Revenant

I've been reading some of these reviews and I'm wondering if they are about the same movie I've just seen On Demand. My review may not be as fancy as some of the one's I've just read but I'm someone who likes ghost stories and I really liked this movie.

I first saw the trailer for this movie on You Tube last year and it really peaked my interest. You can imagine my surprise when it popped up On Demand under a different name. I did a little research and found out this is a real little gem.

It's hard to believe they made this movie for the budget they said. Maybe it's some Hollywood thing to create a buzz about how little or how much you spend. I thought the acting was as good as any mainstream movie I've seen. There is one special effect I'm sure cost more than what their budget would allow, it was that good. Did it scare me? I can honestly say I had a pillow up to my face more than once, and a yell or two came out. Someone else reviewed Blair Witch was better. I couldn't watch Blair Witch because it made me nauseous from the hand held camera. I didn't have any problem with this film.

I'm going to be following these guys to see what other movies they come out with. I've already ordered my copy from Amazon for my collection. Should I have given them a 10? The reality of it is, only Stephen King gets a 10. (I wrote two reviews of this because the first disappeared on me. If they both show up, that's why.)

My husband and I enjoy horror movies and can only watch the great and good ones so many times. In our 50's we have also exhausted the viewing of OK ones as well. So we started watching ones we have never heard of and frequently have to turn them off because they are just....soooo....bad.

We had pretty low expectations because the casting was by one of the actors who was also one of the producers. The writing was not great and some of those supporting actors were terrible (Sorry "landlord" but the untucked shirt and accent was pretty bad.)

However, the acting from the main character and the two featured women was pretty good and at times, great. The movie had quite a few scares that make me jump.

While this isn't going to be your go-to ghost story, it was definitely worth watching if you have been through all the studio released files.

Well, "Revenant" (aka "An American Ghost Story") isn't likely to knock "Poltergeist" of the throne in the haunting/ghost genre. So was it a bad movie? No, I wouldn't exactly call it bad, I would merely call it mediocre and rather uneventful compared to other movies in the haunting/ghost genre.

The story in "Revenant" is about a couple moving into an allegedly haunted house where a man killed his wife, his children and then taking his own life. There is an oppressive tension in the house as they spend their first night there. Slowly, but gradually, more things start to happen, and as the events escalates, it becomes too much for Stella (played by Liesel Kopp) and she leaves Paul (played by Stephen Twardokus) in the house alone. Determined to research into the subject more thoroughly for his book, Paul starts to get into contact with the spirits that is haunting the house.

For a haunting/ghost movie there weren't really anything overly impressive about the movie. There were no dazzling CGI effects. Sure, this was a fairly low budget, and I will say that director Derek Cole actually managed to pull it off quite nicely with the budget. The effects were actually quite good, despite not being those dazzling CGI effects. I especially enjoyed the scene with the bed sheet where Paul was trying to find the haunt in the living room.

There were some good shocks in the movie, not because they were ghastly or creepy, but because they were nicely timed with the build up and the music/sound effects. You will not be scared senseless after having seen the movie, but your heart will skip a beat or two along the way.

Storywise, then "Revenant" wasn't particularly impressive, and it did survive given the build up of suspense and thrills with some great climatic shocks, and also a good music score. But storywise, then it was generic and stereotypical for the haunting/ghost genre.

As far as character build and development goes, then this movie only concentrated about the Paul character. Stella came and went in the blink of an eye, and I wonder how come she didn't call Paul back as she said she would. I was waiting for her to return throughout the entire movie. But she just didn't do so.

And if you are in a haunted house and spooky things are happening around you, why don't you just use common sense and turn on the light in the room? But no, apparently the Paul character didn't possess that kind of logical thinking, better to stumble around in the darkness when there was a malignant entity in the house as well. That just makes sense.

"Revenant" is good fun for an evening where you watch some ghost movies, however, the movie just doesn't have the contents to support more than a single viewing.

I rented this movie the other night. I hadn't heard of it so I had absolutely no expectations. From the opening credits it was obvious this was going to be a little low-budget indie flick. It turned out to be a very low key little ghost story with a really small storyline, tiny cast and no special effects.

A writer named Paul and his girlfriend Stella move into a house that is rumored to be haunted. Paul wants to use his experiences in the house as the basis for a book. Stella skips out at the first sign of ghosts, but Paul stays on, determined to finally finish something for once in his life. As the incidents escalate, Paul seeks out information from former tenants in order to validate what he is experiencing and finds only one who is willing to speak with him, a woman named Sue. It's obvious that Sue's been through hell, judging from the fact that she's a nervous, twitchy mess.

As small a movie as this one is, made on what must have been a shoestring budget, it still managed to deliver the scares. As for the use of the sheets, was it cheap and kind of dopey? Absolutely. But when you have no money in your budget for makeup, you do what you can. And it was still fairly effective nonetheless. And the right musical chord at just the right time goes a long way in delivering a good old fashioned jolt.

"An American Ghost Story" is a film about a couple who move into a supposedly haunted house where a family had been killed years before. The main character is an aspiring writer that wants to write a book about and paranormal activity he may experience in the house.

I would give this one a 6 1/2. If you are looking for top Hollywood style horror you probably would skip this one. IMDb has this one listed with an estimated budget of around $10k, That being said it did get the best bang for the budget, and beats out a lot of movies with much loftier budgets. I give it a 6 and not in a bad way.

The script was pretty weak, and the dialog at times was just plain bad. The effects were decent. There was some "make you jump" moments. All in all, if you are into low budget films not too bad. Derek Cole, the Director deserves some props for putting this out on the shoe-string budget, and given a robust one could most likely turn out some good movies in the future.