The title of this movie is genius. This is the kind of movie that leaves you with a million questions and a million theories about the entire story and who the characters really are. The interesting thing is that as the movie goes on, more and more interesting things are revealed about the characters and what is actually happening, but there is so much mystery in why everything is happening that leaves the viewer wondering. I read a bunch of theories after watching this movie, some of them are positive. One theory said that the man was her actual boyfriend and that he wanted to help cure her amnesia, and one theory said that the man was bad and obsessed with her. That theory was interesting because in the movie, the man was always telling the girl facts about herself, telling her about the "memories" he had with her, but whether or not those things happened or not is up to the viewer. They could've all been lies he wanted to implant into her brain to make her believe that he was her boyfriend. What's different about this unique kidnapping movie is the differentiation between perception and truth, which I realized a lot of other viewers experienced. When you're watching this movie, you don't know if you're fed with lies or truths from the man, or if any of the woman's memories were even real at all or implanted in her. There are so many strange occurrences in the movie, like her leg bandages revealing no scars on her leg, and she can walk, but when her hippocampus gets triggered, she starts crawling. Everytime, her hippocampus gets alerted, she starts to get a bad feeling about the man, which makes the viewer doubt who he really is. But he might actually be her boyfriend, and it's just her amnesia and being a victim of abuse that made her cautious of the man.
54 Reviews
Beautifully shot but ultimately pointless
Cax01914 June 2020
I was hooked for most of this film, I won't pretend otherwise, it is shot beautifully and the acting is of a very good standard. The Stockholm syndrome vibe is intriguing but the whole film comes crashing down at the end. The final 15 minutes make absolutely no sense whatsoever, the only reason I can think it ended like this was because it is supposed to be ambiguous. It comes off as a good idea executed badly in the end, with the lazy approach of making the audience make their own reasons for this ending that actually giving us a good ending.
Impractically impossible to believe
danielpwarton14 June 2020
Warning: Spoilers
The concept was good. I did call the reasoning behind her capture about half way through the film. The ruining of the film was the reaction he took after the rape and the impossibility of the circumstances and his finances, I can only speculate, to achieve what he did.
You'll wish you could lose your memory, too
bilious17 October 2023
Warning: Spoilers
If 50 First Dates, Saw, and The Room had a baby, this would be it. I get it - in trying to put together a good story on an indie budget, some corners had to be cut, like: a film score, A-list talent, multiple cameras/angles, elaborate sets, and breath-taking scenery. But you'd better make sure what's left can keep your audience entertained.
The pacing is beyond slow for the first 2 acts, as the writer attempts to keep the audience guessing up until the major reveals. Sadly, this means we're kept in the dark about either of the 2 main characters' backgrounds or motives, and consequently fail to get invested in either of their journeys.
Plotwise, the movie is too clever by half. The basic premise is that our protagonist, Ruby, wakes every day in a kind of basement to have her captor, Rob, explain that she has retrograde amnesia, and won't be set free until she falls in love with him. You can tell he's had this conversation many times, as he delivers the lines with a cold, dismissive tone, which is sure to make the falling-in-love part near impossible. Numerous nonsensical plot devices/holes later, the movie seems to be going in a particular direction when one of the crew must have seen that the film stock was running low and they needed to wrap it up quickly. The director remembers it was supposed to be a horror movie, throws in some predictable horror elements, and the movie finishes with one of the corniest shots ever.
This is not the most impressive debut feature, but you've got to start somewhere I guess. Sorry, not my taste.
The pacing is beyond slow for the first 2 acts, as the writer attempts to keep the audience guessing up until the major reveals. Sadly, this means we're kept in the dark about either of the 2 main characters' backgrounds or motives, and consequently fail to get invested in either of their journeys.
Plotwise, the movie is too clever by half. The basic premise is that our protagonist, Ruby, wakes every day in a kind of basement to have her captor, Rob, explain that she has retrograde amnesia, and won't be set free until she falls in love with him. You can tell he's had this conversation many times, as he delivers the lines with a cold, dismissive tone, which is sure to make the falling-in-love part near impossible. Numerous nonsensical plot devices/holes later, the movie seems to be going in a particular direction when one of the crew must have seen that the film stock was running low and they needed to wrap it up quickly. The director remembers it was supposed to be a horror movie, throws in some predictable horror elements, and the movie finishes with one of the corniest shots ever.
This is not the most impressive debut feature, but you've got to start somewhere I guess. Sorry, not my taste.
People seem confused about ending, but its VERY VERY clear!
mtamborra-984-93318825 July 2020
Warning: Spoilers
SPOILER WARNING:
So as he explains to her when she starts crying while lap dancing him, she was all traumatized by being raped, he killed the rapist and took her to this remote house/farm estate and has tried several different things to get her back to how she was pre-rape trauma. This time didn't work out either since she tried to kill him. She clearly didn't escape on the boat and he found her. This time he is trying out the Hospital thing to "help" her out again. So basically it repeats.
So as he explains to her when she starts crying while lap dancing him, she was all traumatized by being raped, he killed the rapist and took her to this remote house/farm estate and has tried several different things to get her back to how she was pre-rape trauma. This time didn't work out either since she tried to kill him. She clearly didn't escape on the boat and he found her. This time he is trying out the Hospital thing to "help" her out again. So basically it repeats.
Great film
icebergbruntt24 June 2022
After seeing a scene of it on social media, I was hooked and had to watch it. The film as a whole is absolutely brilliant, although it felt more like a short film.
I'd highly recommend giving it a watch if suspense and thrillers are your type of thing.
I'd highly recommend giving it a watch if suspense and thrillers are your type of thing.
Tries to be Clever but Ultimately Fails Spectacularly
DavidYMWong28 August 2020
The first half of the film is brilliant, constantly making the viewer question what is going on. It's tense and gripping. But this is the type of film which NEEDS a cool twist or unexpected ending, And wow does this film NOT deliver on that. What we actually get is a ridiculous ending which is not only completely unbelievable, but also leaves the viewer VERY unsatisfied. If Hippopotamus was a food, it would be an under cooked dish - tastes great to begin with, but once you have swallowed it, the end is just BAD.
Surprisingly gripping
ali-9226211 June 2020
I wouldn't have watched this based on reviews but a friend recommended it. Some of the acting was questionable I'll admit, and the accents didn't sit well with me. However, I thought the story was actually very good. It reminded me of the plot in 'Before I go to sleep'. The ending had Fair shock value, definitely worth a watch.
boring, uniteresting and tedious
fluffchop21 September 2021
Not getting the credit it deserves.
airynbe21 August 2020
Warning: Spoilers
This movie was shot beautifully and despite only ever being in ONE ROOM it kept you guessing and interested. There were several theories I had running through as it's obvious pretty early on that it wasn't just a normal kidnapping.
I will say this... just because you missed something or don't understand it, doesn't mean it's a bad movie.
It DOES explain the movie title. Get off your phone during the movie and PAY ATTENTION.
As for people who didn't understand it or the ending, here you go ...
WARNING SPOILERS START HERE! : She and Tom had been happily in love for years. When they went off to different colleges he was supposed to meet with her one weekend but he missed his train. She ended up drunk at a bar with her roommate and when he didn't show up they walked home. It's obviously the roommate has a crush on her as he asks her at the bar why they've never hooked up and in their drunken state he tries to rape her. She's fighting him so he punches her several times in the head to knock her out. Tom catches the next train in and walks in on the roommate raping her. He beats him and accidentally kills him. He panics and calls a friend and when she comes to at the friends house Tom realizes that her getting knocked out, beaten, and traumatized has cause her to have retrograde amnesia. Determined to not lose his love with her Tom begs the friend to drive them north and he takes her to an island in the middle of nowhere where they can stay at an abandoned farm. He spends what I'm assuming equates to YEARS trying to help her get her memories back to a healthy state before she was raped. Every time he studies and tries something new it doesn't work out, so he lets her sleep too long and "resets" her to try again. The movie we watched was the closest he's ever come to "fixing" her. Unfortunately it still didn't work because after they made up and had sex she slept too long, woke up and tried to kill him. She tried to escape on the row boat (remember when she said she keeps having nightmares about drowning and a man pulls her out of the water?) but falls and it implies she falls in the water. The dream of her drowning isn't a dream, it's a memory. She has escaped before and tried the same thing, only to fall in the water and have Tom find her. When we have no memory we try our first instinct so she always goes to the boat never knowing she's already tried that. When we see her back in the room again Tom is pretending to be a doctor now, trying a new method, and the movie ends leaving the audience knowing he will never give up on their love, even if he spends his whole life doing this.
I will say this... just because you missed something or don't understand it, doesn't mean it's a bad movie.
It DOES explain the movie title. Get off your phone during the movie and PAY ATTENTION.
As for people who didn't understand it or the ending, here you go ...
WARNING SPOILERS START HERE! : She and Tom had been happily in love for years. When they went off to different colleges he was supposed to meet with her one weekend but he missed his train. She ended up drunk at a bar with her roommate and when he didn't show up they walked home. It's obviously the roommate has a crush on her as he asks her at the bar why they've never hooked up and in their drunken state he tries to rape her. She's fighting him so he punches her several times in the head to knock her out. Tom catches the next train in and walks in on the roommate raping her. He beats him and accidentally kills him. He panics and calls a friend and when she comes to at the friends house Tom realizes that her getting knocked out, beaten, and traumatized has cause her to have retrograde amnesia. Determined to not lose his love with her Tom begs the friend to drive them north and he takes her to an island in the middle of nowhere where they can stay at an abandoned farm. He spends what I'm assuming equates to YEARS trying to help her get her memories back to a healthy state before she was raped. Every time he studies and tries something new it doesn't work out, so he lets her sleep too long and "resets" her to try again. The movie we watched was the closest he's ever come to "fixing" her. Unfortunately it still didn't work because after they made up and had sex she slept too long, woke up and tried to kill him. She tried to escape on the row boat (remember when she said she keeps having nightmares about drowning and a man pulls her out of the water?) but falls and it implies she falls in the water. The dream of her drowning isn't a dream, it's a memory. She has escaped before and tried the same thing, only to fall in the water and have Tom find her. When we have no memory we try our first instinct so she always goes to the boat never knowing she's already tried that. When we see her back in the room again Tom is pretending to be a doctor now, trying a new method, and the movie ends leaving the audience knowing he will never give up on their love, even if he spends his whole life doing this.
Hippopotamus (2018)
jlkeenom26 July 2020
Warning: Spoilers
I gave this movie a 7 because a 6 felt too low and an 8 way too high. Honestly I would rate it a 6.7 if I could. Haha. The story felt original and the acting from the two leads was up to par. The female lead tended to be annoying at times and I'm not completely sure they chose that ending altercation/throat stabbing after it seemed she was on board with who Tom was and that she had lost her memory.
I did enjoy this film however. It held my attention and I wanted to see it through to the end. I don't think it'll be everyone's cup of tea but it's worth watching in my opinion.
Hmmmmm.....not so great
llt-5798313 March 2021
Warning: Spoilers
*Warning, spoilers*
I get that it's supposed to be a repeat scenario over and over again but are we really supposed to believe that in a remote farmhouse he's supposed to have saved himself from what appeared to be a very deep, substantial stab wound to the neck? Unlikely. Think it was trying to be an intelligent film, but fell quite short.
I get that it's supposed to be a repeat scenario over and over again but are we really supposed to believe that in a remote farmhouse he's supposed to have saved himself from what appeared to be a very deep, substantial stab wound to the neck? Unlikely. Think it was trying to be an intelligent film, but fell quite short.
slow burn to nowhere
Scarletfire-126 April 2020
Not 'til you love me
killercharm3 April 2022
A woman wakes to a nightmare scenario; she's hurt, kidnapped, and locked in a room, alone, and she has no memory. The man who has her walks in and announces that he will not let her go until she falls in love with him. She doesn't know what to think. How could she? As days go on she starts to piece things together a bit. Much of the storyline is absurd but just as much of it is absorbing. The cast is about as spare as they come, with only a handful of actors, but the two stars are spot-on.
Takes itself extremely seriously
kirstenholmes-2371613 September 2020
I don't have much faith in the screenwriter's maturity and even less in his intellect. Add horrible acting to the box and you have a barely-endurable B-grade slog. The entire premise crumbles under its own self-importance. The title comes from the fact that the lead refers to her hippocampus as a hippopotamous, and that should tell you all you need to know about the quality of this awful, awful film.
Bad A Level Drama
olivermartin1213 February 2021
It does have a good start, but is this movie trying to bite more than it can chew?
ceilia-lucas26 June 2023
Ruby wakes up in a basement looking room with her head and legs bandaged, not recalling who she is. Her kidnapper Tom walks in informing her that he compromised her legs and he is planning to keep her there until she falls in love with him.
I am always intrigued by a storyline that is set in a closed space, throwing psychologically intense questions at the viewer and relies solely on two main characters with little background information and their connection to each other.
It does have a good start, but is this movie trying to bite more than it can chew?
It seemed somewhat forced and the actors seemed lost from time to time. The movie did give the viewer the freedom to get their own conclusions at the end, like Black Swan or American psycho.
The question remains at the end: are Ruby's memories actually coming back or does Tom forcefully builds himself into Ruby's conscious?
All in all, I felt the chemistry between the characters. The story, though seemed sometimes slow, it did came to a full circle at the end. It was the right amount of pretentious to make it watchable and the unique title will remind me of the story for a long time to come.
I am always intrigued by a storyline that is set in a closed space, throwing psychologically intense questions at the viewer and relies solely on two main characters with little background information and their connection to each other.
It does have a good start, but is this movie trying to bite more than it can chew?
It seemed somewhat forced and the actors seemed lost from time to time. The movie did give the viewer the freedom to get their own conclusions at the end, like Black Swan or American psycho.
The question remains at the end: are Ruby's memories actually coming back or does Tom forcefully builds himself into Ruby's conscious?
All in all, I felt the chemistry between the characters. The story, though seemed sometimes slow, it did came to a full circle at the end. It was the right amount of pretentious to make it watchable and the unique title will remind me of the story for a long time to come.
Flash memory
nogodnomasters1 August 2020
Warning: Spoilers
Ruby A. Watts (Ingvild Deila) wakes up in a sparsely furnished room with her legs inoperative. Her captor introduces himself as Thomas Allcroft (Stuart Mortimer). He is very polite and tells her she will stay there until she loves him. We then slowly build the story that leads up to where we are.
I hate to say I sort of guessed what was going on, but that may have been the intent. Two people in a room for nearly the whole film didn't make it for me. The dialogue needed to be more clever and the personalities were too dry.
Guide: Brief distant rape. No nudity. No swearing as I recall, but I did use the FF button.
I hate to say I sort of guessed what was going on, but that may have been the intent. Two people in a room for nearly the whole film didn't make it for me. The dialogue needed to be more clever and the personalities were too dry.
Guide: Brief distant rape. No nudity. No swearing as I recall, but I did use the FF button.
Good movie. Relatable if you have ever suffered amnesia.
southafrican-6494130 March 2021
Warning: Spoilers
I read the reviews before I watched it. After watching it I couldn't understand people's confusion about the ending. It's all laid out in the film. She was beaten up by the roommate who raped her. Her boyfriend walked in on the guy raping his beaten up, unconscious girlfriend and he beat him to death. He gets his friend to help him go on the run with his girlfriend who is semi conscious but not coherent.
They find refuge on an island in an abandoned farmhouse. This is where the boyfriend starts the painstaking effort of trying to help her heal her broken brain.
But retrograde amnesia is a real thing. And sometimes a person can heal from it and sometimes they can't. He researched the condition and did trial and error experiments with her to see what worked and what didn't. He went through all sorts of different scenarios. He knew that if he got to a point where she knew she loved him he was making real progress because before her assault she was in love with him.
This movie is a protracted look at one of the scenarios he tried. The kidnapper/hostage scenario. Hoping that a type of Stockholm syndrome would help him. But it didn't because that syndrome only works on people with healthy brains. Her brain isn't functioning properly hence it backfires on him horribly. She attacks him after she gets him to believe that she "remembers" being in love with him. She obviously doesn't remember. She is just playing along to get to a point where he trusts her enough to let his guard down. That's when she stabs him and makes a run for it. But she doesn't make it into the boat because her brain stresses out and she blacks out. He obviously doesn't die from her attack but is badly injured as in the next scene the "nurse" in the "hospital" is walking with a bit of a stagger. Clearly lost a lot of blood and taking strain. The "hospital" is merely the next scenario He is trying so as to help her with her memory. We don't see much more than that because we now know what the whole back story is and what he is trying to do to help her.
I had amnesia 20 years ago after a bad head injury. I still have memory recall problems. But have just learned to live with it. Sometimes I completely disassociate from my current reality for a few seconds and it's terrifying because I don't recognize my family or even myself. It comes right though. I have to talk myself through it to avoid panicking. Not pleasant.
They find refuge on an island in an abandoned farmhouse. This is where the boyfriend starts the painstaking effort of trying to help her heal her broken brain.
But retrograde amnesia is a real thing. And sometimes a person can heal from it and sometimes they can't. He researched the condition and did trial and error experiments with her to see what worked and what didn't. He went through all sorts of different scenarios. He knew that if he got to a point where she knew she loved him he was making real progress because before her assault she was in love with him.
This movie is a protracted look at one of the scenarios he tried. The kidnapper/hostage scenario. Hoping that a type of Stockholm syndrome would help him. But it didn't because that syndrome only works on people with healthy brains. Her brain isn't functioning properly hence it backfires on him horribly. She attacks him after she gets him to believe that she "remembers" being in love with him. She obviously doesn't remember. She is just playing along to get to a point where he trusts her enough to let his guard down. That's when she stabs him and makes a run for it. But she doesn't make it into the boat because her brain stresses out and she blacks out. He obviously doesn't die from her attack but is badly injured as in the next scene the "nurse" in the "hospital" is walking with a bit of a stagger. Clearly lost a lot of blood and taking strain. The "hospital" is merely the next scenario He is trying so as to help her with her memory. We don't see much more than that because we now know what the whole back story is and what he is trying to do to help her.
I had amnesia 20 years ago after a bad head injury. I still have memory recall problems. But have just learned to live with it. Sometimes I completely disassociate from my current reality for a few seconds and it's terrifying because I don't recognize my family or even myself. It comes right though. I have to talk myself through it to avoid panicking. Not pleasant.
Give it the time it deserves
synne-borresen19 January 2021
NOT A HIPPO, AN ELEPHANT!
ben51714 April 2020
After seeing the movie my best guess regarding the title is that it refers to the "hippopotamus" in the room: that big reveal that you'll never see coming!!!
Well, first it's not supposed to be a hippo, but an elephant (granted, that title was already taken by Alan Clarke and Gus Van Sant and that's one of the only qualities I can find about "Hippopotamus", it doesn't try to compare with those previous movies, which it absolutely shouldn't) and second, the first guess you'll get about 10 minutes into the movie thinking "that can't be it, it would be too dumb and make no sense at all" is actually the correct one. And though it's dumb, though you've known it all along and though the movie is only 1h15min long, it will still take about 20 minutes to re-explain to you that dumb concept at the end...
The acting is pretty bad too, in that regard hippos would probably have made a better job (why choose an actor which such an annoying voice when he's talking throughout the whole movie?) and it's filmed like a bad Youtube blogging video...
So yeah, you can say it's a small budget but people like Kevin Smith made movies like Clerks for the same budget so yeah, watch Clerks!
Also, I highly suspect the "reviews" on the poster to be fake and/or written by family members.
One of the worst films I've seen in a year (and I watch a lot of horror movies so I can assure you I see bad movies all the time).
Waste of time
advimrankhalid14 April 2020
I very minimal indie movie, basically consisting of two actors and one set. It's strength is it's mystery, and if that doesn't rope you in, you'll be bored to tears.
youngcollind16 August 2022
It quickly lays out an outlandish premise: a kidnapper who wants his victim to fall in love with him, and the subtext is that on some level, this will work. Obviously, this makes no sense outside of the Stockholm angle, but I got the feeling they wouldn't be going in that direction. It slowly lays out breadcrumbs, and kept my curiosity high as I tried to piece together what was going on before the big reveal. It all comes together for a rather clear and satisfying explanation that's still open for interpretation. Either way you choose to take it doesn't have bulletproof logic, but you've got to admire the creativity it took to concoct the far out scenario. It's a fun puzzle to ponder and also contains some interesting musings on how memory frames our reality.
******SPOILER SECTION******
The way I choose to understand the ending is that Tom's explanation is true and they've simply been living out a dark 50 First Dates. I don't think the film would have spent the time laying out the exposition if this was all a lie, also having Tom implant memories from prom and so on seems far fetched. However, this doesn't make Tom a hero, as the morally correct thing would be to seek proper medical help for the person he claims to care for so deeply. On some level I believe the film knows this, which is what makes his final look so creepy and gives some catharsis to him getting stabbed. What I don't get is why Ruby sleeps with him, is she merely playing along, or does she think the story redeems him? Also, there's some inconsistencies with this, like how is he paying for everything? Even if he was previously wealthy, he wouldn't be able to access his accounts since he's a wanted murderer. Could just chalk that up to movie logic though I suppose.
******SPOILER SECTION******
The way I choose to understand the ending is that Tom's explanation is true and they've simply been living out a dark 50 First Dates. I don't think the film would have spent the time laying out the exposition if this was all a lie, also having Tom implant memories from prom and so on seems far fetched. However, this doesn't make Tom a hero, as the morally correct thing would be to seek proper medical help for the person he claims to care for so deeply. On some level I believe the film knows this, which is what makes his final look so creepy and gives some catharsis to him getting stabbed. What I don't get is why Ruby sleeps with him, is she merely playing along, or does she think the story redeems him? Also, there's some inconsistencies with this, like how is he paying for everything? Even if he was previously wealthy, he wouldn't be able to access his accounts since he's a wanted murderer. Could just chalk that up to movie logic though I suppose.
Good movie
neelesophie22 October 2023
Warning: Spoilers
There were a lot of hints as to why in the end she tried to kill him as she had written in her book to "play along" and "don't trust him" so trying to kill him there at the end made sense, but more confused on why she didn't get on the boat in the end... just unexpectedly gave up? Not a satisfying ending for that reason alone, may have been better for her to end up in a hospital to find out who Tom really was and if he was trying to help her or if he was obsessed with her so was lying to create a fake scenario. Tom probably could have just take her to a hospital in the first place and tell them what happened or even lie to say that she was found elsewhere away from the body (the presumably dead roommate)... seems as though there was definitely an excruciatingly easier way to do what he was aiming to do. I have definitely seen worse movies, and this one was pretty gripping until the end. So 7/10 from me.
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