Sunset Heights (1999) User Reviews

So bad it made me laugh!

[madde-4 · 1/10 · 5 August 1999]

This has got to be the worst movie I have seen this year.

It comes across as a study in all the things you should NOT do, if you want to make a good movie. First of all, the acting is really horrendous, although the main character Toby Stephens is the best of the lot, it still isn't saying much. Everybody struts around like "Godfather"-wannabes and the dialogue is full of repetitions and unbearably unrealistic. And anyway, there is no way you can have a serious gang called "The Boiler Men". Secondly, the story itself has some potential, but is executed in such a manner that you are constantly left wondering whether or not it is meant to be funny. Thirdly, there is the editing, scenes with no content whatsoever goes on for too long and also there are scenes where everything happens in seconds.

Should you want to assure yourself that Toby Stephens really CAN act, you should see "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall", a mini-series with Tara Fitzgerald which is really, really good.

Appalling

[bloke-8 · 1/10 · 30 August 1999]

No wonder the Irish film industry is virtually non-existent. I'm Irish and I'm embarrassed that drivel like this is seen to represent Irish film. If the powers that be keep dumping money into pointless dreck like this we'll never have a healthy indigenous film making community. Some of the worst acting I've ever seen, a tedious over-written script and a deeply stupid ending.

The movie seems to explore the whole idea of perception and how people use that to make their decisions

[JenniferMonroe · 10/10 · 1 October 2003]

I really enjoyed the movie. I thought the movie was very tragic and quite true-. I like how in the midst of the horror that the 'boiler men' created there was comedy. One of my favorite scenes was when the uptight man was in the elevator with all those 'tough guys' Very funny. I liked it---it was different.

Anyway--that's my humble opinion--- Jen

Much better than expected!

[HersiliaS · 8/10 · 26 January 2013]

I watched this movie for Toby Stephens, in an aftermath of my fascination with his Rochester in 2006 BBC "Jane Eyre". I had not expected a great movie, especially after reading two out of the three comments on IMDb, as well as the synopsis on the DVD. Frankly, the latter made me believe that this movie is a cheap Irish remake of "Pet Semetary", which is far from my favourite stories, even though I like the genre. However, if someone expects just a chiller or thriller, let alone horror movie, from "Sunset Heights", they will be disappointed. There are such elements, all right, but SPOILER they are misleading, to say the least.END SPOILER

This movie is far from being a masterpiece, but I awarded it 8 stars because it comes from a provincial film industry, and is certainly much better than many recent movies from more celebrated European film industries. What it lacks most is pace and it might profit from better script writing, but the latter is not very bad, after all. The storyline is consistent, and the continued voice-over is well justified in the end; moreover, all elements suggested at the beginning of the movie do play a role in the development of the story (all 'Chekhov's rifles' fire). There are even two quite well invented twists in the story, one of them SPOILER pertaining to the genre itself, the other to the storyline END SPOILER.

The acting from the largely unknown Irish cast is acceptable and at times even surprisingly more than that. Jim Norton as The Preacher is truly captivating, and the only star, Mr. Stephens gives a fine performance with nuanced moods and overall quietness, even in the most dramatic scenes, which plays off very well.

All in all this movie came to me as a truly nice surprise, as it turned out to be focused on human tragedy rather than the thriller plot.