Totem

Kellie (Kerris Dorsey) is a 17 year old who spends her energy taking care of her father James (James Tupper) and younger sister Abby. Despite her objection, James invites longtime girlfriend Robin (Ahna O'Reilly) to live with them. Abby has not been sleeping. Kellie grows frustrated with newcomer Robin as she seeks solace from boyfriend Todd.

This is another Blumhouse product. They take a scatter gun approach to financing these small scale horrors. This one simply lacks intensity. It's a slow grinding horror. It has no particular atmosphere other than the suburban home vibe. There are all the traditional jump scares and the Poltergeist moves but nothing is new. Tupper and O'Reilly are not particularly special. I only know Dorsey as a child actress in Brothers & Sisters. She's mostly fine and does her transformation well. Most of this movie is a waiting game and it's an impatient wait. The motion detectors are almost interesting. The movie grinds on until the last act. The twist works well enough but it isn't enough. This needs more.

All I knew about this 2017 movie when I sat down to watch it in 2020 was that it was a horror movie. And that is, in itself, more than sufficient to make me have an interest in watching a movie.

I hadn't even heard about director Marcel Sarmiento's movie "Totem" before 2020 when I happened to stumble upon it by random chance.

I must say that the movie had potential, and it definitely scores some points for being different, whereas it could very easily just have followed that classic how-to-make-a-horror movie formula. But while the movie does differ in its contents than most other horror movies of the same type, the movie just failed to deliver on the entertainment bits. Sure, the movie was watchable, but when the movie can to an end, I was left with a feeling of 'was that really it?'.

The acting in the movie was good, and for me it is always nice to see new talents on the screen, and I can't claim to have been familiar with anyone starring or acting in "Totem", so that also does count for something.

For a horror movie, then "Totem" wasn't overly impressive. It was more of a thriller than it was a horror movie. I sat down to watch "Totem" with the expectation of it being a horror movie, so I was somewhat disappointed in that aspect.

The movie makes little use of CGI, so this wasn't a movie that was heavily reliant on CGI effects to bedazzle the audience. There was some, and they were actually good enough for the movie.

"Totem", however, just felt incomplete, as if something very crucial to the mixture was missing. I can't say what it was, but I feel like the movie came in short. It felt like director Marcel Sarmiento set out to want to accomplish a bit too many things all at the same time, but managing to deliver only on a handful of them. And that is why I am rating it four out of ten stars.

Folks, this is a decent horror flick. Its no Academy Award winner, but it doesn't suck either.

I saw TOTEM on Saturday 11/18/17 on HBO when it was rated as 4.3/10 and I'm glad I watched it despite the questionably low rating. Its got a good plot, some good scares, a cool plot-twist at the end, and is overall a decent horror flick.

Now I'll be the first to admit I watch movies for enjoyment - I'm not pretentious nor do I study a flick for tone, cinematography, screen writing, editing, lighting, sound, etc.

Albeit obvious, I'm an American conservative guy, and my favorite genre's are Horror/Suspense, Action/Adventure, Westerns, Crime/Legal, War/Military, etc. ... and I tend to keep my movie "reviews" simple.

I either:

1) Loved it - awesome

2) Liked it - not too bad, or

3) Hated it - it sucked

If you like horror movies and aren't bent on a movie being perfect, you'll like it - and yes it is worth the 90 minute investment in time, and the Red Box fee (if any). I almost gave it a 7 (its a very high 6).

Again, its no 10, but certainly is no 4 ...

Saw 'Totem', being fond of horror regardless of budget (even if not my favourite genre) and being intrigued somewhat by the idea. Being behind on my film watching and reviewing, with a long to watch and review list that keeps getting longer, it took me a while to get round to watching and reviewing it.

Giving 'Totem' a fair chance with being interest and apprehension, it turned out to be far better than expected. Won't say that 'Totem' is a great film because it isn't and the potential, while not wasted, is not fully lived up to. Considering the large number of films seen recently being mediocre and less and wasting potential, was expecting worse and was relieved that while wanting in a fair few areas it was actually one of my better recent low-budget viewings.

'Totem' started off quite well, the first twenty minutes or so starting the film off on a promising, unsettling and atmospheric note that really does intrigue.

Production values did have some eeriness and nowhere near as cheap as expected, and the music, which not the most memorable in the world, didn't detract from the atmosphere.

The setting is effectively spooky and some of the lead acting at times was not bad. There are spooky and suspenseful moments and it isn't dull. The direction doesn't feel phoned in and the storytelling in the first half does intrigue.

However, the story was severely wanting in the second half after starting off promisingly. It is very disjointed and after the promising start the final third especially loses atmosphere, one loses interest and things start to not make sense. Too much of the film is vague and doesn't explore some elements and story strands enough, some dropped soon after being introduced, go nowhere or serve much point.

Ending is unsatisfying, on top of feeling hasty there are too many loose ends hanging in the air. Got the sense that the writers didn't know how to end the film. Would have liked much more tension and suspense, scares could have been more consistent and some weren't surprising enough.

Found too the script to lack natural flow and with a bit of cheese going on, and the characters bland with some adopting some annoying and not always logical decision making. The support acting is even more problematic than the second half's storytelling, at best it was poor and too often terrible.

Overall, better than expected but not great still. 5/10 Bethany Cox

The actors did a great job from what I could tell. The director, Marcel Sarmiento, is well known for Deadgirl, which I have not seen but many where hopeful he would top. Although Marcel is credited for writing the story, the story and screenplay was written by Evan Dickson, of which it is Evan's first feature film.

The movie starts off with an interesting premise and held my attention the first half. The cinematography is fine but later it becomes obvious they were working with a limited budget.

Two-thirds into the movie things start to go awry and although the pace picks up I felt the story gets more unbelievable not just in decisions that are made but with distractions that make it obvious there might have been editing issues.

The saving grace is there is a twist at the end that most people would not have seen coming but it was not enough for me to say it is a must see unless you are a fan of the actors or the director.