patience, it's not something to watch with friends on a Friday night. It's slow and quiet and the gorgeous photography just adds to the overall tone of the film, it's fortunately short on cheap jump scares, but that doesn't mean it doesn't get super creepy at times.
Some things rubbed me the wrong way, though. (SPOILERS) One of the scariest moments in the film (at least in my opinion)involves Leon sitting on the floor with a phone in his hand and the sound of footsteps around him and nothing more. What you can't see ends up being scarier than what you do see, which is an unconvincing CGI creature.
The end was both sad and confusing. Some things are left unexplained and I felt like Leon's ordeal with the creepy creature and scary angels didn't matter at all or were just his mother's way to beg for his son's attention and none of the characters evolve, Leon's an unbeliever and he remains that way and his mother remains alone.
It's a beauty to see for its photography and melancholic atmosphere, but the story unfortunately falls short and for a horror film it also falls short on scares, but maybe because it's sadder than it is sinister.
For me it's a 6.5, I really hope to see more from this director.