Blackwood

I was surprised by some of the other reviews for this film, 10 out of 10? I was expecting a classic which had been gathering dust unloved, suddenly discovered and released to an adoring public, prompting review hysteria! I thought, wow! 'Bladerunner' IMDb rated 8.3, 'Citizen Kane' 8.5, 'Unforgiven' 8.3, this must be quite an undiscovered gem. It isn't.

Now, I don't claim to know much about the creative process of writing an original screenplay, but I'm pretty sure that the word 'original' is just about as important as 'screenplay'. This crazy-pa-moves-family-to spooky-house has been done, well lets say with no pun intended, to death.

I cannot understand why, essentially having really original takes on this theme, I'm looking at you, 'The Shining' and 'The Others', which took the idea in completely different and original directions, we need something like this which lacks any originality. The characters are written in 2 dimensions to such an extent that long before the end you simply couldn't care less what happens to them. But it doesn't stop the clichés coming thick and fast. Not only is this not a '10 out of 10' lost classic, it is derivative and lazy. It desperately needed rewrites from someone with something original to add to the genre. I felt conned.

Saw this at a festival last year and wasn't sure it was going to get distribution, but, against what appeared to be the general feeling it looks like it has a distributor for August, so have decided to post my notes.

The premise is the usual one for scary, strange-bump-in-the-night movies, emotionally challenged husband moves innocent family out of the big city and in to harms way. This is fine, after all, we all need to get our characters out of their comfort zones and into some kind of jeopardy, otherwise, 'Lassie' for example, would never have been made.

I totally love these type of films, but what follows is unfortunately something of a mash up of all the things you've seen before that have to appear in a make-'em-jump movie. Now, of course, we could try to to convince ourselves (a la Ben Affleck's speech to Col Dolittle in 'Pearl Harbour), that copying others is not bad, its an 'homage'. But then that would force you to accept the US remake of 'The Vanishing' was an 'homage' to George Sluizer's truly taut original. So we see 'Blackwood' is a fairly lame regurgitation of all the familiar tropes, there is a twist at the end, but if you don't spot it a mile you should pop out and show yourself a good time more often, either that or you've dozed off at some point. So all in all, not so unlike Lassie, a little bit more than just a dog.

What we have here, to keep it kinda short , but hardly sweet, is a film that is chock full of misdirection with no explanation . AT.ALL. A truly thrilling film most of the time, but that pretty much ends up saying: some guys in the world, whom are not bad but may have problems; men whom were once good, but because of women....s m h. PERIOD. The movie did a great job of keeping me watching and waiting for a true fright, but twas for naught. The suspense was there though...then it suddenly kept thinning out. In the end I found myself hating the women in this film, and perhaps even the main male characters a little. But if ALL that is what I felt, then it was but the aim of the director, and in that at least, the film succeeded. The rest...had so much potential....I really need a film about some redeeming qualities of people now lol.

If the answer is 'yes' then you might as well not read this review and not bother watching 'Blackwood.' Don't get me wrong – it's not bad. It's one and only problem is that it's so unoriginal that if you've even seen one previous supernatural/ghost story then you've basically seen this story (and quite possibly done better).

A teacher moves his family into an old creepy house, largely against their wishes. Once there, spooky things start to happen. Every quarter of an hour you'll catch sight of a reflection that wasn't there, or a shadow in night which disappears upon investigation. If that sounds scary to you, maybe you will get something out of it. Personally, I grew out of thinking that was in any way spooky when I was about ten.

The acting is nothing to write home about. That's not a criticism of the actors. They're good enough, as I've seen them in other things. However, they just go through the motions and you can see every vague sub-plot coming a mile off.

It's a British film and, in typical British style, it's low budget. I know it's a bit unfair to expect a Brit-funded film to compete with Hollywood blockbusters when it comes to special effects, so I can't be too harsh on 'Blackwood' for not even trying. Don't expect hordes of monsters or vast action sequences interspersed with the story.

It's a 'slow burner.' Possibly too slow for its own good. Basically, if you think that a door shutting on its own is scary, then you might like this. Otherwise, just watch one of your many other horror/ghost story DVDs that you probably already own. It's better.

Now move along... nothing to see here.

A good old fashioned take on the traditional ghost story which works well. Shot beautifully with good use of locations that reflect the story and add to the drama. A well paced script builds the tension throughout and you're never quite sure what's coming next. Sometimes there are some predictable shock factors but all in all a film that makes you want to see what happens at the end. Good cast as well. With high production values for a lower budget, we should look forward to seeing what comes next from this new promising director/producer team. Recommend this very British production and welcome quality drama in the making.