Older Gods is a bit of a trippy experience, leaning much more towards a drama/psychological thriller with sci-fi and horror aspects to it.
It generally had quite the slow pace that consistently teetered between tension building and belabored, but edged out on the positive for the most part. It had a nice atmospheric sense of suspense, spook, and existential dread. Throughout, much of the dialogue became drawn out and monotonous on many occasions... seemingly pertinent, yet not overtly so. Despite maybe needing said conversations broken up a bit, I don't know if much of the script and acting helped with this issue.
The main guy, while not a bad actor, felt disconnected and one-note throughout the majority of the film and his performance in high intensity/emotional moments was also a bit underwhelming. There were also quite a few phone calls throughout the film, all of which had stilted and unconvincing voiceovers. Where the acting was quite enjoyable was from the character of the friend on the video. He had a natural and down to earth delivery that was enjoyable to watch.
This movie in many ways was also a visual treat. It looks great with a really nice quality of picture and truly stunning and unsettling visuals throughout. There were some impressive effects that really bumped up the overall quality of this movie as well.
Beautiful technical quality aside, I think the foundation for a really interesting story is here. It felt a little undercooked and lacking some layers, ending up having it more so land on the side of a solid proof of concept. However, I don't think that should take away from what this is as a whole.
Indie filmmaking is an art in and of itself and should be appreciated for exactly that. They made something cool and thought provoking here and while it's not going to be everyone's cup of tea, it still deserves its flowers. 4.5 rounding up to a 5, would recommend.
It generally had quite the slow pace that consistently teetered between tension building and belabored, but edged out on the positive for the most part. It had a nice atmospheric sense of suspense, spook, and existential dread. Throughout, much of the dialogue became drawn out and monotonous on many occasions... seemingly pertinent, yet not overtly so. Despite maybe needing said conversations broken up a bit, I don't know if much of the script and acting helped with this issue.
The main guy, while not a bad actor, felt disconnected and one-note throughout the majority of the film and his performance in high intensity/emotional moments was also a bit underwhelming. There were also quite a few phone calls throughout the film, all of which had stilted and unconvincing voiceovers. Where the acting was quite enjoyable was from the character of the friend on the video. He had a natural and down to earth delivery that was enjoyable to watch.
This movie in many ways was also a visual treat. It looks great with a really nice quality of picture and truly stunning and unsettling visuals throughout. There were some impressive effects that really bumped up the overall quality of this movie as well.
Beautiful technical quality aside, I think the foundation for a really interesting story is here. It felt a little undercooked and lacking some layers, ending up having it more so land on the side of a solid proof of concept. However, I don't think that should take away from what this is as a whole.
Indie filmmaking is an art in and of itself and should be appreciated for exactly that. They made something cool and thought provoking here and while it's not going to be everyone's cup of tea, it still deserves its flowers. 4.5 rounding up to a 5, would recommend.