Backtrack: Les Revenants

The movie does play with expectations, but not in a "wink wink" way, we know you know or anything like that. It does feed into fears and it is very atmospheric to say the least. The main actors help elevate this into territory it might not have gone with lesser talent (no pun intended of course).

The story might be simple (if you look back at it), but it's the way they achieved what they set out to do. A thriller/horror/suspense hybrid, that takes you on a ride, without knowing where it will end and how we got there. There are the occasional jump scares and some might feel cheated by them, but it works all in favor of the movie. I'm not going to talk about the story, because you should dive in and find out, what is going on along with the character, peeling away layer after layer ...

Backtrack starts off setting the mood. From the opening credits and first few minutes you know that Peter Bower (played by Adrien Brody) and his wife, Carol (Jenni Baird) are regaining their footing in life after some terrible incident.

Peter works in some psychiatric capacity, seeing patients. The weather is drab, the routine - taking it's toll, home life is yet in shambles. First cracks start to appear as odd occurrences, then things get progressively more inexplicable and Peter comes to shocking realizations, explanations to which must be sought in his past, back at his home town...

It is rather commendable that Backtrack manages to start off disguising itself as a psychology mystery, but slowly progresses into a cool detective.

I was not a fan of the cheap jump-scares, I would have liked Peter's confusion and anxiety communicated differently. I did, however, thoroughly enjoy the ghost story symbolisms of doors that just won't stay shut, pages that just won't burn etc.

Cinematography in Backtrack is very well done - colors and lighting always play well with the tone of scenes, especially the dark and shadowy beginning portraying hopelessness and brightness in the end signifying new vitality.

The classical score is also to be praised - it works well to accent the continually growing suspense of the story.

The unkempt Brody works extremely well as the morally crushed Peter Bower, definitely matured since the 2005s The Jacket, shining in key scenes like "saying her name" and "after confession". Honorable mention to Robin McLeavy's senior constable Barbara Henning, portraying sensible competence and also managing to be the damsel in distress when necessary.

Backtrack is not perfect. "Some characters were not developed enough" is a legitimate complaint. "That scene did not make sense/was unnecessary" is also an understandable criticism. Nevertheless, the movie does not bore, nor does it get tripped up by it's own flaws on the way of delivering a convincing mystery that always hangs by the last thread to make sense of it all.

8/10, would backtrack again.

OK...before i start on the review itself, i just want to say that i am giving this movie a 7/10 rating. So far this movie has a rating of 5.9 which is a little low in my opinion. The movie itself was very professionally done and the Cgi in the movie...about a minute in all was fairly well done. I went in to the movie hoping Adrien Brody just didn't needed a paycheck...and was very happy he didn't. Don't want to give the spoiler for the movie...just like the other reviewers said. Please give this movie a chance if you are a fan of either horror, mystery or thriller movies. I think you'll be fairly pleased with the movie overall, as there are elements of all three genres in this movie. Hahaha...still thinking about this movie and just wanted to say that its classified under horror. I am a big fan of a good horror movie also..especially...a good jump scare...hehehe. THis movie although short..as you're watching it you will be thinking..OK..i know where this is going...the try for a jump scare is coming right now. This actually keeps happening for a while until you forget about it...because what you think might be a jump scare which you brace for never materializes....UNTIL...BOOMMM!!!. Hahaha...I swear i almost jumped out of my skin. For the reviewer who said it was a good movie with a god-awful ending..how would one close the movie???? There was only 2 ways out of the ending...and...the latter would have been to gloomy indeed, and would have made viewers very uneasy indeed. All in all a very worthwhile watch in my opinion for any fans of a good movie...and how long has it been since Brody made a movie?

I'm one of those people that came close to switching it off, I found the first half of the film excruciatingly boring, I've never watched a horror thriller before and found myself nodding off, with this I did. Possibly because I didn't quite get what was going on with the story, it wasn't explained in any sort of way, which I found frustrating, but once you become involved as a viewer, which is just over half way through, the film becomes gripping, captivating, and thoroughly enjoyable.

Very well acted, Adrien Brody is terrific, as is Sam Neill. Some terrific special effects, and good music, which doesn't overtake the film.

Second watch, and I'll enjoy it all the more.

The only scenario I can think of for this film, imagine being invited to a party where you don't know anyone, half way through you get to know the guests, have a drink, and engage. This film is the same.

Brody is excellent in this. The plot / storyline could have been better but the ambience was good.