Archons

If you standard of quality for monster movies worth watching is nothing less than that of Aliens, then Archons will disappoint. If you are more laid back about such matters, this movie is fine entertainment. The four principle characters are interesting, each in a unique way, and chemistry between them is quickly established. All this helps a viewer care what happens to them, which is important for maintaining interest during the first 40 minutes, when the story is developing a bit slow as they canoe down a Canadian river.

Special mention should also be made of Cameron Tremblay's work with lighting and colors. His efforts really helped establish an ominous ambience right from the start.

I'm actually kind of annoyed. At the beginning of the film I said "wow even if nothing happens I could look at the scenery the whole time and still be pleased." That is until I started really desiring to know the whole mystery and honestly there was no actual ending. There was no question answered. The movie made no sense, the characters were terrible actors and their interactions more frustrating than not knowing what was happening in the storyline. I'm pretty lenient with movies but this was just a very pretty turd. Gorgeous scenery, the characters seemingly looked their parts, it should've been fairly easy but no. The effects were terrible too, from the monsters to the headless wooden dummy sitting in the shower. Yeah I saw that wooden hand, we all did.... Disappointing considering the director previously made a movie alot of people really likes. I expected better. And you should too. Very slow burn, very frustrating to watch.

Nick Szostakiwskyj's previous film, "Black Mountain Side" remains one of my favorite horror movies of the past decade, it is atmospheric, scary and interesting, so I was really excited to watch "Archons" and it was a big disappointment. Compared to the previous film, it is a huge falling. I don't know what happened but the writing is bad, the script is terrible and in the end, it doesn't make any sense. Every aspect of the film looks amateurish, and this is not to blame on the low budget, because Black Mountain Side is also low budget and is professional and serious. The look of the "creatures" is laughable, but the fact that they did not use CGI is something to praise. Other than that, there are no good points to talk about, just a big disappointment.

Archons is a psychological thrilller / horror that picks up the 'tried and true' theme of something lurking in the woods. The movie starts with a 35 minute slow burn where characters are developed. The story revolves around a three member band that was a borderline one-hit wonder years ago. They head off on a five day canoe/hike trip - you guessed it - deep into the woods. The upper Canadian Rockies in this case. The purpose is a spiritual journey to inspire their guitarist song writer's mental block. And like any credible rock band, they have enough drugs to fill a pharmacy. The lead vocalist - like any credible rock star - picks up a groupie as well along the way.

It then becomes apparent that something(s) are watching them. Ironically, the only time they are aware of being watched, however, is when they are high on acid. So the blur between real and 'not real' is central. The acting wasn't bad. But the plot moved.in a disjointed fashion and the last 10 minutes made little sense. As for the things in the woods - well, B-budget shines through there sadly. I feel like the movie could have been cool - but ended up falling flat.

I usually rate movies worse than the IMDb rating, this is one of the more glaring exceptions. I liked Black Mountain Side from the director and this one is in the same slow building atmospheric Lovecraft subgenre. It's not perfect, actors and pacing could have been better, but Szostakiwskyj creates a one of a kind mood, I very much enjoy, especially in the later half of the movie. I really hope we get more films of this kind from him!