Lore

Lore is an average movie, mediocre at best. I wouldn't waste my time on this one if I were you. I did waste my time and I regret it. I was expecting something scary or maybe just a bit weird but it's just a boring story that has no real end, or at least not a satisfying one. A story that could have been interesting for a horror movie but they just failed to create that, instead you get a couple scenes that are a bit intriguing but that go nowhere so what's the point? The acting is okay, the story isn't, a missed opportunity.

"Ann" (Lyndsey Lantz) and "Rich" (Max Lesser) set off into the depths of the wilderness in search of their missing son. They don't have the best of relationships anymore, but luckily encounter a native American who helps focus their efforts and helps them with their search. Along the way, though, twigs start to snap in the night; the animals start to behave quirkily (maybe they've seen the script?) and gradually we begin to realise that they are encroaching on a tribal sanctuary and the spirits ain't happy... There is some lovely photography of the forests, but the story is weak and rambling and their search is completly devoid of any sense of menace. Indeed, neither of them are actually deserving of preservation from whatever it is stalking them, and after about thirty minutes I began to wonder if the son hadn't had the right idea in the first place. Native American folklore must be deserving of better - this is rotten.

I think there are plenty of horror films out there with jump scares and action, action, action to fulfill your needs if you want to turn off your brain and just take a roller-coaster ride. Thankfully too, there are films like Lore that present open ended conceptional horror. These are films have you question what really went on and come up with your own interpretation of events.

Unfortunately, films like this, "Kill List" and "The Void" will never be as popular because we've been conditioned to think that character conversations and endings that challenge your intellect are boring and weak storytelling, a common fault with American audiences who have been trained that films must follow a rigid "beat structure" to be any good. If Lore had been a European film, it certainly would have received much more attention.

If you like to think, give this film a shot.

If you don't, please go see latest Hollywood bing-boom-bang.

This is a movie (unrelated to the series by the same name) about Native American myth. It had many twists and turns, great acting and kept me on the edge of my seat. I could seriously watch this movie a dozen times and still find something I hadn't caught before. Filmed in scenic Idaho, this film is completely recommended!

After going missing while hiking, a boys' parents decide to head out into local Indian tribal land to try to find him but as they and their guide go deeper into the woods for their search they realize they're encroaching on the sacred land of a mystical shapeshifting demon and must try to survive the experience.

There were a lot of enjoyable aspects to this one. The best aspect of this one is the fact that there's a wholly engaging drama throughout the film that carries a fascinating storyline here. The initial idea that he's been lost for a while and that all hope to recover him, featuring the mounting desperation to find him that goes alongside the parents' grief to get him back to reconcile their relationship together in the face of all the surrounding evidence that says he's missing or worse. The parental grief is palpable and relatable enough that their desperation turns to them hiring the tracker and heading out into the wilderness to find him deep in ancient Indian tribal lands. The atmosphere of the woods, while they're out searching for him in the daylight alongside their guide, takes this into a far more horror-inspired direction. From the initial bloody mark on the tree at an impossibly high level, there's a far greater hint of danger and the unknown with the animal noises in the distance, the constant getting sidetracked and venturing off to go find the source or the discovery of the animal carcasses surrounding local Native warnings features a great aura of impending dread. Effectively utilizing a slow-burn atmosphere to slowly build the idea that something's wrong the deeper into the woods they go, the film becomes quite creepy and chilling in this regard. The last half is where the film shines, though. With the parents alone in the strange wilderness alone with little supplies left, the arrival of the Indian girl who leads them incredibly deep into the woods where the elation of his belongings being found turns into grief again with the realization he's still missing is a solid storyline that furthers the exploration of the area in the last half. Exploring the idea of utilizing her grief and anguish as a means of external being constantly one step ahead of her yet always ready to interact and torment her because it can, there's a fantastic symbolism at play here between the freer local way of life and her singular determination to find him, giving the film plenty of likable elements. There's very little to dislike about this one. Among its main problems is a complete lack of focus on the characters at the beginning, switching around each characters' explanations and motivations for continuing. At points, one wants to carry on to find him and drags the other along despite wanting to go back and others the roles are reversed depending on the scene's requirements making for a somewhat wishy-washy narrative that forces the parents to stay out in the woods despite plenty of logical reasoning to leave. Some might find the lack of creature presence an issue based on never getting any kind of clear look at it in any capacity, but based on the symbolic journey attempted here this shouldn't be considered a detrimental factor. Beyond these, the film has plenty to enjoy about it.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Language, Violence and mild violence-against-animals.