This is a good example of what Roger Ebert called an "Idiot Plot: Any plot containing problems that would be solved instantly if all of the characters were not idiots." Guy's girlfriend pulls out a gun one night and acts like she's going to shoot herself and wants him to also. He gets black out drunk and wakes up and she's dead, shot in the head. He's hazy on what exactly happened, but quite obviously to the viewer and any non-idiot character, she did, in fact, shoot herself. Instead of calling the police like a non-idiot, for no apparent reason he decides to try to cover it up, keep her rotting corpse around to play dress up with, and kill all of his friends who come over to check on him.
10 Reviews
Trying Too Hard
thelastblogontheleft14 December 2016
Warning: Spoilers
There's not really much more to the story besides that synopsis, honestly. Quinn (played by Noah Segan) wakes up with a gun in his hand, a dead girlfriend, and only vague memories of the night before. He's trying to piece together what happened while he slowly (actually, pretty quickly) slips into madness and takes some other innocent people with him.
If I can jump right to the point, this movie tried WAY too hard to be edgy and disturbed. From one of the very first scenes with his girlfriend, Thana (played by Olivia Grace Applegate), riding on top of him while pleading with him to pull the trigger on the gun shoved in his mouth it just didn't shock me like it seemed it was trying to. It felt very forced, actually.
The frequent flashbacks are the only time we actually see Applegate's acting — for basically the rest of the movie she's a corpse — and they prove that she has clearly always had some issues, and she's always been fascinated by the morbid and unusual. Quinn is some kind of desperate artist, too, considering at one point he goes down to the basement to start up a new collage/painting rather than deal with her body.
The movie takes place in the few days leading up to Christmas, so they really went crazy with adding Christmas songs in, including a man who offers to sing Christmas carols for $1 and Quinn gives him $10, so we get to have that "quirky" aspect tossed in to the mix. Lucky us. It just felt like they were trying to drive home the eccentricity of the whole thing, the juxtaposition of such a dark and disturbing scenario right around such a happy time of year, but the songs just annoyed the crap out of me. Like, maybe have one in the mix — or just keep the Christmas caroler — but having a Christmas song playing every other scene is a bit much.
Ultimately though, ya know what the kicker was? Noah Segan is honestly just a terrible actor. I didn't feel a damn thing watching him (except boredom). It was painful at times. His extended interaction with the landlord (played by Don Most) was cringe- worthy. I had first seen Segan in Starry Eyes, where he was much less of a central character, but seeing him attempt to carry an entire movie was NOT a fun time. He just doesn't seem to know how to emote. Every bit of his speech is just monotone, and seemingly not in an intentional way. Just yikes. No. I would have much rather seen either Applegate or Richardson (who plays Quinn's co-worker) play the lead role.
I think it was an interesting attempt at some psychological horror, and story lines like this can occasionally be pulled off well since they are really tapping into some deep human emotions (fear, regret, desperation), but this was a huge flop for me.
If I can jump right to the point, this movie tried WAY too hard to be edgy and disturbed. From one of the very first scenes with his girlfriend, Thana (played by Olivia Grace Applegate), riding on top of him while pleading with him to pull the trigger on the gun shoved in his mouth it just didn't shock me like it seemed it was trying to. It felt very forced, actually.
The frequent flashbacks are the only time we actually see Applegate's acting — for basically the rest of the movie she's a corpse — and they prove that she has clearly always had some issues, and she's always been fascinated by the morbid and unusual. Quinn is some kind of desperate artist, too, considering at one point he goes down to the basement to start up a new collage/painting rather than deal with her body.
The movie takes place in the few days leading up to Christmas, so they really went crazy with adding Christmas songs in, including a man who offers to sing Christmas carols for $1 and Quinn gives him $10, so we get to have that "quirky" aspect tossed in to the mix. Lucky us. It just felt like they were trying to drive home the eccentricity of the whole thing, the juxtaposition of such a dark and disturbing scenario right around such a happy time of year, but the songs just annoyed the crap out of me. Like, maybe have one in the mix — or just keep the Christmas caroler — but having a Christmas song playing every other scene is a bit much.
Ultimately though, ya know what the kicker was? Noah Segan is honestly just a terrible actor. I didn't feel a damn thing watching him (except boredom). It was painful at times. His extended interaction with the landlord (played by Don Most) was cringe- worthy. I had first seen Segan in Starry Eyes, where he was much less of a central character, but seeing him attempt to carry an entire movie was NOT a fun time. He just doesn't seem to know how to emote. Every bit of his speech is just monotone, and seemingly not in an intentional way. Just yikes. No. I would have much rather seen either Applegate or Richardson (who plays Quinn's co-worker) play the lead role.
I think it was an interesting attempt at some psychological horror, and story lines like this can occasionally be pulled off well since they are really tapping into some deep human emotions (fear, regret, desperation), but this was a huge flop for me.
Follow-don't
Saiph909 July 2017
Warning: Spoilers
I have not watched a film which starts as promisingly then unravels as quickly as this film. The major problem is after the start it has no idea where or what it wants to be, horror, thriller, black comedy but then tries way to hard to be a sort of Twin Peaks quirky film, the boy singing Christmas carols is very contrived but it totally lacks the humour or empathy. The basis of the film is a man wakes up with his disturbed girlfriend who has blown her head off with the gun she gave him for a Xmas present. She had discovered a letter which indicated he was moving away, oddly he decides not to call the police but to dress her up and move her around the house, this is nonsense as rigor mortis and bloating would soon set in, the boyfriend descends into madness and takes a few with him. another issue is the total lack of empathy with lead character, his acting is pretty mediocre, the aim of every film should be entertaining this fails completely.
Do not
kosmasp15 May 2017
Either follow or anything else for that matter. Seriously though, I guess if you like weird and completely out of anything, you may be able to "enjoy" this to a certain degree. But overall we are talking about a movie that has almost no saving merit in it. And that's with one of the main guys from Deadgirl. Which was also a very weird movie to say the least, but way more intriguing than this one.
Very despicable characters and some really disturbing ideas. Now some of the latter are nicely woven into the whole thing, but it overall feels like you're being punished by having to watch this. Of course you don't actually have to watch it. But when I start watching a movie, I also tend to do so until the end ... no matter what
Very despicable characters and some really disturbing ideas. Now some of the latter are nicely woven into the whole thing, but it overall feels like you're being punished by having to watch this. Of course you don't actually have to watch it. But when I start watching a movie, I also tend to do so until the end ... no matter what
The proof that I can't trust IMDB
PedroPires9029 August 2021
This was surprisingly good. Tense, misterious, with a good soundtrack, smartly shot and great acting.
I think the first act is the best one, the 2nd is the weakest, but it still delivers during that time. Metaphorically is also a very interesting film.
I think the first act is the best one, the 2nd is the weakest, but it still delivers during that time. Metaphorically is also a very interesting film.
Terminal boredom
omendata6 November 2019
Another to add to the list of movies with hardly any scares, minimal story, poor acting and just boredom to the nth degree!
As years go on the movies being put out seem to have zero story, no thought or imagination and just terminal boredom. Is this really the future of movies? No wonder Helen Mirren said that the Cinema would be dead in less than 10 years if this is the ordure we are supposed to endure.
As years go on the movies being put out seem to have zero story, no thought or imagination and just terminal boredom. Is this really the future of movies? No wonder Helen Mirren said that the Cinema would be dead in less than 10 years if this is the ordure we are supposed to endure.
Definitely different
ryso-7549327 August 2023
If you like films that are not run of the mill...you know the type, groups of people, no phone signal, lost, etc etc then you might like this. Whilst the story was in parts kinda poor there were bits that were good and quite humerus, or was it just me that found it amusing? Anyway, as always it was slow start and a bit confusing as to what actually happened. It came good or at least I feel it did. The acting was good and the story was accessible in the main.
Overall I definitely enjoyed this movie and would perhaps watch it again. Maybe I am just weird! Check it out....you never know what you might find!
Overall I definitely enjoyed this movie and would perhaps watch it again. Maybe I am just weird! Check it out....you never know what you might find!
Nonsense
dragon_007102024 July 2022
Great Christmas movie!
artbuyer18 July 2017
Warning: Spoilers
Great Christmas movie. Forget happy families, cheap sentiment and rollicks in the snow, this movie gives a far more accurate and entertaining picture of what Christmas is all about - psychodrama, betrayal, high tension, and misunderstandings culminating in a bloodbath. The intimacy between the two main protagonists is far more credible and interesting than one finds in mainstream US movies, and this despite the fact that one of the protagonists spends much of the movie dead. And it's quite funny...
Showed some potential, but was just underwhelming and boring.
becky-923469 May 2022
Follow (2015) is about a man who receives a strange Christmas present from his partner, and wakes up to find his whole life crumbling apart. This film had an intriguing concept, but other than that, there's not much to say about it. It just felt rather low effort.
The movies score was pretty odd, but for the most part the film was very quiet and there was a lack of music or sound in general. Also, I found the audio mixing to be poor and the audio just sounded wrong.
There wasn't really any cinematography that I liked and I really wish the filmmakers experimented a bit more with it. There was a lot of opportunities for nice colour palettes and some experimental shots.
The acting was okay, there wasn't really any bad performances and there weren't any good ones. I think this is due to the characters being written poorly and lacking overall substance and development. I didn't care for any of them.
There were actually a couple of scary moments, and it got pretty disturbing near the end which caught me off guard. It's a shame most of the movie wasn't like this because these moments showed potential.
The tone was set very strangely, and made no attempt to be gripping in any way, resulting in the film feeling very dull. It was definitely a slow-burn, but not in a good way as there wasn't much else to it. It was immediately hard to pay attention to, and wasn't tense at all. It was structured somewhat messily, but I did like the flashbacks that added some context. Unfortunately, the ending was lacklustre and not satisfying.
The movies score was pretty odd, but for the most part the film was very quiet and there was a lack of music or sound in general. Also, I found the audio mixing to be poor and the audio just sounded wrong.
There wasn't really any cinematography that I liked and I really wish the filmmakers experimented a bit more with it. There was a lot of opportunities for nice colour palettes and some experimental shots.
The acting was okay, there wasn't really any bad performances and there weren't any good ones. I think this is due to the characters being written poorly and lacking overall substance and development. I didn't care for any of them.
There were actually a couple of scary moments, and it got pretty disturbing near the end which caught me off guard. It's a shame most of the movie wasn't like this because these moments showed potential.
The tone was set very strangely, and made no attempt to be gripping in any way, resulting in the film feeling very dull. It was definitely a slow-burn, but not in a good way as there wasn't much else to it. It was immediately hard to pay attention to, and wasn't tense at all. It was structured somewhat messily, but I did like the flashbacks that added some context. Unfortunately, the ending was lacklustre and not satisfying.
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