heratyplant

There are small, quaint theatres, or theatrical spaces, usually in a busy urban area, & then there are barns in the middle of nowhere, that would never exist, guess which this one is?!

Then there's the rambling, gothic, scary old mansion in a dark forest, where everyone gets separated at night down long dark corridors, nope, they couldn't get that location either. You may be getting my point, when you can't get the right locations to give your film half a chance, then maybe don't bother.

Then there's some pretty well known names, topped off by Cary Elwes & Carol Kane amongst others including the rest of the less well paid cast. Oh dear, what a terrible come down for them, perhaps this is one of those projects that you do as an actor to keep your acting benefits up to date & SAG membership active, who knows!

I know what this is trying to be & those films are great fun, this isn't that & it can't be, it simply doesn't have the right resources to do that, so do something else. Kane's performance also calls it wrong, she's being some kind of grand, pompous old skool West End/ Broadway star from the 50's fallen on hard times & doing regional theatre, but that character would be miserable & would refuse to perform in a barn, so none of it rings true.

There is much better than this, so sorry, but don't bother.

I have a soft spot for Long, so I was happy to look past the lower budget & for the most part, it hides that well & looks very respectable on screen.

After the rather dull start in the car, the on screen interaction between our 2 leads, lit only by candles, is rather mesmerising & with a tantalising, creeping tension. Things get creepier with the arrival of the next sister, although their scene on the roof broke my concentration, as all the background lights seemed to conflict with the supposedly isolated location.

The hard cut to the caves was very effective & hinted that horrors were on the way, but no, it's just a dream, the downward spiral continues. The arrival of the third sister marks the low point of the film (other than the ending), she's not fully realised as a character & her styling is very poor & so distracting, with an ugly strappy dress from the local discount store; when she should've been elegant, sexy & scary.

I see that I'm not alone in being totally shocked by the ending, I was literally heard to exclaim, "is that it?!" It was so lazy & pointless it was not only a waste but frankly embarrassing for all concerned.

5 Stars for the beginning to middle, zero for the ending - Shame!

If you're on the fence about watching this, just don't. Go for a walk, donate to charity, sing a song, ask someone out for a drink, but do yourself a favour & don't watch this misery fest. I realised I actually felt disgust watching this, but not in an entertaining way, it's just misery/ horror porn & that is a bad thing!

They also seem to be making it, right from the very first words, about racism, which is just laughable 2020 stuff, as if there isn't enough of that already, let's stoke up more trouble, the producers say to themselves, how helpful of them!!!

It's also boring & just left me feeling dirty, there is absolutely no point in polluting your brain with this grime. I think I might watch Mary Poppins instead.