Opiniones de usuarios

Horror films dealing with "compulsory suicide" as a theme are automatically unsettling and scary. They're also quite rare, since they must deal with the issue of how to give a proper and reasonably plausible explanation to the strange phenomenon of the compulsory suicides. Larry Cohen's "God Told Me To" is a fine example, and to a lesser extent also the more recent "Truth or Dare", but the modest sleeper-hit "From Within" might be the best one yet. Here the suicides are linked to extremely religious fanaticism and a curse evoked by a family of heathens.

Bible freaks are frightening as well, especially when they are young folks like the characters played here by Kelly Blatz and Adam Goldberg. "From Within" is probably the only film ever in which the fancy religious nerd beats up the handsome rebel kid in the schoolyard! The suicide sequences are disturbing because the victims are (mostly) innocent and often still very young, and personally I always get the creeps from self-declared prophets spreading the - supposed - Word of God. The film, set in a secluded little town, also looks stunningly beautiful and stylish, which is no doubt due to the director - Phedon Papamichael - being an Oscar-winning cinematographer. The performances are good, the soundtrack is suiting, and the climax is - hands down - one of the best and most shocking climaxes of all horror movies made after the year 2000.

Although this type of film has been done many times before there is always room for good writing, acting, camera work and directing. Hey, if one is going to enjoy a modest budget horror flick one must get past the fact the takes-place-in-a-town-with-weird-residents plus the supernatural-aspects-to-be-taken-for-granted are simply ingrained in the process. This setting and genre must either be accepted and enjoyed or ignored altogether.

That said, the acting is FROM WITHIN is exceptional. The teens (and they actually look like teenagers instead of dressed up 30-year-olds) are neither sullen nor over the top but anxious, indecisive, vulnerable; i.e., like real teenagers. Miss Rice in particular delivers her lines in convincing fashion. The two young male leads could easily slide into stereotypes but...well...don't. The adults, e.g., the sheriff and the preacher, aren't overbearing elders. All the adults, in fact, actually interact with the teens, whereas in many movies like this one there is the teen world (Read: real and emotional) and the adult world (Read: static and authoritative).

The supernatural aspect, while never believable, is thankfully modest in inception and use. If the final scenes are not edge-of-your-seat they hold your interest as to what's going to happen. Cool "twist" at the very end too. What's a 56-year-old movie snob watching something like this for? Hey, I'm entitled to some fun too. Most things like this are lucky to last 20 minutes on my screen. FROM WITHIN went the full micro-wave popcorn ninety minutes.

Alright, well I didn't really think this movie would fit into the "After Dark Horrorfest" genre, but apparently it did.

This movie was interesting, and yet it was sort of dull. Confused? Well I will try to lay it on the line. The interesting part was the who religious fanaticism going on through the movie, that they showed just how crazed some people can become and to what extends some people are willing to go. That is what I found interesting in the movie.

And the dull part? Well, basically the entire movie was just one long smear about nothing much in particular. There was very little happening throughout the movie. And what did happen wasn't scary at all, it was just a bit out there. And that was a major disappointment to this movie.

Now, I am not saying that this is a crappy movie, it does have its moments and there is a constant sense of dread laying just beneath the surface, but this dread never gets a real chance to shine through.

The movie is psychological, and that works very well in its favor, and the scenes that do draw on the supernatural, does work nicely as well. The whole part about being killed by yourself, and no one else but you can see what is going on, is kind of freaky, and that was the good part about the movie.

"From Within" took a sweet long time to tell very little, and that made the movie drag on forever and ever. There wasn't enough sparks and magic to make this movie all that interesting. Sure, the movie had potential and they were on to something with the story, plots and the twists in the movie, but it just didn't catch the bigger picture.

The cast in "From Within" was good, and I think they all portrayed their characters very well and in believable manners. So there is nothing to complain about here. The leading roles were portrayed well, and the supporting roles were the same.

The effects were good throughout the movie. They didn't revel in one grand CGI eye-fest after another, but rather made use of subtle effects and scary environments and small details. That is one of the cooler things in movie-making.

The ending was nice, although not a surprise ending. But it worked well enough.

I am rating this movie a 4, because of the story took forever to get you almost nowhere. But still, there were elements that managed to keep my interest throughout the movie. Now, if you are looking for a movie to scare the crap out of you, this is not the movie to pick. However, if you want a psychological movie with some underlying supernatural elements, this might be right up your alley. But be prepared for a very long storytelling...

I was expecting a mediocre film when I starting watching this movie because of the lack of actors I recognized plus watching it on cable (IFC), but I was pleasantly surprised on how creepy and well done it was.

Don't get me wrong, it wasn't nearly as good as The Ring, but still made me more than a little freaked out at several points.

You do need to pay close attention to the film to understand it - especially the end. The plot was decent and the story flowed pretty well.

I would recommend this horror flick to scary movie fans. I would say there was a noticeable lack of gore, but not in a bad way. If you are wanting a slasher flick, this is not the movie for you.

I won't rate this movie a "1-awful" because the last 2 minutes were kind of fun. Too bad about the rest of the movie.

I didn't have high hopes for a movie that cast rejects from "America's Next Top Model," but the Tribecca Film Festival listed this film as atmospheric, smart, and scary...I'm not sure what film that was, but it sure as hell wasn't "From Within." Its boring and silly, and like other reviews mentioned it has so many horror movie clichés you can't help but shake your head and wonder if the filmmakers had ever seen a scary film before. The characters are textbook and forgettable, and one, the goth brooding cousin, at first seemed to be a glimmer of something slightly different, but she quickly deteriorated as every line was said in the same flat, mopey, wise ass delivery. Every actor seems to be playing their "type", like alcoholic, rebel, Goth, religious freak, etc.

If you like Final Destination movies but thought they should be dull, predictable, and have trite messages tacked onto them, From Within should rock your world.

I'm not going to get into detail cause this movie doesn't need all that. I love horror and thriller and this movie was def 7 star. Gore, scary "make you jump" parts, not bad acting. The very beginning I was almost about to turn it off then all of a sudden the mood is set for some good gory deaths. The movie kept me watching, so I would say that it was interesting. Story hits you with a couple of twists after some of the death slows, then your slams in the face with more killing, blood and all that good stuff. I am no critic but I do love watching movies and I am glad that I watched this movie because I wasn't going to. I would recommend this movie to others that like horror/thriller. It is one to watch if no others.

Imagine if the award-winning cinematographer of the 2007 epic "3:10 to Yuma" decided to direct his own film. With over 40 titles under his belt, Phedon Papamichael is one of the industry's icons. Well, imagine no more. In the Brad Keene-penned "From Within," which had its World Premiere here at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival, Papamichael takes his considerable expertise behind the camera and crafts an auspicious directorial debut in the Hitchcock tradition.

Something is amiss in Grovetown. The suicide in the opening scene triggers a mystery which will bring teenagers Lindsay (Elizabeth Rice) and Aiden (Thomas Dekker) together in a quest for the truth, both about the occurrences as well as themselves.

The performances of Thomas Dekker ("Heroes," "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles") and Elizabeth Rice ("Mad Men") are at the heart of the movie and it's their believability which makes this film so emotional and poignant. Dekker's frightening gaze and enigmatic demeanor never lets up, in perfect contrast to Rice's innocence and vulnerability. Veteran Adam Goldberg (Roy), Rumer Willis (Natalie), and Kelly Blatz (Dylan) are also standouts.

"From Within" is technically brilliant. The use of single-point lighting and color palette of blues and grays in interior scenes are especially effective in enhancing the shadowy nature of the story, with sunset shots that would likely have been scuttled in a typical Hollywood movie. Here, the dim light works to the film's advantage. The sound effects, along with the Jason Cooper and Oliver Kraus score, also play a particularly distinct role here and are a major plus. As in any film of this genre, visual effects are key and they are top-notch. Most of all, though, the camera-work is simply breathtaking. Shot in widescreen 2.35:1 aspect ratio, the chilling locations and copious use of POV shots enhance the Hitchcockian feel of "From Within" -- no surprise given the director's background.

Although the film's first act leans toward horror, it soon becomes apparent that "From Within" is a story-driven psychological thriller more than anything and doesn't need to rely on blood and gore, although there's enough to please fans of the genre. The film's many twists and turns will hold audiences' interest right up to the closing credits. A creepy tale with a strong message about religious extremism and tolerance make "From Within" more than just another gorefest. From Within is a solid thriller with enough suspense to keep the viewer guessing until the end.

After the witness of a suicide starts off a chain of similar cursed deaths in town, a young woman tries to keep her hyper-religious boyfriend from going after the supposed start of the curse long enough to stop it before more deaths occur.

This here was a rather troubling and pretty flawed effort at times, though it does have a couple pretty interesting parts. The film is on when it's dealing with the curse and the graphic deaths that result, and beyond just the surface shocks and entertainment these are surprisingly deeper than expected. Spread throughout by the appearance of ghostly doppelgangers that mark the deaths as suicides, there's much more to this aspect of the film beyond the inherently creepy and thrilling scenes they are just on-the-surface, and altogether these provide the film with a lot of good marks. Unfortunately, there's still a lot wrong here and it's all centered around the backwoods inhabitants and the heavy presence of religion in their lives. Far too often this denigrates into a religious rant that never explains anything other than their backwards and irrational thinking damaging whatever this could've done with the material, and by unleashing a twist late in the film that makes for the whole affair mirroring a similar fate doled out years earlier for the same reason makes this whole part challenging and really tough to get by, making it so severe at times that it drags the rest of the film down considerably. It's still watchable, but not as it could've been.

Rated R: Graphic Language and Graphic Violence.

I Thought that From Within was an enjoyable film It is set in a small Maryland town, the suicide of an teenager triggers a string of violent suicides. These suicides seem to come from a curse which spreads when any person, who witnesses the suicide, is possessed by an evil force which makes them commit suicide themselves. A young teenager,called Lindsey, thinks there is a connection of the events to Aiden, the brother of the first suicide. But Lindsey must hurry hen she sees her mother fall victim, and must try to find a way to stop the curse before it kills her too. This is a very scary sort of film and it is very intense in parts too.

I couldn't agree with wadev's review more. This movie was truly awful. How did this ever get picked by the Tribeca Fest? Some of the "horror" scenes were so silly, I kept laughing -- as did many other people in the audience. It was not suspenseful, it was not scary, the characters were dull, the pace was slow, lots of unnecessary scenes and yet tons of underdeveloped plot lines. I want to watch a movie and care about why these characters ended up where they did and what is going to happen to them next. Watching this, I could care less. I was wondering what a decent actor like Adam Goldberg was doing in this drivel. I could see that he was trying to treat this role seriously, but it was impossible to take this film seriously.

I gave it a six just because of the satisfying ending. I would look up a spoiler synopsis and then watch the ending. It will take you about 10 minutes and you'll be satisfied and you won't waste a whole hour and a half on useless filler.

Christianity, demons, red necks O mine!

This is not a student film but it took less thought with a lot bigger budget, which is a total waste.

Christianity is an easy target but this film didn't even aim right. The plot holes as big as moon craters. Just terrible.

Hodge podge of random rumors of various belief systems. Total nonsense.

Can't believe Adam Goldberg is in this movie. Hope he got paid well.

I was lucky enough to see this movie at its premier at the Tribeca Film Festival, and I must say that I truly enjoyed it. Normally, I am not a huge fan of the horror film genre, but this film proved that it was much more than a "put 10 people in a house, and kill them off one-by-one" flick. I found the story line interesting, the cinematography on-point, and the acting, especially that of Elizabeth Rice, excellent. Contrary to the previous person's review, I found the cast to be quite likable, and I also appreciated the occasional shots of humor, particularly those from the visiting female cousin. One final facet of the movie that I thought was compelling was the musical score -- very effective in contributing to the mood. IMHO, From Within is definitely worth seeing, and it should do very well when it is released for general viewing.

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning

Some teens in a small American town start to commit suicide and the finger of suspicion points at a weird new kid and his kooky mother. As the bible belt group close in on them, the one girl who believes in him is drawn into a terrifying world of the occult and death.

The plot bears an uncomfortable similarity to real life events over here in Brigend, which may be why this film hasn't had the publicity or chance in theatres it could have had. All the same, it manages little more than being your typical teen horror sort of movie, with only a few jump scenes to really give it any kick as a horror film. Barely managing enough exciting new material to work the length of a feature film, you may experience the urge 'from within' to leave early. **