The Reeds

Not so much a film as another painfully lacklustre reminder of the uninspired state in which the once-great UK horror scene is currently languishing. The first two failings of this excursion into lukewarm waters are casting a Craig David lookalike with the acting ability of a four year old, and casting an actor who is best known for his long standing roles in the cursed training grounds of Hollyoaks and Two Pints. Not a good move to miscast your lead roles with these two. The third is leaning way too heavily on location for effect, which quite clearly highlights the lack of effort put into the plot and script. The Fens are actually a very original and genuinely creepy setting for a horror film; just not this one. Acting talent from the female cast members doesn't offer much either, and britflick regular Geoff Bell hamming his part up to the hilt only adds to the comical side of things. Overall a vague mess of a movie. Triangle did more or less the same story, but a little better. My advice to budding UK horror writers is to aim for something different. Seriously people... Nobody cares anymore about photogenic city types getting into trouble in the countryside.

A horror that looks like high-grade 1980s output, which made it spooky and nostalgic in equal measure - the 16mm explains the nostalgic bit.

On the positive, the young main characters are attractive - I dug Laura (magazine girl Anna Brewster) and her Kate Moss delivery - very London - and the set up is nicely done, hinting at yikesy things to come, which they do.

On the negative side, I wasn't really sure about the movie's central message, but I did like the hook - yes, there is a comparison to Triangle definitely, but this is different again.

I'd say that this is not a wide theatrical release type movie but that it's pretty good and quite creepy watching it late at night within the comfort of your own home. Most of the acting makes it feel very natural, very real, and you can (if you shut your eyes and click your heels three times) almost imagine yourself there in amongst those razor-sharp greeny reeds wondering where everyone else is...

What the hell was this? this movie had so much different vibes going on that it leaves you only with empty plots, hallucinations,dead people coming back to life, a guy going around shooting a bunch of wild teens, they come back in the picture, skeletons in the water, a complete mash up of a movie, sort of the movie triangle but even more mind blowing, in a bad way. you will try to make sense out of the story but there's nothing making any sense,it started good and introduces the main characters well and ends up in a waste of time. The only thing going well for the movie was the acting the rest was a total flop. And the way it all ends just makes the scar even bigger, because when you thought it was already a waist of time it really continues to keep putting you off even by the ending. all in all 1 out of ten just for the acting.

As usual some of these reviews seem placed by people attached to the project! There's a lot of Love or Hate hmmmm. This is often the case with these lower budget films but...

For what its worth, this is a solidly performed low budget horror with a less than solid conclusion. The journey is fun to watch and compelling although the cinematography is slightley dated.

For high-end scares / gore / violence (those things you expect from indie horror) you may find this lacking. But then so are most big budget Hollywood offerings.

If you like the genre, this is far from the worst flick out there. Worth a spin. ******

I stumbled across this recently on Lovefilm and it seemed an interesting idea. The cast is pretty natural and includes the always watchable Will Mellor. The characters are thankfully quite likable which is rare for a horror movie and makes you care more about what happens to them.

The setting on the Norfolk broads is stunning and quite eerie which is of a huge benefit to the film. It's certainly not a place you'd want to be stranded.

This isn't an out and out horror more of a ghost story but there is a nice air of tension built up throughout and some creepy scenes. You will probably guess what's going on from a long way out but it's handled so well it doesn't really matter.

For a film with a very modest budget this is an impressive effort and I found it very enjoyable.