How to Save Us

This is one of those movies where some added bucks would have made a big difference.

The concept is sound. A guy goes to Tasmania (of all places!) to find his brother. The only problem being that Tasmania has become overrun with ghosts. Crazy, I know! The problem with How to Save Us is that it needed more. Thanks to the story, we know why nobody else is around, but still, it would have been nice if there were a few more cast members. For an hour and twenty minutes, we watch as this guy searches for his brother. The focus jumps between the two, but that's basically it for characters. Also, although I found the locations and sets functional, they never really stood out as anything special.

Despite all this though, How to Save Us breaks out of its limitations and still delivers a creepy, unsettling story.

When a really short film drags by, something is definitely wrong. Here we had an original premise and a clever solution to the super micro-budget dilemma: Tasmania evacuated (but not destroyed) and, apparently, overrun by ghosts who you can only occasionally see. One man goes looking for his brother and we cut back and forth between the two of them wandering the empty countryside. I saw where another critic once said "A premise is not a story", and I'll modify that a bit here to say "A premise is not a screenplay". In this case the writer/director, Jason Trost, did have a story he wanted to tell but he simply had know idea how to go about it.

So we have a film which has attractive shots of a lone individual walking, or sitting, but that's literally almost all they do. There's a few potentially chilling scenes that are not chilling, with a small number of minimalist, but effective special effects. Yet the premise is never intelligently developed or believably presented. And to make matters worse, the intrepid writer/director casts himself as one of the leads (with the most lines, but since he's kinda talking to a radio it doesn't really count as dialogue) but the poor chap has less screen presence than a potato and seems about as invested in his performance as an exhausted man waiting for a bus. And by the end we are left to wonder if the whole thing was just a metaphor, because if it's supposed to be happening in reality it missed the mark even further. In the end, a nice looking film, and a promising concept, poorly served and tediously delivered. I don't hate myself for having watched it but I don't hate myself for looking at a bowl of soggy cereal either; yet if you're expecting something tasty, both will prove seriously disappointing, and possibly leave a bad taste in your mouth.

This movie has its a special theme that no character talks each other face to face till the end, all conversation going in either background or recorded on radio. Story about a man who finds his brother at quarantine island of Marina, where unknown ghost are wandering. You only can save yourself from them by drawing a line of ashes. Will he back with his brother ? Find answer after watching this movie. Quarantine feels current lock down situation due to Covid- 19 pandemic.

Awful. Easily one of the worst movies I've ever seen. One star for the beautiful eerie landscapes, otherwise there is simply nothing else to comment on. Don't waste your time. I am well versed in the intellectual movie genre, but this is not it. It's two hours of time vacuumed into oblivion. Now I am supposed to add a few more lines for the review to be long enough, but believe me, there is nothing to add here. There are movies that are not worth one star out of ten, and there is no point to beat around the bush or gorge on the negatives. If you are stubborn like me, you would perhaps spend 80 minutes or so waiting to see if it is a slow-unfolding gem with a plot twist. Let me save your time: it is not.

What's with the high scores/user reviews this movie is getting on IMDb? Are they from members of the movie's cast and crew or something? Make no mistake, "How to Save Us" is a tedious, overlong movie that moves so slowly it's almost unwatchable.

About 90% of it consists of two men in camping gear that walk.

Walk. A. Lot.

Lot's and lot's of walking. Quite often however, "How to Save Us" shakes things up by having the constant walking become... slow, cautious walking. To drag out this finger drumming-fest of a movie even further. I understand "cautious" scenes are meant build up tension, but there's got to be some kind of point or payoff, guys. The white, swirly CGI effect you've put in with iMovie or Windows Movie Maker that *sometimes* shows up doesn't exactly fit the bill.

Very disappointing, especially given these high IMDb scores. I guess no system (especially an Internet scoring system) is ever perfect.

Avoid.