The Surreal Project

A story about a demonically possessed painting offers at least some possibilities for generating horror; how astoundingly far this can be taken in skillful hands was demonstrated with the conceptually similar idea of a demonically possessed mirror in OCULUS (2013), a minor horror (non-found footage) masterpiece.

THE WHISPERING MAN, a story centered on a possessed painting and set in Hungary, has at least the seed of an idea that could have turned into an effective horror film, but unfortunately nothing is done with it here.

Virtually everything is bad: the dialogue, the delivery, the direction, the plot, and on and on. On top of that, every single character in the small cast behaves like an idiot at some point. Seldom have I seen a film which suffered from such a bad case of stupid character syndrome.

This is bottom of the barrel stuff. Not recommended.

I have watched this several times. It is not a great horror movie but the dialogue is charming. It has its flaws but it is a very cool concept. Yes it is a B-movie but it is a awesome B-movie.

I fell asleep 3 times while watching this, and didn't miss a beat. This was painfully slow, painfully acted, and just plain painful to watch. These kids should be ashamed of themselves for participating in this project. And all the "action" is off screen.

Intrigued by a local legend, a Youtube vlogger tracks down a mysterious painting in the family from his youth, and after bringing it back to his house he and his friends start to experience a series of strange paranormal encounters come to believe the figure in the painting is haunting them.

This was a pretty enjoyable found-footage effort. Like most genre films, the early introduction to what's going on is quite enjoyable where the need for the entire expedition is covered. Getting to know why he's chasing the picture down and what he needs it for is laid out early enough to allow for a bit of clarity as to what he wants with the painting. The backstory assigned to it with his family's history with it and his own experiences start this off on a nice note which is a big plus leading into the rest of the film. That this is all about a rather intriguing diversion in the second half featuring a chilling detour to a closed-down and decrepit hospital is quite enjoyable. The atmosphere of the location is quite impressive, much like the thrilling series of encounters here that take great advantage of the creepy confines as well as the darkness to create some tense moments. The found-footage format is put to outstanding use here traversing through the hospital grounds and generates some impressive elements throughout here. This becomes quite prominent in the latter half of this where it's all the more obvious how the impact of the painting around them has impacted the group. With the paranoia starting to get quite obvious and expected based on being around it as long as he has, the way it goes for these intriguing and quite creepy ideas where he goes from normal to unhinged based on the activities present which has quite a lot to like. Combined with a steady pace and some likable leads, these are what allow the film to be as good as it is, even though there are some issues here. One of its biggest problems is the wholly unrealistic storyline about the desire to stay and keep studying the painting, where everything that's happened is justifiable enough to leave it behind yet the argument to stay doesn't make any sense. Losing sleep and only saying that they're close to solving it isn't enough of a reason to stay there, causing it to feel incredibly familiar as a result. This is a major factor against the film as a whole with so much of this being quite obvious and predictable, yet that doesn't mean it's to be dismissed as a result.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Language and Violence.

Im a horror fan, that being said, im used to awful movies however this movie deserves a special place in hell. It was one of those Prime suggestions, so i expected bad but got so much worse. A Hungarian guy inherits a painting from his dead grandfather that looks like a grey alien head that someone painted in art class. Not long after, he claims atrange things begin to happen at his house. I say claim because the entire thing is filmed pov found footage style for his non existent paranormal show but the "happenings" mostly consist of off screen noises. To be honest, i dont know what was worse, the script or the acting... "i am concerned for you because you are looking very pale..." the script was obviously written by a non native English speaker and acted out by what i can only assume are hungarian film students. Bottom line, i found nothing about this film enjoyable and actually disliked it so much that i felt compelled to write this review in hopes the creator might see it and swear to never ever make another film.