Vladenie 18

Vladenie 18 must be one of the first Russian movies I saw, or maybe I don't remember any other ones right now, but what's for sure is that I will completely have forgotten about this movie in a couple days. It's just not good enough to be remembered. The story could have been better, it's just about okay. I don't know what their budget was but it must not have been much seeing the poor special effects. I guess the make-up wasn't that bad, but for a horror movie you expect more thrills than in this movie. The soundtrack is always important in horror movies, to create the right ambiance, but in this movie the sound was often building up to create suspense for a thing that didn't happen. The cast wasn't great either, especially the girl playing Svetlana, she was not credible at all in her role. If all the Russian movies are at this level I won't be watching alot of them.

I have to admit the German title made me think this would be a horror comedy. But it is "straight" horror. It's not a bad movie, but it really didn't grip me either. Also for those who care, it is a Russian production and is relying more on jump scares rather than blood.

There's also no nudity (whatever that means to you) and the movie is quite predictable. Especially if you've seen a few of those. The actors try their best and technically speaking it is also decent ... but while I've seen worse, I've also seen way better movies too.

I like to watch a non-American horror movie from time to time. Most of them are copies of Hollywood movies, but there is always something in them that sets them apart.

Vladenie 18 is a good example: a standard setting of a young couple who move into a suspiciously cheap apartment in a high apartment tower. Strange things happen, they do research and come to the conclusion that a lot of people have already lived in the apartment before them. However, all are gone and nobody knows what happened to them...

This russian film isn't original being a Horror film, but I don't think that should be a problem. Because how many new films are that original? I think the overall package a Horror is very well presented though. The characters arouse sympathy as underdogs and you, as a viewer, are concerned about their fate. Some viewers will probably not like the acting style which comes (in the eyes of us Westerners) across as wooden. But I think this is just the style of the conservative Russian acting school, because our older movies were often acted this way too. In any case, I liked the authentic Russian feeling of this movie!

Special effects are by far the weakest point of this film. They look so cheap that given the limited budget of this film, I just left them out altogether. Rest is good news: The plot is very well put together. As been said: It's not very original, but it's a very good quality story and it kept me watching the whole movie. The film is not really scary, nor has it gore going on, but there is plenty of suspense!

In short, for those who would like to watch a thrilling film from another part of the world, this is a good one. It won't set the world on fire, but I do call this a fun late evening movie. So that's why the 7/10!