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iggymoxon
Reviews
The Ritual (2017)
Just Don't Go Into The Forest!
One of the key elements to a good horror flick is suspense, and this film has it by the bucketload.
Right from the outset, the suspense is being built with one of the characters being murdered in a store in a robbery gone wrong, while Rafe Spall's character (Luke) hides to avoid detection. Will he be next?
We are then transported to northern Sweden where the remaining group of friends are hiking in honour of their murdered colleague. There is some tension between the friends as one of them (Dom) believes Luke should have stepped in to save his friend.
The group makes the fateful decision to take a short cut through a forest after Dom sprains his knee. The suspense is once again built up by a series of inexplicable and creepy events. Something is not right in those woods, but self appointed leader Hutch tries in vain to hold the group together.
Luke believes they are being stalked by something. We only catch vague glimpses of it through the trees, which allows the imagination to run wild. The tension builds as the group become more and more fragmented and panic sets in. It is only at the very end that the creature is revealed.
It isn't often that a horror film actually scares me, but this one did, and for that reason, I've given it 9/10. The creature is very original and taps nicely into Nordic folklore. The only minor criticism is that the location is obviously not Sweden (I believe it was filmed in Romania). Maybe the Swedish forests aren't creepy enough?
The Legend of Robert the Doll (2018)
Nazi Germany Looks Suspiciously Like England
I've watched a couple of the Robert movies, and yes, they are dire, but oddly entertaining. The acting is mostly dreadful, and the storylines are weak. The main gripe for me though, is the complete lack of authenticity with regard to the sets. This film is supposedly set in Nazi Germany, yet the cottage and the train station they used are so obviously somewhere in England. The station signs are in English, the train is English, the interior of the cottage is typically English, the countryside looks English.
Then there's the toy maker's makeup. In order to make him appear old, they have applied heavy makeup to his face. Unfortunately it looks like he has had an accident with some playdoh.
I actually gave up on this half way through as there was no sign of Robert. All in all, simply awful.