Good movie.
I liked the movie for it's plebian script and dialogue, the naturalistic acting, the smatterings of really visceral violence here and there, and the thin veener of a ghostly mood that hung over much of the picture.
That said, I also felt that the main mystery never really felt that tantalizing to uncover. The satanic shenanigans didn't have much pondus to them. The film was better when it focused on Jay alongside his friends and family, with the supernatural hovering in the background. When the Zerg Rush happened it took me out of the story a little.
On the filmmaking side, notice how many smash cuts the film employs. They cut right from when Jay is fighting or arguing with either Shel or Gal, to them making up afterwards. It's a speedy trick of juxtaposition. Hell they probably cut right before Jay displays his wicked 10th-Planet guard! Another example being when they decide to go after the Librarian and cut right to them socking him in the face. I think this was a well-picked editing style since it bridges scenes were quickly, keeps to story flowing, and as mentioned juxtaposes the modes so to give an impression.
* Shel's phone-call was entirely improvised by
MyAnna Buring. The filmmakers had no idea what she said until much later.
She was talking to her mom about Jay. She said that she doesn't know what to do anymore and that talking to him is like talking to a wall.
was a hybrid of the styles and themes of
Get Carter and
H. P. Lovecraft
I get the Get Carter vibe, in how the characters act and their plebian, unpleasant mannerism. But I don't get the Lovecraft vibe at all. It's more marrowed in the old satanic/pagan-cult stories than it is to anything I would vagely describe as Cosmic Horror.
the language barrier I had trouble knowing what was happening
The very first thing I want to say is thank God for subtitles. Because without them I wouldn't have been able to understand about a third of what was said in this film, the limey fucks.
Really? I watch almost all my films with Swedish subtitles. This was one of those rare instances where I didn't and I understood virtually everything fairly simple, expect when they were speaking in hushed voices.
Last weaks films -- Trollhunter -- was pretty ghastly for me since half the cast I could understand almost perfectly fine while the other half sounded like they spoke the dark tounge of Mordor.
I think there was an interesting idea here, and some of the execution is very impressive (especially for a relatively inexperienced director working with only an $800,000 budget)
I wonder if the nudists worked for free.
How the hell do you coerce a pack of people to get naked, grab their torches and hold a satanic, wicker-man ritual in the middle of the night on an $800,000 budget? My fridays could get a lot more interesting if I somehow figuered out what trick he used to achieve that...
I have always wondered about endings. It seems endings are one of if not the most important part of a film to a lot people.
Well that is where the catharsis is usually to be given.
But I think it depends a lot on the films structure. Some movies are build-ups towards an climactic apex. Other are more like episodes of cool stuff happening.
The director was asked specifically about why she would laugh like that and he said that she was laughing at the irony of it all.
I agree with shadow, that was poorly executed and didn't convey a sense of irony at all. Especially since the wife never seemed like the sardonic sort, so her laughing at some sort of Greek Tradgedy-esque fate befalling her seems rather out-of-character.
Maybe they didn't have enough cash to reshoot it and needed that footage in there.
Some people believe the entire film is a dream
Honestly seems like a rather pointless dream if that was the case. It's not like what's happening could be understood as projections of his dormant consciousness or mental-demons coming out to haunt him.
I think we can safely assume that it was a cult of Satanists
Their get-up was pretty pagan though. With the wicker-man and all (but it's not like real-life satanist tend to distinguish between pagan and luciferian regalia anyways). But I don't really think the director was after a specifically satanic vibe, just something abstractly, iconically evil -- to vauge to properly identify but clear enough for the viewer to assossiate them with the forces of Darkness.
There was also some foreshadowing in there you can't catch the first time around.
lol, that's a good one.
1. Gal is the one that took Jay to the man hiring them with the kill list who is a cult member or leader.
Well... that is his job. He's done it for what have to be at least a dozen times before.
Not as good as I remember it being. To be honest I didn't really love it this time around. Funny how you can remember movies being better than they really are.
Well... how did you remember it then and how did it disappoint you this time?
It started as a film about a couple who fight really bad but also seem to have periods where they love each other.
Well a lot of bellicose relationship seems to tend to be pretty bipolar. Love each other one second and fisty-cuffs the next one and then back to evertrue love again. The smash-cutting presented that aspect really well, I thought.
3. Gal's dinner date was Fiona, who we know was a cult member and who marked the back of the bathroom mirror.
Nothing that indicates Gal knew of this, however.
Also, if Gal is supposed to be an undercover cultist, then the cult is really pulling a long-con. Gal and Jay have know each other since at least their military days, meaning they had to have been friends for well-over-a-decade by now. Also, if Gal is a cultist, then why does he act so normal when Jay ain't around?