O Estranho Habitante: The Strange Inhabitant

The movie's narrative is uncomplicated and relatively straight-forward: A knight called Joseph his sent on a holy mission by the bishop to return a stolen artifact, that belong to the templar order, but what he will find on his way is lots of turks and creatures, that work on their own evil doings, he and his fellow knights will be tested in faith and honour by the path they choose, the creature that hides in the shadows is very well done, pratical effects rule here.

I think the inhabitant is a very dark creature that needs to have more movies, it´s on the say path as the nun, the effects are a little cheesy, but they don´t hurt the movie, as the story itself gives the audience what they want.

As for me, i´ll give it an 8.

The character of the inhabitant is one for the ages, i really like it at all, he doesn´t have much time on screen, but when he appears, he makes a terrifiying entrance that will haunt your dreams, he´s that creepy.

Now for the story, we got a templar knight on mission to retrieve an ancient object, that has a curse attached to it, the inhabitant, so in the wrong hands, the inhabitant awakes to kill all that touches it.

The templar knight travels from town to town searching for the object only to find a trail of blood left by the creature until the final showdown between them.

This movie is made on low budget, and we can see that, but the story pulls us in, and we are attracted to the path of the knight to retrieve it.

I´m giving this an 8 for the effort of the telling not only a good dark tale, but fill it with a real menacing creature.

The movie gets really interesting around the midpoint. The first half of it prepares you for what´s coming, we get to know the characters and feel confortable with them, then the story begins to unfold and this is when the action starts.

The second half is much more intense paying off some story aspects.

This is an intriguing horror, the pulls us in, and never let´s go.

This is what I call a good movie, it´s fresh and new, and we get this feeling that the inhabitant is always present in Joseph´s journey to confront him.

There are creepy moments most of them without gore.

The direction is tight and the cast works well within the story.

The cinematography is also impressive.

So i´m ready for more, if there´s a sequel down the line.

Rui Constantino´s vision for this movie, allows him to create atmospheres that fully immerse you in his selected and unique dark twisted tale.

It would be impossible to talk about this film without acknowledging how well-budgeted it is. The ammount spent on the creation of the environment that truly feels set in the dark times, with sets and costumes that are tangible, it does not feel like a low budget independent production for a second.

I absolutely love films that have to do with biblical themes and ideas, whether literally as they do here, or metaphorically and thematically.

Great, tight, and unknown cast, everyone brought forth the necessary emotions that raised the tensions to a maximum by the end if it.

This is how it´s done an 8 for me.

With a cast comprised of screen veterans and relative newcomers, this movie brings sorcery, dark powers and true nobility will keep you on the edge of your seat from beginning to end. After a gripping prologue which establishes the legend of the inhabitant, we see our hero travel to dark land in search of the relic that the creature has in his powers killing some turks to get it.

These moments, however, lend a much-needed lightheartedness to a movie that keeps your heart pounding almost nonstop, and the caliber of the acting and directing keep it from going over the edge.

It's not the standard winter movie fare, perhaps, but it's definitely spellbinding.