Beezel

It's a straightforward enough story enhanced by the smart direction of Aaron Fradkin and the creepy cinematography by Keelan Carothers. With one location a handful of actors and a musical score akin to Kubrick's The Shining, Fradkin and his team weave a mystery surrounding the house and the thing that lives in the basement in a manner that pulls you in and keeps you guessing.

I also need to give props for Beezel's design which was unsettling to say the least.

The only complaints I can manage is the latter half of the story isn't as interesting as the first with the movie veering into more predictable territory with the final couple which causes the well-earned energy of the opening and second act to fizzle out a bit.

I just don't understand all the hype around this movie. Social media influencers pushing this movie ecerywhere as "scary AF". First off.. it had a good start that got me intrigued, but it was so slow, and had you hanging into suspense waiting for something to happen, and it was just meh. I can put partial blame on the overall editing here. They needed more story line with scenes ending in a payoff vs. Lots of suspense, weird music, and disjointed story telling. Acting wasn't good, and has confusing characters. The opening sequences are the best with very little good after.

I do agree with others... these 8+ reviews on here are totally planted.

The movie consists of three separate stories spanning a timeframe of 60 years, all involving the inhabitants of a house haunted by an evil witch. In the first story, a man whose wife and son died in the house invites a filmmaker to document his account of what really happened. Initially, the police suspected him, but after discovering bite marks that didn't match his teeth, they couldn't find enough evidence to charge him with the murders.

The second story follows a caretaker who has just arrived at the house to care for an elderly woman. The older woman begins behaving strangely, and the caretaker becomes haunted by increasingly terrifying occurrences.

The third story revolves around a couple who move into the house and are tormented by the witch.

I appreciated that the movie was divided into three stories. While it didn't add much to the plot, it was a nice twist that gave the movie more dynamic pacing. The three stories vary in quality: I enjoyed the first and second stories, but I found the third one rather weak. Unfortunately, the third story is also the longest, making the second half of the movie less engaging than the first.

All three stories maintain a creepy atmosphere and are reasonably scary. However, the film relies too heavily on cheap jump scares, which felt unnecessary since the atmosphere was already effectively unsettling. The acting is fine overall but occasionally inconsistent, making it difficult to connect with the characters, especially given the short duration of the stories.

The movie doesn't provide any answers, leaving me somewhat unsatisfied. I would have liked to learn more about the house's backstory and the witch's origins. Fun fact: the movie was filmed in the director's childhood home.

Overall, it's a decent movie and an enjoyable watch with its short runtime, but nothing about it stands out. I mostly liked it, though the first half is clearly stronger. The film loses momentum towards the end, which is disappointing. With a stronger third story and perhaps a slightly bigger budget, this could have been great. [5,6/10]

If you approach this movie understanding it is a low budget project, and don't have expectations of high end CGI etc., it is an enjoyable 80 odd minutes. The acting is passable, if a little clumsy at times, the story is not radical, but original enough. It is roughly split into four segments, but all one story as it develops through the years. I think, of the four segments, I enjoyed the first one, with the documentary maker the most. The last segment, and the longest one, did seem to drag a little, and had the most unrelatable characters, as I really didn't care if they survived or not. The ending was disappointing, and really didn't leave me satisfied. But having said that, I did enjoy, and would definitely check out another movie from the same team.

What an impressive contained horror film! Not unlike Sinister or Barbarian, Beezel takes a single location and succeeds in building out an intriguing, unnerving lore, replete with a badass creature design for the witch (who, in classic Hitchockian fashion, appears only briefly- so much spookier than a ghoulie who's crammed down your throat!).

The use of found footage adds to the atmosphere (very Longlegs) without being overly used or trope-y. And like any horror movie worth it's salt, Beezel has a spine-tingling sound design that will haunt your dreams.

Grateful I don't have a basement-- I would never being going in it again!