Finale (I) (2009) User Reviews

Interesting Demon idea-- flawed Plot, unsympathetic characters

[Rabh17 · 3/10 · 26 September 2010]

Normally, my rule is NOT to review a movie I didn't like because I believe that while I may not like it, Others may THOROUGHLY enjoy it for reason that have nothing to do with me: In short-- I just wasn't the Target Audience.

This one, gives me a sense that while they were AIMING at a target horror audience, they didn't even hit the side of the barn.

The central horror of this movie is actually interesting: a Spectral demon or entity called "The Collector" that manifests from reflective objects. The demon concept was the only thing that held me, because it had an ethos about it that made me think of the Sandman/Lucifer graphic novel's supernatural universe. I was hoping they would follow the storyline along that road wherein the main characters would uneasily become aware of a weird/deadly next-door dimension that they had managed to fall afoul of.

The problem here is the Central Character: Mommy Dearest.

She knows something is wrong, but she FAILS to convince me in the audience that I should root for her to find out the truth. Instead, I roundly and fervently wonder why the HECK no-one has followed common sense and committed the woman to a MENTAL INSTITUTION where she so OBVIOUSLY belongs. . .and that's counting the fact that she is right about her fears. That's BESIDE THE POINT; put her in a RUBBER ROOM NOW.

NO. . .Hubby lets her spend days and nights on end rummaging through a decayed burnt out heap of an abandoned house that just SCREAMS: UNBALANCED WEIRDO THINGS. And he just asks her quietly: When will you be home for Dinner? THEN. . when Mommy Dearest goes off her rocker and goes home to smash mirrors and splatter BLACK Paint ALL OVER THE FIRST FLOOR (Thru-out which mayhem, Hubby Dear only comes downstairs AFTER a quarter million $$$ worth of Insurance damage is done. . .) And then they all sit down to a Family dinner with paint splatters everywhere and the Daughter is chided for Bad language at the Table? "Dearie", I hollered at the TV, "just pick up the Phone and dial 911!!" By the time Hubby bought the farm in some deserted gas station bathroom, I had stopped caring.

So the Plot failed to instill a sense of why we should care about the Mother's descent into Terror-- because it wasn't a Descent in Terror she was going thru. The Mother was just a cardboard, self-absorbed suburban soccer mom who plainly thinks the world revolves around her wishes. The Daughter was played well, but lacking any real synergy from the Mother's growing awareness of a supernatural danger, she was just a loose character flailing in the wind.

The Brother was an Afterthought. But I give him points for narrowly defusing a pipe bomb and saying "Nevermind" to Mommy Dearest's self-absorbed queries beyond the bathroom door.

The church Coven failed to instill any dread. They were just a bunch of uppity theatre jerks wearing arch-evil sneers. I mean, come one, they were Small-Time. If a couple of college actors and a double amputee priest were the Best followers the Infernal Realms could come up with, the rest of Christendom has very little to be bothered about, let me tell you. . .

And at the end, the movie was over. The "Collector" and the Coven was destroyed-- but I couldn't help the sardonic thought as the sister hugged her bloody brother. . .

"You poor fools. . . Mommy's dead, Daddy too-- so who's gonna pay your bills now. . .plus, your house is a dump now that NO Insurance company in their right mind will pay for any repairs, and to boot, you're both the prime suspects for multiple murder counts. . ." Have a Nice Life.

This movie is a waste of a rental.

cheesy

[scoup · 2/10 · 3 April 2012]

Made it about 30 minutes before turning off. Just not good.

Poor acting.

Trite imagery which at the same time tries too hard - how is that even possible???

Is there no end to the scraps of papers littering the entire movie? Seriously, a constant mess of scraps of papers. Boring.

The walls which are splattered with black goop, or was it supposed to be blood? But I really don't care enough to figure out which it is.

After 30 minutes I should care about something, but I don't.

oh well.

Nothing remotely similar to an Argento film

[vmalast · 2/10 · 16 July 2019]

Not in the same ballpark, hemisphere, planet or galaxy. Now that's out of the way....this wasn't a bad indi film, it just wasn't that good either. Mother has gone off the deep end and husband and daughter act as if nothing is amiss. Mother covers every reflective surface with black paint, its splattered on the walls and all over her...let's sit down for a family meal...enough said

A well done little film for a small indie crew.

[BrianErzen · 8/10 · 21 December 2012]

*Spolier Free Review* I saw Finale last night and I felt this was an enjoyable low budget horror film, that had some really creative cinematography, and used a dark, and creepy visual effect technique that I haven't seen in too many movies. According the the behind the scene featurette, the producer of the film mentions the movie was shot was a small team of 8 people. It's truly and "indie movie" and it's a solid effort. The films strong points, are the look and style (Mise en scène) with some thought out and creative shots, as well as some damn good cinematography. Finale is work checking out, it's an interesting story that doesn't spoon feed you the answers, something I'll watch again to see what I missed the first time. his movie is worth checking out.

Very Stylistic, Well-Crafted Independent Film

[gavin6942 · 6/10 · 7 June 2010]

Death is stalking a small town plagued with a rash of apparent suicides. But one grieving mother (Carolyn Hauck) believes that there are darker forces at work and plunges herself into a supernatural nightmare to uncover her dead son's association with an evil cult. Her behavior grows increasingly paranoid and bizarre as she races against time to battle the terrifying demon unleashed to destroy her entire family in this atmospheric descent into horror.

According to he Internet Movie Database, "All the SFX were achieved in-camera (no CGI), melding techniques from early film magicians, like behind the lens filters, two-way mirrors and speed ramps." Also, "Real animal bones were used for set dressing." This was my primary reason to love the film. While the directing and acting are both great, I'm big on traditional / conventional effects, and what they were able to achieve here makes new methods look like garbage.

Digital Retribution (whoever they are) are quoted on the cover as saying, "Truly bizarre and disturbing imagery... like Argento's best work." For me, any comparison to Argento carries with it a heavy burden of proof, as he is the ultimate master of cinematic style. Luckily for Digital Retribution, that wasn't at all what they were saying. The actual quotation from their review reads: "Like Argento's best work, not everything is solved by the end of the movie, and a lot of what you see simply goes completely unanswered..." Nice try, "Finale", but you took this completely out of context. The review also says the "bizarre and disturbing imagery" is "peppered", implying that it is by no means constant.

The writer-director, John Michael Elfers, has gone on record as being an Argento fan, and has said that he prefers "Deep Red" over "Suspiria", so the film's comparison's to the Italian giallo director are not really surprising. ArrowInTheHead.com is more on target when they say, "Shot lovingly in the Italian Giallo vein..." I can see this, as the film has a definite style, almost stronger than the substance.

The wardrobe person should be commended on the outfits of Kathryn "Kate" Hauck (Suthi Picotte), whoever this person was. She looked magnificent on camera and I think it made her character a lot more easy to identify with. I, for one, fell for her and sympathized right away.

There's great use of direction, with camera positions bringing typical background objects (clocks, jars) to the foreground, and a conscious effort to highlight the symbolic, with a repetitive use of the clocks and mirrors -- very effective! James Speight and Shawn K. Clement's atmospheric music coupled with NEVER 3NOUGH's Mansonesque metal drove the film like a conductor in a barreling freight train. At first the film was a bit slow to get into, but it picks up quickly and does not let you settle in.

The mythology is solid and crisp, and while there is no need for a sequel, one would not be unwelcome. The same ground could be explored by the same characters or all news ones with equal power. I believe Elfers is involved in other projects currently, but I do hope he has left the door open in his mind to walk back into this world.

Solid and interesting though fairly flawed indie horror shot

[Bloodwank · 6/10 · 31 August 2010]

Things get off on the wrong sort of footing with this one it has to be said. Visuals painted in sickly green palette and a tad tricky to make out, it doesn't work for more than a minute or so but the film takes a good deal more than that before settling down into a regular color scheme. If you can get past this, Finale settles into a decent groove, a tense and smartly paced cult themed offering. It follows the Michaels family, devastated by the suicide of their eldest son, but getting into further trouble of a paranoid and possibly supernatural kind. As grieving mother Helen, Carolyn Hauck hits the right fraught and fragile notes, obsession and rising paranoia that comes off nicely and is well reflected in the films obsessive use of close ups. As daughter Kathryn, Suthi Picotte exudes fresh and likable natural star power and makes for a good grounded contrast to the mounting of strange goings on in the film. Other roles are solidly filled by an array of mostly newcomers, actors aren't always sparkling but no one comes off as a grinding dud, baddies have the right quiet menace, the teen casting is realistic enough and so on. Director John Michael Ehlers shows his inexperience with the aforementioned green lit opening debacle and also overuses the color red in the final block, as well as some other stylistic infelicities, mostly in the form of visually incoherent moments. Luckily he uses close ups well, makes some fun creepy visuals with clocks and mirrors and other everyday objects granted sinister significance and is quite good at conjuring a cramped, dangerous atmosphere. Which goes a long way towards helping out some of the more frustrating sequences. Some of the scenes of action do particularly well, a fine seat edge nervous intensity to them that really pushes the film a few notches. The film ends too abruptly and has a slightly sketchy feel to the writing, but its overall a pretty worthy and pleasing little offering. Probably won't please those who don't already have a taste for this level of production, but those who do its recommended.

An Average Satanic Cult Film

[adam-1894 · 6/10 · 28 March 2010]

In the beginning of the movie we see Sean and his girlfriend presumably trying to halt a satanic ritual. When the dynamite fails to ignite, Sean is greeted with death through being hung by barbed wire. The rest of the film is directed at his family’s torment afterwords.

First off, there is the mother Helen, who suffers from sleepwalking. After discovering some Satanical scrapbooks in her dead son’s room, she starts experiencing waking nightmares which we assume are of the past and what her son was uncovering. Granted there is some chilling sequences and good lighting effects, but the CGI here can be somewhat cheap too.

Secondly, we have the daughter Kate, who is encouraged to join theater at her high school. Kate wins the leading role and is paired up with the theater hunk and seems to be optimistic. Unfortunately her mother discovers the director of the play named “Miss Bliss” is the one responsible for conjuring up the demon known as “The Collector of souls.” You can guess where the film goes from here.

Overall the movie deserves a 6/10. There are a few good twists and the plot isn’t as cliché as one would expect. The filmography is above par for a B-grade film. The acting wasn’t flawless, but the cast did a convincing job, the left is up to willing suspense of disbelief. I would recommend this for die-hard horror fans into movies about cults.

Alan "Skip" Bannacheck -The Horror Encyclopedia

Beyond

[kosmasp · 6/10 · 3 November 2010]

This is a very well crafted little movie. It does offer quite a few clichés and might let itself down a bit after a very strong beginning, but I still feel like this deserves to be seen. Of course you could argue that the current rating suggests otherwise (the movie having only managed to get a bit more than half of what I gave it). But then again, shouldn't you judge for yourself?

Especially if you do have a thing for small little horror movies, with a neat idea, that do have a well crafted (filmed) product to show to you. The acting is nice and even if you do not like where it is heading, I do hope you like the movie as it is. I know I did (but then again I do have a thing for independent, well crafted horror movies)!

Almost an excellent film.

[parry_na · 7/10 · 12 July 2015]

This is almost an excellent film, but you have to work to understand what is going on.

A family is devastated by the apparent suicide of the son, with the mother Helen (Carolyn Hauck) in particular, making it a personal mission to get to the truth. The acting in this low-budget project is mostly top notch – in Hauck's case, possibly too good; her obsession pushes her into very obvious insanity that wouldn't go unnoticed by those she comes into contact with. It goes beyond 'tell her she's mad, dad' and would surely lead to steps being taken to secure proper care for her – but she's right, of course, to an extent, although the director fills the narrative with so many sped-up shots, blurred images, flashbacks and other effects that occasionally events become incomprehensible. Whilst this is a good way of conveying how Helen (who to me, has a smattering of Sigourney Weaver about her) now sees the world, it can leave the viewer confused. As a result, often the 'quieter' moments are most effective.

Suthi Picotte as daughter Kate is also very good in a cast who actually appear to be more concerned with acting than posturing, which can be one of the pitfalls of many modern horror/dramas.

There are many films I've thoroughly enjoyed, but it is doubtful I'll visit them again. This deserves more than one airing however, to enjoy again events packed into the fast moving runtime, and also to see many things undoubtedly missed out on.