Athena (2015) User Reviews

Indie horror with grit and gore

[Leofwine_draca · 5/10 · 2 July 2017]

ATHENA is an indie horror film with a bit of vigour to it, a bit of drive that makes it stand head and shoulders above the rest. It tells a simple enough story, about a couple of characters who are ostracised from society and subsequently drawn together, but the imaginative direction is enough to see this one through. The low key performances work for the style of film, and there's enough grit and gore to satisfy the most jaded of horror fans. The story is about a loner guy who witnesses a brutal muder in an alleyway one night and who is subsequently infected. By what? You'll have to watch to find out. The rest of the tale is about hearing voices and features a vampiric twist. Also, watch out for one of the cutest sausage dogs put on film.

A Dark and Subversive Indie Horror With Some Interesting Ideas

[dfranklin-41821 · 7/10 · 14 March 2020]

This is definitely one of the more offbeat indie horror movies I've watched in quite some time - the best way to describe is if you took elements of William Friedkin's film "Bug" (in terms of a man and a woman both dealing with trauma, and as you can see from the photo here, bugs), Spike Jonze's "Her" (an unseen female voice driving a lot of the story), and a dash of Cronenberg and put it all in a blender with a lot of fake blood, you'd get something close to this film.

As Carl, Matthew Ewald gives a compelling performance as a truly tortured man dealing with an intense loss, and I look forward to seeing other performances from him in the future. That being said, I did have some issues with the usage of blood in this story, both figuratively and literally - and no, I'm not the squeamish type, and you shouldn't be either if you watch this film.

Unfortunately, the blood is here is not only a bit excessive (people don't bleed that much that fast), but there are various moments where a character is bleeding (there's a scene in a bar that comes to mind) and people just ignore it - people don't react to people who could have some sort of contagious disease like that in the real world (especially right now.)

In short, this was an interesting movie - there was a cool story here, but some of the special effects distracted me from focusing on it in full. I'd like to see this director make another film, even a horror film, but one that relies less on the gross out and more on the genuine horror found in the human condition - I have no doubt he's capable of it.

Beware Your Inner Voice

[JGReviews · 7/10 · 24 March 2020]

Athena is an interesting horror/sci-fi indie that I stumbled upon on Amazon. Two troubled individuals start to hear the same voice in their head -- Athena -- who attempts to influence them, but does it have sinister intentions? Now this film might not be everyone's cup of tea due quite simply to the massive amount of blood that appears on screen, but on the other hand, there's probably plenty of us that would watch a horror film just knowing that it doesn't hold back in that department haha. I really liked the psychological element to this film, which is often lacking in many horror films. Pretty good acting and production values in Athena too, particularly for an indie film. It appears as if director Robert W. Filion had many jobs on this film by looking at the credits, so kudos to him for his work here. He seems to have a fairly lengthly list of directing credits according to IMDB, so I might go check out his other work.

The acting...

[jcslawyer · 3/10 · 3 June 2021]

It was the acting that ultimately led me to leave the rating. I just could not sit there and pretend the acting was decent. It stunk - and I hate saying that, but it's really true. I'm a huge horror buff; and I've seen my shares of low budgeters. But when the acting is so crummy that it takes you out of the story, then you can't rely on a low budget to be forgiven. In this case, all of the actors were really not good. Carl was ok, but he still needs to study how to do other types of acting. He had the same expression and reaction and cadence in every situation.

The story had major potential. I also felt like I was watching Bug, with a taste of Cronenberg, and a dash of something else I can't think of right now. But, it started to get cheesy. I liked Carl and I thought killing him off midway left us with the rest of the unlikable characters (yes, incl. Emily). I'd say it started to tank once we flip over to Emily's point of view and we get that bizarre ghosty Carl who just reminded me of a creepier Edward Cullen. It took me out of the story and didn't give any explanation as to why that was there in addition to the stupid voice in her head... The effects with that, and the Samurai sword crap felt like I was watching some weird late night Cinemax cheapo horror flick that could've been hosted by Elvira...it's as if the vision just went blank at the midpoint. There was an idea that was abandoned in favor of a gimmicky midpoint shift.

The voice in the head was really stupid. There was an attempt to make it sound eerie; but it just sounded like a cheap effect with an overlaid voice. It wasn't interesting or strange. Just piss poor acting with no soul. The people were too accepting of it rather quickly. Carl accepted it pretty easily.

I'd like this to be redone better. The friend who gets killed was not a good comic relief. The weird guy with the bowling bag was just annoying and I couldn't wait for his comeuppance after he killed that dude. Emily tried too hard to be interesting and/or relatable. I was also grossed out by people not caring at all about rando bleeding. Really...stack of bloodsoaked napkins on a bar and the bartender only says he's not cleaning it up?

I really tried to like this movie. Was waiting for their to be a story... it did not arrive. Instead, we got what amounted to a terrible SyFy channel late night special with horrid acting and uninteresting story that leads to an impossible window. Skip, not worth it.

A Unique Entertaining Movie

[buckeyealum-24568 · 8/10 · 6 April 2020]

Athena is a film that's off the beaten path, largely using inner thoughts expressed in voice over to tell the story. The film kept me engaged from beginning to end. I reccomend this film.

Psychology Commingles with Blood and Great Storytelling

[TheAll-SeeingI · 9/10 · 24 March 2020]

Horror fans are an infamously fickle lot, but their insatiable appetite for psychology-driven themes is nothing short of a historical fact, and with the stakes always ratcheted further up once everything arrives soaked in blood. With these truths in mind, it's hard to imagine they won't find loads to soapbox about with Robert Filion's uniquely excellent, "Athena."

Melding the best elements of horror with those of sci-fi, the disembodied namesake character of "Athena" is heard but not seen as a voice that slowly inhabits the heads of the film's two lead characters. Carl (Matthew Ewald) and Emily (the singularly named Vanelle) share in life's brutal struggle, but in acutely unique ways that find a dark commonality once the inner voice of Athena separately enters their heads and begins commingling with their own thoughts. It's a great concept made more so by Athena's ambiguity of intention: Is she the metaphorical angel whispering in one ear, or the devil whispering in the other?

Filion has married a strong premise with great cinematic execution, and all while coaxing fine performances from his actors. "Athena" is indie horror filmmaking at its most shrewdly aspirational, and is ideally made the masses. - (Was this review of use to you? If so, let me know by clicking "Helpful." Cheers!)