Cruel Peter

There's a lot of potential here with this movie it's got sort of a unique take on the bad child theme it's a combination of the exorcist the omen and a couple other films that deal with similar but it's quite hard to tell what the heck is going on since everything is so dark there are times when there's action happening on the screen and the screen appears to be completely black if this was intentional it was a poor choice it's just so darn I see anything that it's hard to get too involved in it

Cruel Peter is a very flawed film that probably had some potential.

Its upsides are the production quality (except the CGI), music, and a couple of creative scenes.

Everything else is either underdeveloped for reasons unknown or suggests a kind of indifferent attitude towards the film.

For example, the film ignores important details and small things, which, by the way, are the building blocks of a good story. Like accents, looks, and at least, in some sense, some historical background.

The film is also overloaded with scenes that don't contribute to anything, some of these are 2-3 seconds long, and nobody says a word.

The acting wasn't so good either. Probably result in the direction. Richard Armitage-looking lead was constantly overacting, while his daughter mostly looked confused. Good effort by the Italian cast though, I wish the film had more of them.

While the visual style was interesting and added some flavor, for about 80% of the film, you can't even see it too much. The film is very, very dark. You can barely see anything at times. Half of the time, I wasn't even sure if it's day or night in a particular scene.

Overall, if the story was more creative and actually could get me hooked, I could turn a blind eye to the above problems. But in its current state, it just doesn't work.

The film is too dark. Not thematically, not figuratively, but literally *visually* too dark. Everything is too dark. It is so dark that it should be called 'Dark Peter.' The nighttime scenes are too dark; the daylight is too dark; interior and exterior shots alike are equally sodden with a filter of synthetic dusk-like gloom.

Perhaps the grader deliberately made it so dark to hide the plodding story, or the lugubrious tone, or the somnambulant editing. It was nice to see characters using BSL - a shame their doing so was obscured by a permanent shroud of (presumably) unintentional murk.

If you like looking at the world thru tights, or sunglasses at night, or a tea-hued gauze, you might enjoy this. But, even then...

Definitely a slow burn that picks up about an hour in. A possession horror that has sort of a family vibe especially the acting a lot creepier but along the lines of a lifetime movie. But as I said once "Cruel Peter" settles down and that softness dissipates and it really gets kinda creepy. It's sort of by the numbers though albeit a good storyline but heavily stamped with predictability. The special effects are pretty good, not great but between talking and walking rotting corpses, climbing on walls and demons voicing their dismay it should be enough satisfy the hunger for the average horror fan. I should note though that the film also suffers from some iso camera issues too many scenes were a bit too dark to fully enjoy but the effort is widely acceptable. I would recommend this film for mild horror lovers I'm more of a "Hereditary" "Midsommer" or "The Witch" fan so it didn't pierce my fear meter at all but for my mom or a kid under 15 it might be enough to make them reach for the lights.

Cruel Peter: Sicily 1908, Peter is a nasty little git, his rich English mother lets him get away with anything. He slashes a servant girl's face with a razor, tortures animals, buries the dog of tenant boys alive. An incipient serial killer but one of the boys strikes back and buries Peter alive. An Earthquake strikes Messina, thousands are dead, Peter is forgotten about. The present day, a widowed English archaeologist, Norman and his troubled teen daughter Liz arrive in the city. She has interest in occult, has a crystal ball., more like an ouija board and seeks to contact her mother. Norman is excavating a Gothic cemetery when he unearths a box with items belonging to Peter. Liz has visions of Peter, while she sleeps the crystal ball whirls of its own accord. Instead of her mum she summons up cruel peter! We get poltergeist effects, personality changes, hands emerging from a sink, ghosts, local peasant superstitions, a scary caretaker, witchcraft, necromancy. The Gothic cemetery is quite impressive, especially the creepy crypts.and great cinematography, mostly in dark or shadows.A slow paced and moody Gothic tale which doesn't quite achieve everything it apparently sets out to but certainly a passable horror film. 6/10. On Netflix