Neverlake

I'm a little different from many horror fans in that I appreciate a good story line within the genre without necessarily needing to be scared by it. Such is the case with Neverlake.

Jenny comes to her father's Tuscany home from New York as a teenager, not having seen him since she went away to school. The house is near a lake with a rich history of Etruscan legends, which Jenny's father is researching.

Soon she becomes bored because Dad tends to be elusive, his housekeeper is rather brittle and Jenny doesn't like her. One day she takes a walk and meets a blind girl who takes her to visit the orphanage where she lives. She tells Jenny, "It's fine, just don't let the grownups see you. They're bad." Jenny continues to visit, and one night she learns the full history of the lake and its power.

Meanwhile, the relationship between Jenny and her father becomes stranger and stranger. One night, she faints, only to wake up in a hospital bed with her father explaining that she'd been sick with an infection and had needed surgery. A heavily drugged Jenny goes back to sleep to wake up back in her own bed.

The story slows down a bit, and some viewers may become bored, but I found the film so atmospheric that it kept me engaged. Piece by piece, Jenny begins to learn of the powers of the lake and her father's involvement in the strange orphanage. The children send Jenny on a mission that brings the story to its very satisfying conclusion.

I will say that it was the first time I felt like crying at the end of a horror film. And that wouldn't have happened without an interesting story, good actors and a rich atmosphere in which to tell this unusual tale. You won't find monsters or ghosts in this film, but you won't need them because the horror comes not from the dead, but the living. I recommend this film highly for those cold, dark nights when you want to settle in with a good story with both atmosphere and foreboding.

the file is awesome. the beginning reminds you some old movies which goes in linear manner. I mean up to the half of the movie, there is no special thing in the story, but the scenes and the background music keeps you watching it anyway. but believe me it worth to watch every minutes of it. I watched this movie with my wife together while she normally doesn't like the horror movies, because they are like comedy movies these days; but this movie, how the story starts and end will freeze you at the end without doubt. frankly saying, it can be classified a thriller and drama rather than horror, because it doesn't have any horror scene at all. I appreciate the scenarist for the great story and the director for great movie. these days you cannot find such a movie that makes you feel satisfaction at the end. I gave this movie 8 out of 10 and recommend everyone to sit and watch it from the beginning to the very last minute of the movie.

Sometimes, someone has a pretty nice idea that depending on right, smart and carefully planned execution has the potential to become a great film. Neverlake is, in my opinion, an example of how a wanting execution spoils this kind of a nice idea. After watching it I couldn't help but feeling bad for whomever was responsible for the general plot, as it felt to me like showing such a story the right way could have been great, while showing it in this way simply didn't do it justice.

As the trailers and plot summaries have already told you, Neverlake tells the story of a teenage girl going to visit her father in Italy. There, she is confronted by both his half colleague half lover (showing a bluntly exaggerated interest in her physical health) and a party of children of different ages each suffering from some sort of physical ailment of deformity. In addition, the storyline is saturated with hints alluding to something supernatural haunting the nearby lake. Enough to make one curious and follow the plot closely, but also enough to frustrate a viewer, because okay, we get it, stop wasting screen time with another unnecessary hint, that's not how you set up a plot twist.

And then? Comes the plot twist, which is nefarious and grim, but has extremely little to do with the aforementioned redundant hints. Following the initial shock I couldn't help but wonder why the heck I was shown all these hints only to lead to such a twist. Either the hints or the twist should not have been used, it almost feels like the creators couldn't come up with enough relevant scenes.

After all this criticism anyone reading could think that I didn't enjoy Neverlake, but I actually did. The fine acting and intriguing characters along with a story that could have been better but isn't all bad were seemingly enough to create a rewarding Horror experience. I'm merely saying one should lower their expectations in advance if they wish to enjoy this film, and not wait for anything spectacular or overly impressive. An average story in an average film.

"Neverlake" isn't necessarily a great horror movie, but one thing's undeniable: the plot contains more than enough potentially strong ideas to fill at least three movies! I almost overlooked this film because it looks so mundane and derivative, but then I discovered that it's Italian (my favorite country for horror movies) and that it stars David Brandon (semi-successful lead actor of "Stagefright", "Delirium: Photos of Gioia" and "Caligola: The Untold Story"). The film is reasonably well-made, but the script is too ambitious and director Riccardo Paoletti makes the rookie mistake that he desperately attempts to uphold the various mysteries for far too long. It's complex, with a lot of references towards Tuscan culture and particularly the Etruscan civilization, but also supernatural themes and mad surgeon twists. Gorgeous young teenager Jenny Brooks visits her father in his birth region of Tuscany, Italy, for the very first time since her mother died. Her father used to be an acclaimed doctor but now he's into archaeology and researching the nearby Etruscan Lake of Idols. Jenny was hoping to visit the beautiful region, but her father is always locked up in his study room or away on business, so she sets out exploring herself and meets a group of disabled children in a ramshackle hospital. Riccardo Paoletti builds up a lot of tension and mystery, but why, in fact? From the very first moment that Jenny's father walks into the screen, it's abundantly clear that he's malicious and unreliable. The atmosphere in "Neverlake" is admirably ominous and spooky and the filming locations and set pieces are often astounding, but the film could have used a better pacing and more frequent bloodshed. The finale, however, is terrific and reminiscent of the good old- fashioned Gothic Italian horrors of the fifties and sixties. The acting performances are quite good as well. Daisy Keeping looks like a slightly young version of Danielle Harris, which is always an example if you want to make it in the horror industry, and is even credible as the clever young girl who's a fan of Gothic poetry (Percy Shelley, Edgar Allen Poe, etc…)

When I say 'action', I mean getting to the meat of the story.

First 50 mins (and yes, I went back and double checked on BluRay) were way too boring. So boring that I had this BluRay since 2014 and only NOW (in 2015) sat through it all because I had nothing else to watch.

So yeah, first 50 mins will bore you. Last 35 mins will enthrall you.

Last 35 mins also are surprisingly darker than I imagined, for this movie. First 50 mins give you the impression that you are watching some same old cliché-fest of a ghost movie. But I would say, the ending moments are pretty good.

Also, the movie is well acted. But some of the dialogues feel too artificial (only 'some'). Overall, watch the movie for the last 35 mins, it's worth it.

5/10 (5 for the last 35 mins, -5 for the first 50 mins)