Milwood (2013) User Reviews

Amateurish, Brutal and Pointless Drama

[claudio_carvalho · 2/10 · 28 June 2016]

The eleven year-old boy Nathan Perry (Christian Goodwin) is beloved by his parents that are going to give a dog for him. However his family is destroyed in a car accident when his parents die and the boy is sent to the custody of Milwood, an orphanage managed by Mr. Clemens (Jimmy Scanlon). The boy is treated with love by the social assistant Judy (Michelle Romano), but abused by Mr. Clemens. When Nathan is bullied by other boys, Mr. Clemens sends him to the feared Ward B and the mean Katherine Rizzo (Tiffany Shepis) becomes his tutor and he has medical assistance from the weird Doctor Charles (Don Tempesta). While snooping around the Ward B, Nathan discloses a dreadful secret. What have him discovered?

"Milwood" is an amateurish, brutal and pointless drama. The plot is confused and it is never clear the motives of Mr. Clemens and Doctor Charles: are they simply deranged sadists with their experiments or do they sell organs? The cinematography, lighting and edition are awful. The histrionic Jimmy Scanlon has a ham performance and only Christian Goodwin has an excellent performance. Michelle Romano has a nice character and also a good performance. The government sends the boys to the custody of Milwood, but there is no audits, in a very strange behavior. The marketing of this drama is completely wrong and viewers believe it is a horror film. My vote is two.

Title (Brazil): "Orfanato" ("Orphanage")

Oh dear

[antide-42376 · 2/10 · 14 January 2023]

This is a really poor effort. Within five minutes I could tell it was going to be bad but I stuck with it until the end. OK, I admit that I did skip a couple of chapters towards the end of the DVD and this did help matters. It has the feel of a school project about it and feels very low key. The story is just terrible as this is one of those films that you expect to get better and it doesn't. I picked this up for a £1 and I feel I was robbed.

The boy is OK but certainly not great and the movie just fails completely as a whole. What is the reason that the institution to treat the kids like they do? It's never explained. Avoid.

It was just a bad dream

[nogodnomasters · 3/10 · 21 October 2017]

"The Orphanage" and "The Institute" are the same film. It is titled "Milwood" (sic) failed to improve it for some reason, but did increase sales and rentals.

Nathan (Christian Goodwin) arrives at the Milwood Institute after his parents die and he didn't get his puppy. He is cared for by child counselor Judy (Michelle Romano) the closets thing to eye-candy and the not so caring dean (Jimmy Scanlon). He is bullied by Tommy (Adam J. Freeman) until they both wind up in the bad boy ward, rumored to be haunted.

Nothing to see here, mini plot spoiler, it is not haunted. In fact this should not be sold as a horror film, but is more akin to a "Lifetime" drama (which I find to be a horror for a different reason).

Guide: 1 F-bomb. No sex or nudity.

Nothing supernatural, and downright depressing

[oscarlupton-96485 · 1/10 · 17 June 2016]

First, this is also released as 'The Institute' and the description refers to a building 'said to be haunted' and the 'evil spirits live in the walls'. Unless this is referring to the staff there (with the exception of one), then that is one hundred percent false advertising. There is *nothing* supernatural about this *whatsoever*.

Second, this is downright depressing. It is the story of a child admitted to an orphanage after his parents are killed, then is mistreated in said orphanage. Lovely.

Don't bother watching this, whatsoever. Find a good horror movie. There's plenty out there.

Ridiculously Bad

[veganlyfe · 1/10 · 24 August 2017]

Where do I begin? So bad...let me count the ways...

I wasted an hour and a half on this horrible movie. No one can act, nothing makes sense, you don't know what the point is, none of it is realistic.

Oy vey! Run away!

might be the worst movie ever

[a-gunslinger · 1/10 · 10 August 2015]

This movie is so bad. They changed the name to the orphanage and it's just horrible. I felt like I was watching a junior college project filmed in a dorm. Nothing good about this movie at all. I feel like the name was changed so that people might accidentally rent it thinking it's the horror classic of the same name. I wish I could have that 97 minutes of my life back. The camera work was weird, The acting was weird, The dialogue was weird. This review might be weird but the movie was such a train wreck it made me feel weird. What were the film makers thinking? Were they high or are they retarded? I fee that they might be all three. I feel bad for the kid who starred in this rubbish.

Could have been a masterpiece

[amopescari-665-909015 · 1/10 · 12 September 2016]

First of all, let me say that this movie is terrible. Really REALLY bad. The camera work is pedestrian, the acting is scraping the bottom of the barrel. The kid was the only decent actor in the movie. The dialog is truly ridiculous at points, and the details propelling the plot forward don't make any sense. This is further confounded by the way the time line jumps around, making for a movie that lurches along like a wounded animal. The story, at its core, is good, and the movie could have been truly great had it been made by entirely different people. Using haunting as a metaphor for the true horrors that are frequently faced by orphaned children, and ward B as a symbol of the powerlessness of children who are designated wards of the state, could have been crafted into a truly poignant, moving, and ultimately unforgettable work of cinematography, but, unfortunately, this clumsy attempt at that, fails in every way. If Scorsese had made this film, it would have been a masterpiece.

Jesus H Christ, what a terrible film...

[joe-416-690551 · 6 July 2018]

Flat story, acting, everything! Steer clear of this monstrosity.

So atrocious that it is atrocious

[kristianryder · 1/10 · 18 October 2023]

WOW! Where do I start? I think to call this a film is even an insult to the movie industry. I have to start by saying that this is one of the worst films you will ever see. The camera work is all over the place, it is jerky in parts and then still when it shouldn't be and what is with the rolling pan shot of the wall when the boy is talking to the cook? They say a story should have a beginning, a middle and an end...this film has none of them, just a garbled mess. And as for the acting (if you can call it that) well that was just the worst. The only redeeming actor was the young lad in what was actually his first acting performance. Although I don't actually know if he was any good or just better than the rest of the cast. Michelle Romano, who played Judy, was actually not terrible albeit a little wooden but she did know the basics of acting at least. Jimmy Scanlon was terrible and after seeing he has since wrote the script to a short film called "Methadone Mile" I suspect he may well have been high on heroin at the time of this movie, although even that wouldn't explain his behaviour. I would like to end with at least one redeeming factor for this film but there were none. I don't think I have ever been so excited to see the credits at the end of a movie. Please do not watch this film, you can actually find it on YouTube as a free movie so what I would recommend is to just flick to any point in the film and just see how bad things are. Truly amazed this was ever distributed.

JUST DON'T KNOW

[fourthhostcelestials · 2/10 · 15 January 2024]

Not a very good movie, storywise; I didn't mind the Direction, for the most part, but the story went absolutely nowhere (although it did have an ending)....

Why did the 'judge' (?) look so disgusted and mean while saying he had no choice but to assign Nathan to Milwood Treatment Facility (the boy had just lost both his parents tragically) ?

NO IDEA !

And, why is it called a "Treatment Facility" ? NO IDEA !

Why did the man sitting next to Nathan during the judgement have a silly, stupid smirk on hearing this ?

NO IDEA !

Why was Dean Clemens actually pretty nice for about 5 minutes into the movie and turn into a total prick for the rest of the show ? NO IDEA !

What was the 'Pool Scene' about.... Was it was a dream.... Hallucination.... Vision of a past event where a group of boys drowned another ?

NO IDEA ?

Who/What was the mysterious dark figure in the distance just before that scene, and in the basement ?

NO IDEA !

Why did MS. Rizzo just seem to be a Ward B teacher, then later appear to be 'on equal footing' which Dean Clemens, ordering Guidance Counselor Judy around ?

NO IDEA !

Who was hiding in the bathroom stall, barefooted ? NO IDEA ?

Why was Tommy given a lobotomy for a 'first offense' before Nathan (Nathan was seen as more of the 'trouble maker') ? NO IDEA !

Bruce was the obvious trouble-maker at the orphanage, any teacher would have known it.... Why was he not sent to Ward B a long time ago and lobotomized (the place would have run better (in the Dean's point of view) ?

NO IDEA !

What happened to Tommy afterwards ? NO IDEA !

Other than a sadistic reason, why do the boys need to be awake during the lobotomy (they waited until Nathan was awake to begin) ?

NO IDEA ?

If a child is given a lobotomy how do they explain it to any of the Social Workers that check upon each and every child periodically every year ?

NO IDEA !

What did Nathan see and photograph/video tape ? NO IDEA !

WHY Did I Watch the Whole Movie ??? NO IDEA !!!

Child Abuse

[onlythusfar · 7/10 · 30 January 2016]

This film was difficult to watch. Although it isn't the greatest film technically, its message is very powerful. It portrays the complete dominance, that adults have over children. As it has been aptly put, absolute power often results in absolute corruption. This story had a happy ending, but unfortunately, that's not how it often ends in real life. It reminds me of the residential schools, to which native children were sent, after being torn away from their families, so they could be indoctrinated, into the European conquerers' religion. These children were at the complete mercy of adult clergy, who were often corrupt and sadistic or sexually perverse. The children often were often the victims of unthinkable abuse at the hands of these adults. I guess, the only reason to watch this film is to remind oneself of the vulnerability of children and our job, as responsible adults to be vigilant with ourselves and others, to make sure, that we are advocates for their protection.

Yes I liked it.

[paranandamandal · 7/10 · 8 April 2021]

I don't know why people are hating it. I think they're not getting the movie. The normal kids think ward B is haunted bcz they see how abnormally the children of that ward behave.... And they don't come back, it was a true part, wasn't it ? Yes I agree some scenes needed more clarity by showing some more detailing, but For me actings were good enough and it's a real horror story bcz it clearly has showed we don't need ghosts or spirits or supernatural power to scare, The real world is enough to do it.... The cruel and inhuman so called people on earth are enough to scare.....

Wrongly dismissed

[kewisha · 24 October 2023]

Dear Reader, Bearing in mind the film was released in 2013, a wider or broader context and evaluation is worth considering. I'm not going to dwell on peripherals such as low budget aspects but instead I will draw your attention to historical precedents and actions which are brought up to date during the drama. Those of you who study and value the apparent lessons we were meant to have learnt from the past see immediately that we are trapped in an endless prison of cruelty and violence . This is what the film is about. It requires a level of perception which some individuals do not possess nor are capable of ever seeing. With hindsight, a lot of the plot becomes very obvious, drawing on Dr Mengele, for example, Lord of the Flies, and Clockwork Orange. The reign of terror and intimidation within this orphanage carries on unchecked and un monitored. All the comments on this production either shy away from this or maybe the writers were watching an entirely different film? The message is powerful but the very fact that non-action is as sinful as action brings the evil out into the open. The smuggled camera ruse was brilliant - how else to garner vital evidence? This in itself may be a fictional drama / plot but behind the fiction lies a hideous world where such actions take place and are taking place unchecked. Looked at from another angle and this film is a wake-up call in every regime built on brutality, torture and total disregard for human lives.