Coisa Ruim

Coisa Ruim is, indeed, a movie that makes us believe that the Portuguese film industry is finally reaching for the audience, without compromising the quality of their productions.

I think enough was said here about this movie's main theme and plot, so I'll just emphasize (in my opinion) its main positive/negative aspects:

+ acting was well above average + beautiful photography and careful set selection + simple interesting plot understandable by all (not like most Portuguese movies)

• over-articulated dialogs, sometimes people seem to talk like if they all add degrees - too much usage of focus/defocus effects (it becomes a bit boring...) - over-saturation of the image, sometimes you can tell it was really sunny when the scene was shot, but in order to maintain the dark tone in the movie you get over-saturated colors and too much contrast

All in all, a good movie. A promising debut for this two directors, and a new breath for Portuguese movies.

A man brings his wife and kids to their ancestral home in a superstitious village…

As soon as the movie began, it was clear writer Rodrigo Guedes de Carvalho was going to exploit all the trappings of his culture. Roman Catholicism, possession, exorcism, village mentality versus city dweller mode of thinking, spiritualism, ghosts, family and superstition versus reality all come into play. The only problem is that we've seen these stories unfold in horrors repeatedly from a slew of other Western, as well as Asian, nations.

He does one thing, however, that is wonderful. The stereotypical villages that tell the city folk they don't belong – or hate them outright – isn't necessarily prevalent. Thankfully, with that hackneyed element not in the picture, I was able to indulge.

The acting was fairly strong, especially by Adriano Luz and Sara Carinhas, though Manuela Couto succumbed to be being far too melodramatic. The story maintained a solid pace with exceptional cinematography by Victor Estevão, capturing the atmosphere of the Monteiro homestead as beautifully as he did the lush countryside. Sadly, suspense and scares were sorely lacking and the end came as no shock.

Tag team directors Tiago Guedes and Frederico Serra have definite talent, and I hope they pick a stronger tale for their next outing.

A great movie, with suspense all the time. A story or legend typically Portuguese we many believe and others claim to have seen something spooky roaming through their skin when he sees the typical environments of the mountain, dark and full of mysticism!

Something different from the typical American movies, where the bloody wave and almost ridiculous scenes will take you to see the rest of the movie!

In Bad Thing, the simplicity of the actors and the extraordinary representation of some actors little known in Portugal, are the delights of the old suspense, the stories are typical of mountain, gaming spiritualism typical still in Portuguese villages, of which many will laugh and others much respect ... ---- If you want to see a thriller until the end no doubt see BAD THING!

It is indeed an amazing film! Saying that the film photography is 'perfect' is not enough! The story is very interesting and we can experience a very good acting from all the actors and actresses throughout the film. The fear provoked by the film is based on simple things, which in my opinion is the best, not like extravagant special affects like American or English films. This is a fine example of the power of the Portuguese film industry and very good professionalism! This is another example among many others of good cinema made in Portugal, it deserves to be seen all around the world!

About many other comments about this film...I don't agree with them obviously! Many of them were wrote for Portuguese people with small minds with the ridiculous idea of "what is Portuguese is bad", It is just sad...

Still a great film! Hope you watch it!

Ruben

This movie had so much potential... I really don't know what to say, because on the first minutes I was so captivated, I thought that this was it!: Portuguese cinema took a giant leap, and who could have guessed, on the suspense/horror/supernatural genre! The photography was top notch I'd say, and the sound, the acting... all these technical elements brought to life a simply Portuguese rural town with a creepy, eerie atmosphere. Still, it seems that the people behind this project didn't go beyond that! The story seems interesting enough in the first minutes, but then it just keeps dragging on! No real scary scenes at all! And the ending? It was predictable (sorry, it was! Everything pointed out to that one character I won't mention here), and it just didn't justify the time wasted on the movie.

Overall: technically good, but too dull and dead to even recommend someone to see it. I'm really sad, because I'm still waiting for the big jump of the Portuguese cinema... and this one was not it.

Next time, try to focus more on the story.