This movie takes quite a while to get going and when it finally wraps up, you're left with more questions than answers. It's about a team of people who go into an old asylum building to assess it for hazardous materials. Or something. A sort of librarian goes with them to grab any records that might be worth keeping. They end up being the worst hide and seek players ever in a cat and mouse game between them and an unknown adversary. The kinds of decisions most of these characters make throughout the course of the movie will leave you with little sympathy for them. I found myself hoping they would die - especially the team leader. I did find it scary, creepy, and suspenseful, and I thought it was well shot and performed. I would have liked more of an explanation for what was happening and why, but if the intention was for us to be just as in the dark as the people in the movie, I sort of get it. But I didn't like it. I've seen other reviewers saying that this ripped off Session 9, and I can see why they said that, but I wasn't thinking of Session 9 while watching this. Session 9 was definitely better, though. See that instead.
21 Reviews
Lacking emotional connection. Things happen and then it's over.
peefyn9 November 2015
I was lucky enough to catch an outdoor screening of this in the Norwegian woods. Sadly, despite the name of the movie, it's not really much about the woods this time around.
In this movie a crew of people are doing tests and gathering samples of an old asylum/hospital that is to be torn down. The big building is in the middle of nowhere, as it was built for avoiding the spread of tuberculosis. The janitor who has been in charge of the place is a bit difficult to work with, and therein starts the movie's conflict.
I actually liked the way that it tied into the first Villmark movie. It's only indirectly, but it's enough so that you get a bit extra from this movie if you have seen the first one. On the surface there's the fact that the hospital uses the lake from the first movie as its water supply, and that the janitor in this movie appears also in Villmark. But they also refer a bit to the WW2-history that is mentioned in the first movie.
The make up (or SFX?) in this movie were also quite nice, though I won't go into further details because of spoilers.
Now, did I like this movie? No. It does a lot of things correctly, like the setting and the make up, as mentioned. However, unlike the first movie, you barley get to know any of the characters, so when things start happening, you don't really care. There are some jump scare, but the movie doesn't really manage to build much tension. An emotional bond with the character's would have helped immensely, but the movie's attempt to give you brief glimpses into who these guys are, fails miserably. There's also a lot of poor/strange decisions (like in many horror movies).
I hated the ending of the previous film, but this movie's ending is actually alright.
In this movie a crew of people are doing tests and gathering samples of an old asylum/hospital that is to be torn down. The big building is in the middle of nowhere, as it was built for avoiding the spread of tuberculosis. The janitor who has been in charge of the place is a bit difficult to work with, and therein starts the movie's conflict.
I actually liked the way that it tied into the first Villmark movie. It's only indirectly, but it's enough so that you get a bit extra from this movie if you have seen the first one. On the surface there's the fact that the hospital uses the lake from the first movie as its water supply, and that the janitor in this movie appears also in Villmark. But they also refer a bit to the WW2-history that is mentioned in the first movie.
The make up (or SFX?) in this movie were also quite nice, though I won't go into further details because of spoilers.
Now, did I like this movie? No. It does a lot of things correctly, like the setting and the make up, as mentioned. However, unlike the first movie, you barley get to know any of the characters, so when things start happening, you don't really care. There are some jump scare, but the movie doesn't really manage to build much tension. An emotional bond with the character's would have helped immensely, but the movie's attempt to give you brief glimpses into who these guys are, fails miserably. There's also a lot of poor/strange decisions (like in many horror movies).
I hated the ending of the previous film, but this movie's ending is actually alright.
Bad. Bad. Bad.
Patient44412 December 2015
Nothing to do with Villmark 1 !! They barely managed to make a small and quite insignificant connection to it, but that's all, just so they can take advantage of the name and get some attention.
If you read the plot, you'll realize you know the movie, you've seen it before, many times and this right here brings nothing new. It's a horror movie in an old building, apparently abandoned but not quite, where people start to get missing or even...dead!
And this is all. From head to toes, nothing more than what so many other similar productions brought on screen so many times before. Can't believe I was excited to see this. Anyway, the movie itself, as a stand alone is still a weak production in my opinion. I will not recommend it.
Cheers!
If you read the plot, you'll realize you know the movie, you've seen it before, many times and this right here brings nothing new. It's a horror movie in an old building, apparently abandoned but not quite, where people start to get missing or even...dead!
And this is all. From head to toes, nothing more than what so many other similar productions brought on screen so many times before. Can't believe I was excited to see this. Anyway, the movie itself, as a stand alone is still a weak production in my opinion. I will not recommend it.
Cheers!
Well made horror
amesmonde5 March 2018
Warning: Spoilers
Five contract workers have taken on the task of tracking a huge old sanatorium for hazardous waste before demolishing. However things go bump in the night as the enormous building has much darker secrets and possible paranormal activity.
Like with the recent Spanish horror revival director Pål Øie does the same for Norwegian filmmaking offering a well-made filmactic feel is which sells the plausibility, thanks to the acting and creepy location, the music adds tension.
As the characters are picked off one by one the premise is interesting even though the story beats, shadows in the dim corridors, figures on camera, jump scares etc are what we've seen before Pål Øie's execution and serious tone makes it worth watching the scares play out. There's a few bodies, blood, gore, twists and turns, doctors and WWII elements.
Overall, better than the abundance of bad acted English language slasher and horror films doing the rounds at the moment. Recommend.
Like with the recent Spanish horror revival director Pål Øie does the same for Norwegian filmmaking offering a well-made filmactic feel is which sells the plausibility, thanks to the acting and creepy location, the music adds tension.
As the characters are picked off one by one the premise is interesting even though the story beats, shadows in the dim corridors, figures on camera, jump scares etc are what we've seen before Pål Øie's execution and serious tone makes it worth watching the scares play out. There's a few bodies, blood, gore, twists and turns, doctors and WWII elements.
Overall, better than the abundance of bad acted English language slasher and horror films doing the rounds at the moment. Recommend.
Waste of potential
eirikjohansendaleng14 December 2015
Warning: Spoilers
I had such hopes for this film. I've seen the first film, and Pål Øye is a great director, but this movie really had too many strings to attach.
You don't need to see the first film to understand the second one, but there are some easter eggs from the first movie (however I don't feel they fit well into this story).
I'll start off with the positive things: The visual and overall feel is good, and you never feel like it's a low budget movie. Good color grading and lighting. Also the sound design is really good, and keeps you on the edge for the most of the time, but that's about everything that is good in this movie.
As for the negative parts, there are so many things. The characters did a OK job - Anders and Ellen did good most of the time, but as with many Norwegian films, you feel like they are reading lines from a script - which is extremely annoying. Also I felt some of the actors didn't act at all when they spoke. The plot has so many holes, and unexplained scenarios, and the ending is... well I'm not going to say anything about it - because it's so cliché and bad. I also don't understand 30% of the film, because you are introduced to so many stories, but only a small portion of them are explained. The editing tend to break the mood sometimes, because some of the transitions breaks out of the whole universe, making it look like they were testing a modern way of going from one scene to another, which didn't work at all, and you begin to feel the need to laugh because it's so stupid. There's also a cheesy part that makes it even more hilariously dumb, but you will understand what I mean when I say the color "red" has a symbolic meaning throughout the whole film.
Would I recommend this movie if you're bored and just want to see a horror film set in an old mental institution? I don't know. I feel like you really need to enter this universe with low expectations, because we were 12 people watching it, and none of us liked it.
You don't need to see the first film to understand the second one, but there are some easter eggs from the first movie (however I don't feel they fit well into this story).
I'll start off with the positive things: The visual and overall feel is good, and you never feel like it's a low budget movie. Good color grading and lighting. Also the sound design is really good, and keeps you on the edge for the most of the time, but that's about everything that is good in this movie.
As for the negative parts, there are so many things. The characters did a OK job - Anders and Ellen did good most of the time, but as with many Norwegian films, you feel like they are reading lines from a script - which is extremely annoying. Also I felt some of the actors didn't act at all when they spoke. The plot has so many holes, and unexplained scenarios, and the ending is... well I'm not going to say anything about it - because it's so cliché and bad. I also don't understand 30% of the film, because you are introduced to so many stories, but only a small portion of them are explained. The editing tend to break the mood sometimes, because some of the transitions breaks out of the whole universe, making it look like they were testing a modern way of going from one scene to another, which didn't work at all, and you begin to feel the need to laugh because it's so stupid. There's also a cheesy part that makes it even more hilariously dumb, but you will understand what I mean when I say the color "red" has a symbolic meaning throughout the whole film.
Would I recommend this movie if you're bored and just want to see a horror film set in an old mental institution? I don't know. I feel like you really need to enter this universe with low expectations, because we were 12 people watching it, and none of us liked it.
Standalone film recalls Session 9 and Death Ship
PutneyTrope24 March 2022
Imagine Death Ship (2002) and Session 9 (2001) blended together. My favorite part of the film was the beginning. The story begins immediately. You get brief introductions to the characters and learn more as things progress.
Nicely filmed, directed, and the acting was fine. Locations interior and exterior were well utilized.
The first half of the film does keep you guessing a little - trying to figure out exactly what type of film this will be. The second half of the film continues through well-trodden territory with NO surprises.
Apparently, this was sold as a sequel. I haven't seen the first film, but it doesn't seem to be referenced at all. This movie is it's own thing. Not original at all....but a decent creepy sanatorium crawl.
Nicely filmed, directed, and the acting was fine. Locations interior and exterior were well utilized.
The first half of the film does keep you guessing a little - trying to figure out exactly what type of film this will be. The second half of the film continues through well-trodden territory with NO surprises.
Apparently, this was sold as a sequel. I haven't seen the first film, but it doesn't seem to be referenced at all. This movie is it's own thing. Not original at all....but a decent creepy sanatorium crawl.
Wasted Potential
blood-lust66629 January 2018
Warning: Spoilers
This Norwegian haunted asylum flick was a take on the 2001 US movie Session 9. Unfortunately for Villmark 2, they failed horribly in that respect. Their attempt at a psychological horror fell flat. The plot was paper thin and never came together because it was never fully realized.
What I did love about this movie was the setting. The isolation of the woods, the creepiness of the building, the atmosphere created by amazing visuals. I'm just not sure why the director didn't go another way with the movie. At the beginning, there was so much focus on the contaminated water supply, and I thought it would go the way of the crew contracting a disease from said water. (Think Cabin Fever only in an asylum). That would have been an amazing plot! A plot that actually made sense. But it veered off track at about the halfway mark and decided on a 'experiments gone wrong' angle. That is an angle that is incredibly cliche and so played out in so many other asylum/hospital horror movies. It just felt like lazy writing. And that was so disappointing when the movie had so much potential.
What I did love about this movie was the setting. The isolation of the woods, the creepiness of the building, the atmosphere created by amazing visuals. I'm just not sure why the director didn't go another way with the movie. At the beginning, there was so much focus on the contaminated water supply, and I thought it would go the way of the crew contracting a disease from said water. (Think Cabin Fever only in an asylum). That would have been an amazing plot! A plot that actually made sense. But it veered off track at about the halfway mark and decided on a 'experiments gone wrong' angle. That is an angle that is incredibly cliche and so played out in so many other asylum/hospital horror movies. It just felt like lazy writing. And that was so disappointing when the movie had so much potential.
Without the Woods
scythertitus26 August 2017
There is a lot this film has going for it; it looks great, the setting is really creepy and it uses some good techniques to makes some of the situations the characters go through legitimately terrifying.
This is also where it falls down however as while the situations are clever and put you in the place of the character to where you wonder what you would do, you never really care about the characters themselves. We know next to nothing about them and they don't really stand out, so while we can replace ourselves with them in these scary situations, you could also replace them with any other character and it wouldn't make a difference. What's more it never really feels like there is much at stake, also it starts off by being really precise about what the people are there to do and how much time they have to do it in and then most of this is forgotten.
Overall this film could have been really good with a little more depth to the writing and a little more time spent getting to know the characters, but it is still worth a watch for the situations and setting alone.
This is also where it falls down however as while the situations are clever and put you in the place of the character to where you wonder what you would do, you never really care about the characters themselves. We know next to nothing about them and they don't really stand out, so while we can replace ourselves with them in these scary situations, you could also replace them with any other character and it wouldn't make a difference. What's more it never really feels like there is much at stake, also it starts off by being really precise about what the people are there to do and how much time they have to do it in and then most of this is forgotten.
Overall this film could have been really good with a little more depth to the writing and a little more time spent getting to know the characters, but it is still worth a watch for the situations and setting alone.
Great footage, horrible film
jthaule14 May 2017
I gave this film a two, and considering the photography, lighting and set design/location are all pure tens, that speaks volumes for the rest of this film.
The script and editing is on the level of something you'd expect from a kindergarten child, the acting is horrendous most of the time and the entire film is completely disjointed. The plot, where there is one, suffers from lack of logic, and the characters behave in a way no human ever would.
It has everything you'd expect from the worst of Jean Rollin, except the humor and playfulness. It's just not good.
I'd love to edit this film down to about five-six minutes and use that footage for a music video, but the film as it is is just junk.
The music incidentally is distracting as all hell.
The script and editing is on the level of something you'd expect from a kindergarten child, the acting is horrendous most of the time and the entire film is completely disjointed. The plot, where there is one, suffers from lack of logic, and the characters behave in a way no human ever would.
It has everything you'd expect from the worst of Jean Rollin, except the humor and playfulness. It's just not good.
I'd love to edit this film down to about five-six minutes and use that footage for a music video, but the film as it is is just junk.
The music incidentally is distracting as all hell.
Plagerism Is Rampant These Days
trnjamesbond26 July 2016
Warning: Spoilers
If your looking for a story to sink your teeth into, this wouldn't be the one to watch. Uninspired plagiarist garbage taken from an older film called "Session 9" released in 2001, which stars David Caruso,Stephen Gevedon,Paul Guilfoyle,Josh Lucas,and Peter Mullan.
Why this film crew thought people wouldn't notice is beyond me, the whole plot of a cleaning crew removing hazardous waste before demolition is identical to Session 9. They may have changed some elements of the film, but the foundation is taken from the solid script of Session 9.
It makes me angry that people do this, instead of cashing in on an eerie topic such as an abandoned creepy building, why don't they save their money and produce something of originality? There are so many garbage films like this, that don't deserve the light of day, and to be blunt, these people need a real kick in the a$$.
As a viewer I don't condone plagiarist material such as this, in fact it's just completely ignorant, to the people they stole this idea from. There is a way at hinting at other great films, but copying the whole structure of an older film is utter rubbish, and exactly where this film belongs!
Final verdict, don't waste your time, go watch Session 9 if you haven't seen it, it's a way better film than this garbage. 1 out of 10 for me.
Why this film crew thought people wouldn't notice is beyond me, the whole plot of a cleaning crew removing hazardous waste before demolition is identical to Session 9. They may have changed some elements of the film, but the foundation is taken from the solid script of Session 9.
It makes me angry that people do this, instead of cashing in on an eerie topic such as an abandoned creepy building, why don't they save their money and produce something of originality? There are so many garbage films like this, that don't deserve the light of day, and to be blunt, these people need a real kick in the a$$.
As a viewer I don't condone plagiarist material such as this, in fact it's just completely ignorant, to the people they stole this idea from. There is a way at hinting at other great films, but copying the whole structure of an older film is utter rubbish, and exactly where this film belongs!
Final verdict, don't waste your time, go watch Session 9 if you haven't seen it, it's a way better film than this garbage. 1 out of 10 for me.
People stingy with stars
helenkolby-4095029 November 2020
FYI if you can't suspend disbelief for an hour or two (as evident in the low ratings), don't bother watching horror movies.
This was very well done. The pace is perfect. It keeps you guessing just enough, but not so much that you lose interest 30 minutes in. It's like, Is everyone seeing ghosts? Or going insane? Is it hallucinations? Is that person up to something? I dunno if I trust her. Wtf is that?? Who is that supposed to be!
It's good enough I didn't catch myself perusing memes during it.
For one, abandoned insane asylum? Yea alright. Two, gorgeous scenes and a beautiful giant building falling apart? Uh, ya. In the absolute middle of nowhere mountain forest with an old bomb siren and creepy caretaker? I'm in.
Cliché, maybe. But again, relax and pretend you're in for the ride and not to pick it apart. Maybe it's been done a bunch before, but that's because it works. There are locations, people and situations that are just inherently scary. Look past it and enjoy yourself.
5 people have to examine and do testing for contaminants like asbestos in a old shutdown psychiatric ward. but more things are growing inside these walls then they were told.
tkaine317 July 2016
Wow I never heard of this movie so I was pleasantly surprised. It's in German I think with English Subtitles, the script was fine not great but not cheesy. The Camera and directing was superb. I'll be going to see if part 1 was what this movie failed to pull off. I mean it was the best set up for a scary movie I think so far i've seen this year in 2016 and this movie released in 2015. I mean it showed so many different elements of the horror in this movie and it was shown very early in the movie. animals, kids,old people not to give too much away I was very impressed and pretty creeped out for the first half of the movie and it was a pretty long movie just under 2hrs & 15 minutes not saying I have a short attention span but I think it was a little drawn out and I thinking the end it just didn't add up enough and a lot of the characters purposes were not explained enough to give the movie good characterization which kind of spoiled the scary Ness at the end but I guess it was worth the watch didn't really surprise me at all so it definitely could of and should of been better. The cast was good actors and the women were attractive so I guess that helped. For a scary movie with subtitles I would recommend this and give a 6 out of 10 .. Creepy but don't over think it.
waste of potential
daniexa10 October 2015
This film started very well. it's a pretty cliché film it is about 5 people that are to a large building to do something . Setup of the film is very good. There are not so many jump cares in the film but it's something the film really needed to be scarier . The film has poor editing. no spoiler here but in one scene one girl is inside a tent someone comes to take the tent the man that are taking it are dragging it after him. suddenly the scene jumper's to the other folks who sitting talk and 5 minutes later we get back to tent stuff. it had been much more INTEST if we had seen everything with out something disturbed the scene. Also, when the film tries to be intense in the scenes there are always two people there who will then make it less scary and intense . had been much better with just one person there.
A cautionary tale about what happens when you leave a blonde in charge of a business. Oink.
fedor85 May 2016
Warning: Spoilers
Ever since the appearance of mobile phones, horror-movie writers have had the headache of trying to neutralize the phone as a source of obvious and easy help for people threatened by psychopaths, demons or zombies. The by now pretty laughable "I have no signal" cop-out plot-device is the one most commonly used, so I will give this movie credit for at least trying something else, a new way to solve the fairly unsolvable phone dilemma.
However, that "something else" is even dumber than not having a signal for no reason: it's UNWILLINGNESS to call for help! Yes, my dear readers (all five of you), the movie's sanitary team has opportunities – time and time again – to call the cops, yet they don't. The first time, it's Frank refusing to "endanger the business" by calling the cops. "How are we going to get any work done with cops crawling all over the place?" he says moronically, baffling every sane and/or intelligent viewer. But it's not really fictional Frank's fault; it's the writer who underwent a cheap lobotomy, probably performed by the same Nazi surgeons from this movie, before he undertook the – for his lobotomized self - impossible task of writing an intelligent, original script.
But silly me. Why do I automatically assume that there was any intention to create something intelligent, let alone original? V2 is a collection of abandoned-building clichés we've all seen before, many times – and done much better than in this fairly lame Norwegian flick. Take any "old sanitarium in ruins" movie and in all likelihood it has all the same shticks as this one: abandoned gloomy rooms, mysterious basements, bizarre drawings on walls, little mutant children running through corridors, illegal human experiments, and other never-before-seen clichés.
Going back to the infamous mobile phones, the second chance that presents itself to call the cops results in yet another mystifyingly dumb decision not to. This time it's the blond boss who decides that calling the police when faced with intruders and weird, illegal goings-on in a huge abandoned building is not a good idea. Third occasion? She leaves a worker behind – all alone – and tells him to call the cops only if she doesn't come back in 20 minutes. Predictably, he is the next in line to get axed by the bad guys. Literally every horror-film fan (even the most gullible ones with Alzheimer's) can predict that that phone-call simply wasn't going to ever happen, much less after those 20 minutes were up. The entire movie is predictable.
Now, why would the boss of a CLEANING company want to "test the waters", and play detective rather than leave that to professionals? Because, somehow, the company she works for will crumble if she calls the cops: a logic all of its own, existing in a separate world from ours. To cut a long story a little shorter, we've got a team of utter imbeciles here. They get a plethora of hints that something extremely vile is going on, yet they continue. "Yeah, I mean sure, there are some kind of insane homeless serial killers lurking about, but let's try to finish our job here first, and THEN worry about them. Who knows, they might even not kill us all by the time we finish in 3 days." That's what this nonsense amounts to. And that's the main reason the film is idiotic. Suffice it to say, they find a half-dead man hanging on a ceiling – yet refuse to call the authorities for assistance. I was half-expecting them to get attacked by flying vampires and then say "no, flying vampires is really no reason to bother the police for".
There are so many stupid decisions made by these moronic characters, and unrealistic moments. At one point there are three of them huddled in the building – knowing full-well by that point they're in extreme danger – yet what is their course of action? Do they perhaps LEAVE the building, as any sensible person would? Not really. In fact, the blonde female boss decides to leave her wounded, shocked, bewildered, totally helpless female worker alone while she chases the fat blond guy – who quite sensibly decided to make a run for it (and then predictably got punished for his "cowardice" but getting his ass whooped). Predictably, the abandoned female worker gets snatched by one of the building's numerous medically-trained zombies.
The tendency for a group of in-danger humans to split up in individual campaigns in a maze-like object, rather than stay together, is one of the most annoying and least convincing horror-flick clichés of all times. I wish they'd finally write a script without that crap. But that's like expecting Sean Penn to win a Nobel Prize in Physics.
However, that "something else" is even dumber than not having a signal for no reason: it's UNWILLINGNESS to call for help! Yes, my dear readers (all five of you), the movie's sanitary team has opportunities – time and time again – to call the cops, yet they don't. The first time, it's Frank refusing to "endanger the business" by calling the cops. "How are we going to get any work done with cops crawling all over the place?" he says moronically, baffling every sane and/or intelligent viewer. But it's not really fictional Frank's fault; it's the writer who underwent a cheap lobotomy, probably performed by the same Nazi surgeons from this movie, before he undertook the – for his lobotomized self - impossible task of writing an intelligent, original script.
But silly me. Why do I automatically assume that there was any intention to create something intelligent, let alone original? V2 is a collection of abandoned-building clichés we've all seen before, many times – and done much better than in this fairly lame Norwegian flick. Take any "old sanitarium in ruins" movie and in all likelihood it has all the same shticks as this one: abandoned gloomy rooms, mysterious basements, bizarre drawings on walls, little mutant children running through corridors, illegal human experiments, and other never-before-seen clichés.
Going back to the infamous mobile phones, the second chance that presents itself to call the cops results in yet another mystifyingly dumb decision not to. This time it's the blond boss who decides that calling the police when faced with intruders and weird, illegal goings-on in a huge abandoned building is not a good idea. Third occasion? She leaves a worker behind – all alone – and tells him to call the cops only if she doesn't come back in 20 minutes. Predictably, he is the next in line to get axed by the bad guys. Literally every horror-film fan (even the most gullible ones with Alzheimer's) can predict that that phone-call simply wasn't going to ever happen, much less after those 20 minutes were up. The entire movie is predictable.
Now, why would the boss of a CLEANING company want to "test the waters", and play detective rather than leave that to professionals? Because, somehow, the company she works for will crumble if she calls the cops: a logic all of its own, existing in a separate world from ours. To cut a long story a little shorter, we've got a team of utter imbeciles here. They get a plethora of hints that something extremely vile is going on, yet they continue. "Yeah, I mean sure, there are some kind of insane homeless serial killers lurking about, but let's try to finish our job here first, and THEN worry about them. Who knows, they might even not kill us all by the time we finish in 3 days." That's what this nonsense amounts to. And that's the main reason the film is idiotic. Suffice it to say, they find a half-dead man hanging on a ceiling – yet refuse to call the authorities for assistance. I was half-expecting them to get attacked by flying vampires and then say "no, flying vampires is really no reason to bother the police for".
There are so many stupid decisions made by these moronic characters, and unrealistic moments. At one point there are three of them huddled in the building – knowing full-well by that point they're in extreme danger – yet what is their course of action? Do they perhaps LEAVE the building, as any sensible person would? Not really. In fact, the blonde female boss decides to leave her wounded, shocked, bewildered, totally helpless female worker alone while she chases the fat blond guy – who quite sensibly decided to make a run for it (and then predictably got punished for his "cowardice" but getting his ass whooped). Predictably, the abandoned female worker gets snatched by one of the building's numerous medically-trained zombies.
The tendency for a group of in-danger humans to split up in individual campaigns in a maze-like object, rather than stay together, is one of the most annoying and least convincing horror-flick clichés of all times. I wish they'd finally write a script without that crap. But that's like expecting Sean Penn to win a Nobel Prize in Physics.
Pretty straightforward horror with a too thin story line
kraset741 November 2015
Warning: Spoilers
The 10 first minutes of the film, I just smiled. I all built up for good expectations, and I thought... wow... this one may be really good. But in the end, I was disappointed. A pretty straightforward horror-film, but unfortunately too much focus on deep, dark and eerie sound effects (Stormdrum2?)and a few good looking visuals that could not bear up the whole movie.
Some camera visuals and angles of the old sanitarium was really nice, but after having seen those camera angles repeat a couple of times, without much of a good story, it became more and more obvious that the film builds around sound effects, and a few visual impressions. The story itself felt a bit too weak. The constant running and stumbling through watery tunnels and dark corridors becomes boring already 30% into the film. And it felt like the rest of the film was more or less the same thing. I waited all the time for a good story to unfold, but never really got that feeling.
Film characteristics, compared to other horror films: Blairwitch project - running wildly in the dark. Alien - people equipped in environmental protections suits wandering dark corridors. The Shining - an old sanitarium looking very much like that big eerie hotel.
About the actors: They did an OK job, but couldn't save the film and the thin story as a whole from a low grade.
Summary: Would I recommend this as being an OK horror film to watch if you have nothing better to do? Not really.
Some camera visuals and angles of the old sanitarium was really nice, but after having seen those camera angles repeat a couple of times, without much of a good story, it became more and more obvious that the film builds around sound effects, and a few visual impressions. The story itself felt a bit too weak. The constant running and stumbling through watery tunnels and dark corridors becomes boring already 30% into the film. And it felt like the rest of the film was more or less the same thing. I waited all the time for a good story to unfold, but never really got that feeling.
Film characteristics, compared to other horror films: Blairwitch project - running wildly in the dark. Alien - people equipped in environmental protections suits wandering dark corridors. The Shining - an old sanitarium looking very much like that big eerie hotel.
About the actors: They did an OK job, but couldn't save the film and the thin story as a whole from a low grade.
Summary: Would I recommend this as being an OK horror film to watch if you have nothing better to do? Not really.
Review
zoran_kamen9 December 2015
Warning: Spoilers
The scenery in movie is very good. Old sanitarium in the middle of woods, just wilderness around. They could do very good movie but characters in this movie are dumb & stupid. I know director gave them such roles, but they made really stupid and suicidal decisions, so you don't care for them, you don't really care for selfish, low IQ idiot without back story and those actors are doing exactly decisions than any sane person would call idiotic, stupid, selfish.. So in all this stupidity you don't care much when someone get killed, I almost felt relief when some character was executed. Almost. So if director do such movie that you almost not care for main characters then its director's sanity to be questioned ;) All in all movie is watchable, and actors did well, even if characters they played had really confused, idiotic scripts, so you can not blame actors really, but with such wasted plot movie lost at least 50% its potential...If villains in movies are strong and movie characters did intelligent decisions yet some of them got killed then you feel really sorry, but if they are dumb...not really ! I cannot help but to feel angry on those characters cause none of them really tried to organize and connect the group, I am sure they could fight villains much more effectively with much less dead if they stayed together, but in whole movie literally all of them just keep running behind some ideas in mind and their teammates simply don't exists when they chase their ideas. .Also I hated the end, I like horror movies, but I don't like depressed movies, and end was just..cannot help but think that director of movie might be some depressed guy, with alcohol and relationships issues, I just got that feeling after watching. Why there don't exist "depressed" for genre, if exists action, thriller, comedy, horror, adventure, drama - so there should be also something like "depressed" genre, at least for this movie. 5/10
Not so good...
elle-six8 February 2020
Warning: Spoilers
So. A bunch of cleaning personnel enters an abandoned asylum to do some stuff. Found a janitor or security guard still living there or something. Weird things happening.
The location looks great. Rooms, halls, tunnels...
One great scene near the ending. Girl found half-dead friend on a chair. Checked him out. Bad guy walking toward her from the back.... maybe like 2-3 meters away. She turned around, waited for the baddie to hold the tagging gun right on the middle of her forehead... like literally touch her forhead, assuming the tag gun couldnt shoot far. She closed her eyes... didnt try to run in the first place. Didnt try to deflect the gun. Just stood there. And no, its not the first time she saw some bad stuff happening in that place throughout the whole movie, so she wasnt taken by surprise.
And i turned off my TV, wondering who wrote these kindda screenplay and thinking its perfectly rational.
Boring
davidrg-8647820 May 2021
Orrendous
gianmarcoronconi10 October 2022
Warning: Spoilers
Horror that seems very classic and about the usual haunted asylum that turns into a very banal film about the classic murderer who tries to kill everyone who is in the structure and the asylum therefore becomes only a side dish. One of the main problems of this film is the almost total uselessness of the asylum that works practically only as a background to the story without being the protagonist, that is, the story could actually be turned around in any other abandoned place and there would have been no difference. Moreover, the film does not lack plot holes and scenes without a sensible explanation. The film is not even scary, absolutely none and even this is a bad flaw.
Too bad to be view
alesciack6 June 2020
Technically (images, acting), average quality. In narration, really really really bad.
Plot holes, inconsistency in characters behaviour, discontinuity in space arrangement of the asylum itself: everything it's too off of pace for a viewer to bond with characters... I'm sorry, but I think that nobody can enjoy something with such a script.
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