Reunion

This is actually not as bad as the rating. It felt a little cheaply made as if they lacked budget, but overall the story was pretty alright. It's not really a horror movie, more like a mystery-drama about a strange family. The house was really eerie and I enjoyed the atmosphere it gave the movie. The ending was a little rushed but the small twist wasn't bad. I feel like it just needed to run maybe 10 or 15 more minutes to properly flesh it out. Overall it's a decent, slow movie but with a great atmosphere and creepy setting, and a decent intrigue. The main actress was pretty good. Definitely not a bad movie, I liked it, just don't go in expecting something scary.

A dismal movie that some may call a slow burn. I just call it "boring".. The entire premise of the film is to established a final showdown between mother and daughter.. And when it came it's totally dulled by imagery and more flashbacks, as if we didn't have enough of those already.. Both actresses did a fine job with the mess they were handed but just couldn't overcome it..

Clearly the goal here was to get someone to call it "arthouse" (a term I despise because it implies not all movies are art) and like so many before it, takes some ideas that sound fine on paper but collapses under the weight of its own ambition.

Major Persona and Eraserhead vibes: the former in the way that the visualization was pretentiously permitted to eclipse the subject in a way that was comedic (the screen warps likes its a well used VHS). The latter in how the line between dreams and reality are (admittedly quite admirably) blurred along a theme of maternity.

This theme is fact is really used to beat you over the head, I thought the intermittent slides and lectures ultimately added nothing and where just the writers' lazy way to try and push their own obsessions onto a story that really wasn't made to convey them.

There is a smart story here somewhere. While the main focus is on a family visit that totally reminds us why we don't go home for Christmas anymore, flashbacks gradually piece together a much more intriguing story of sororal jealousy and parental manipulation.

Often melodramatic and sometimes even soapy, I want to give credit to an audacious attempt to not just be another paint by number family drama or teen scream. It tries to sort of have elements of both but even the passion clearly put into this work was not enough.

Fascinating in its own way just as much for what doesn't work for what does, I suspect if you saw it with someone you could talk about it for a while.

Super dysfunction junction going on in this mess that calls itself a family.. Movie was slow for 1st hour and started to feel like torture. But I wanted some answers to all the weird poop they showed us, strange images, creepy old drawings, flashbacks, weird black ooze, no packing skills at all. The last 25 minutes is probably best part of movie, but still left me with a ton of questions about that room and its contents. How was the mom planning to pack that hot mess up??? :o I felt sorry for Cara and then Ellie, but the parents can go straight to Hell for all I care. The 2 female leads did give great performances, but the movie is just all over the place, too many questions unanswered, and I wanted to hear the lecture they kept running in the background, but I may have well been listening to Charlie Brown's teacher because it was impossible to get more than a snippet or two of what was being said. I'm sure there are people who enjoy this style of story telling, but Most people won't. I have to say Pass on this or if you watch and get bored about 30 mins in to it, fast forward to last 25 mins and you will get as much information as watching the whole thing. If it was arranged differently, it might have been kinda good. I gave it 2 stars for the female leads and 2 stars for the cool old house and that ROOM! :O

I've enjoyed some New Zealand horror films in the past, so while I wouldn't say my expectations for 'Reunion' were high, there was certainly some reason for optimism. Sadly it was ill-founded optimism. This film took about 85 minutes to get out of first gear. There were times when I was wondering whether I had looked up the wrong film. The film I was supposed to be seeing was supposedly a horror (or at least a mystery/thriller) movie. This felt like an extended episode of 'Shortland Street' (a local soap-opera).

I had actually seen the trailer for this film before going in, something I try to avoid for movies if I can. It hadn't looked great in the trailer, but I was hopeful they'd left the best bits out. In actuality I couldn't tell you what the best bits of this film were. It was all very repetitive and dull. The highlight package was limited. It wouldn't have been an easy film to make a trailer for.

The film tries to do some damage control at the end and throw a shocking twist at us, but by then I had checked out and no longer had enough investment in the story to care. Also the way they presented the finale was quite bizarre. It just didn't work for me. I'm sad to say that 'Reunion' was a misfire and not one I would recommend.