O Estranho Habitante: The Strange Inhabitant

This is one great movie, but it is not really a classical horror film with cheap thrills or jump scares. Rather, it is a much more serious exploration of all things related to an entity that protects a cursed object, in this case a medallion (the relic).

This is a work of love, for all the people involved in this movie and a product of years of very elaborate and tedious research into the historical context and origins of the concept, The stories about the legend of the inhabitant is the true horror, the truly scary thing about the whole thing.

The characters are very believable and so are their story arcs.

Highly recommended.

The movie gets really interesting around the midpoint. The first half of it prepares you for what´s coming, we get to know the characters and feel confortable with them, then the story begins to unfold and this is when the action starts.

The second half is much more intense paying off some story aspects.

This is an intriguing horror, the pulls us in, and never let´s go.

This is what I call a good movie, it´s fresh and new, and we get this feeling that the inhabitant is always present in Joseph´s journey to confront him.

There are creepy moments most of them without gore.

The direction is tight and the cast works well within the story.

The cinematography is also impressive.

So i´m ready for more, if there´s a sequel down the line.

The movie's narrative is uncomplicated and relatively straight-forward: A knight called Joseph his sent on a holy mission by the bishop to return a stolen artifact, that belong to the templar order, but what he will find on his way is lots of turks and creatures, that work on their own evil doings, he and his fellow knights will be tested in faith and honour by the path they choose, the creature that hides in the shadows is very well done, pratical effects rule here.

I think the inhabitant is a very dark creature that needs to have more movies, it´s on the say path as the nun, the effects are a little cheesy, but they don´t hurt the movie, as the story itself gives the audience what they want.

As for me, i´ll give it an 8.

It's got a pretty cool concept going for it even if it's not executed as well as it could've been.

The creature is unique in that it is more like a supernatural force for a majority of the film.

We get some interesting deaths scenes, the invasion of the castle is well orchestrated and full of nods to other classic stories.

It's still not the greatest thing ever but it's a fun time and has a lot of elements that make it worth checking out.

For a low-budget effort, however, it is well made, but i wish it would be better, with more horse fighting scenes and more dark lore to the inhabitant curse. 8/10.

Rui Constantino´s vision for this movie, allows him to create atmospheres that fully immerse you in his selected and unique dark twisted tale.

It would be impossible to talk about this film without acknowledging how well-budgeted it is. The ammount spent on the creation of the environment that truly feels set in the dark times, with sets and costumes that are tangible, it does not feel like a low budget independent production for a second.

I absolutely love films that have to do with biblical themes and ideas, whether literally as they do here, or metaphorically and thematically.

Great, tight, and unknown cast, everyone brought forth the necessary emotions that raised the tensions to a maximum by the end if it.

This is how it´s done an 8 for me.