Spirits of the Fall

It's been a little while since I had the chance to view this little gem at a special screening so if I forget some things it's OK. I can come back and fix it later.

Being a follower of young, and very well accomplished, director Russ Diaper, I could not wait until I got to view this long-awaited film and boy did it not disappoint.

Like his previous film, Deadly Pursuit, this film is shot entirely professional while still retaining some of its proud low budget attributes. The film is basically about this guy (once again it's been a while so the names aren't fresh in my head) who has lost his wife and as a result closes down the hotel that he runs. A little while later he decides to open shop much to his uncertainty. Like every film of this genre he opens the hotel and begins to see some, and I say this with all sincerity, pretty scary things. There is one moment in the film that actually caused me to jump right out of my chair. I won't ruin it for you but it involves a crying baby in the next room, a guy in the other, and the guy goes to investigate the sound and he puts his eyes to the keyhole. Enough said. By far the scariest scene in the whole movie but that's not to say it's the only scare.

I need to re-view the film in order to grasp the full details of this film but the ending was honestly flawless. The scene with the old man speaking to the main character in a room, pitch black, with only the light reflecting off of the old man's eyes as he's explaining everything that is going on is by far the CREEPIEST scene in the movie. There's just something about two characters in the dark revealing all the events of the film with only their eyes showing that give me the willies. The scene, however, with the old man (at least in the cut I watched) chanting to rid the hotel of the evil did run on for a little too long with no cutaways, just a single shot of the old man chanting nonstop. That is my only gripe with the film.

The acting does kinda start off at the beginning a little sluggish with some obvious newbies to the acting world but that doesn't last for very long. I found myself easily drawn into the story because once the very mildly sluggish acting in the beginning evaporated I couldn't take my eyes off the screen.

Now my favorite part of any movie is the score. The score for this film is very very well-done for a guy who wrote, directed, produced, just did about everything for this film in such a short time. I had a rare chance to speak with the director of this film who advised me that the music was done in one or two days. With what was presented in the film I don't see how it was done. There's so many layers and beautiful music pieces in there that should have but didn't take days and weeks and months to complete.

Overall I rate this film an 8/10. This film was definitely an improvement over Mr. Diaper's first directing debut which was very impressive for a first film, but because these are totally different genres and I prefer the horror genre over the whole cop drama genre I prefer this film more. Both are very well-shot and directed so either way you can't go wrong.

Last thing I'd like to note is that the somewhat lacking in realism CGI from DP is missing from this film and that is definitely a godsend because this film does not need it to make it amazing.

If you see this film in stores, online, or wherever, check it out. It's definitely worth a look.

A year after his pregnant wife was brutally murdered, Chris (Russ Diaper) returns to the hotel that they both owned and ran. Not only is the hotel his home and his business, it is also where his wife's murder – at the hands of a psychotic guest – took place. It's not surprising, therefore, that Chris is less than certain that he wants to stay and it quickly becomes apparent that the main thing keeping him here is the encouragement – bordering on pressure – from his brother, Mark (Rami Hilmi), who is keen to see Chris start to rebuild his life.

Not right in the hotel, however, and Chris' initial discomfort at being back starts to give way to the feeling that someone – or something – else is also living in the building… Spirits of the Fall takes a bit of time to get going, largely because of the very exposition heavy dialogue in the initial scenes. A fair chunk of time is spent early on explaining both the set-up and backstory and, given that the nature of the film is also heavily hinted at, much of this explanation feels both leaden and redundant.

That said, the acting is competent throughout and both of the leads do a good job of maintaining the believability of the two brothers at the centre of this film and the relationship between them. And it's this relationship that provides both the initial impetus of the film and the veracity for the characters' reactions.

Where the film really scores strongly, however, is with its atmosphere. The big old hotel (it certainly feels both big and old) in which the film is set is superbly oppressive and this is expertly enhanced both by the darkly ominous cinematography and the excellently chilling soundtrack. When all of this comes together – and it does for most of the running time – the film becomes a genuinely gripping experience that really does take on a life of its own.

Although the plot of Spirits of the Fall relies a little too heavily on convenient characters turning up to explain what is going on, this is a competently told ghost story. But to focus overly on the storyline would be to miss the point which is that this is a film that sets out to unnerve its audience and, when it lets rip with the sounds, the sights and the glimpses of things that shouldn't be there, it succeeds spectacularly.

Writer/director, Russ Diaper has a very strong visual sense and an excellent grasp of how to build a genuinely chilling atmosphere. On the strength of this film, he really is a talent to watch out for.

I can only assume the reviews already on the site are written by relatives or those profiting on the release of the film or I saw a completely different movie then they did.

First tip: When your cast list and production team are made up of the same three people, you're going to have a bad movie no matter what.

I really don't have the time to devote to talk about all the errors and shortcomings this movie has. I wish I did. But I don't think I'll live that long.

The acting is terrible (count how many times the main character, who is also the writer, director and executive producer, grabs his face when he has to display an emotion. I lost count at 50 and the movie wasn't half over), the dialogue is clumsy, the "brothers" seem to be from London AND Italy, characters show up for no reason and add nothing to the story, we have ridiculously long, drawn out scenes that do absolutely nothing for the film, the special effects are a strobe light, a fog machine, and an unfocused camera and worst of all the thing just isn't scary. And this is the EXACT kind of movie that should have scared me.

I gave it two stars because, really, the heart is there. In the end, the movie reaches too far with far too small a budget. I'd really like to see what this writer/director could have produced with adequate funds but this thing was like turd cake. They may have tried making a cake but it's still made from turds.