Black Hollow Cage

It really is a shame when you see something and see a really good idea behind it ... but as the movie goes on realize that it does not do it justice. It's really a shame and the rating from other viewers seem to confirm that sentiment. We get a drama with Science Fiction and mystery touches. There are quite some neat ideas in this movie, even the "repetitions".

But even when you find out about some of the twists (which in itself are really nice), they never blossom into something bigger. It might have to do with budget restraints or other problems/issues I'm not aware of (maybe producers interfering, maybe the screenwriter and/or the director going off the rails. Whatever the case, this feels very burden and the acting may be decent, but can not save this from falling of the cliff and shattering ... A real shame ...

Black Hollow Cage has a plot plain and simple but subsequently more and more complex and strange ; being shot in a shoestring budget . Concerning a weird happening : a mysterious cubic device that appears as if by magic in the middle of the forest . A girl who lives secluded in a house in the woods with the only company of her father and a wolfhound finds among the trees a large black box without any decoration . Alice, who lives with her father in a modern house, feels that she is trapped and alone in a prison from which she cannot get away , a house with glass and windows like walls that allow you to see from the outside everything that happens inside but that leaves you blind the owner when he looks from inside, especially if it's night, An accident in the past took her mother and left her as a gift the loss of one of her arms that has been replaced by a robotic one. Together with them we find, sharing their lives, a dog with a mechanical voice, thanks to a loudspeaker, whom she calls mom and who replaces the figure of Beatrice. The three will receive the visit of two children, one of them speechless, just at the precise moment when the girl in the long shirts, who uses a considerable number of models throughout the footage , finds the mysterious box that seems to come from the future.

A dull and non-sense plot about a large box that shows up in the forests with no apparent reason and including bizarre inhabitants at an isolated house . This claustrophobic and tiring film was written/produced/directed in very low budget by Sadrac González-Perellón himself . A horror and science-fiction story with time travel that changes the events that happen every minute. The girl's doppelganger and later the father's doppelganger will have to do the rest to disrupt the plans of those children who have sneaked into her life and who have a rather harmful purpose in mind . Like in the work of Michael Haneke's Funny Games, the threat comes from the hands of two strangers who use physical violence as the only weapon to carry out their objective . Two wandering souls in the shape of a child who need affection and who hide evil intentions. Here the words are replaced by written messages that become warnings of what is going to happen, the cries sometimes multiplied reinforce a heartbreaking feeling of loneliness and everything drowns in a deathly silence that runs every meter from that mysterious house with lots of slow-motion scenes and classical music in the background. This disturbing and frightening motion picture with an unknown cast relies heavily on fantastic and creepy events . We don't know whether to say that we are dealing with a suspense movie, a science-fiction feature film or a lyrical drama with hints of Stanley Kubrick. Alice, Erika and even the white wolf-dog are strange beings in motion when they walk through the woods or walk barefoot on the cold ground.

It contains adequate cinematography , as well as suspenseful musical score. Being a main starring of the flick the state-of-art house , a known and ecological mansion located in Girona , Catalonia , Spain. The motion picture was slowlly and strangely directed by Sadrac González-Perellón who uses long scenes with hard and short dialogue , resulting to be sometimes tiring due a its slow pace , though a poetic aesthetic makes it attractive at times . He is a Spanish winner award film director, writer and film producer born in Madrid in 1983. After studying art and drawing, he made several short films and he shoots his first art-house film, Myna has gone (2009). As writer and director he is known for Black Hollow Cage (2017) and as producer for House of Sweat and Tears (2018). And other important shootings : Deathcember 2019 (segment "Kill Santa) and post-production : Asombrosa Elisa (2022) with a great cast as Asier Etxeandia , Ivan Massagué , Silvia Abascal . Sitges welcomed the visit of its director and its protagonist, a Lowena McDonell who was chosen as the best candidate in a numerous casting and now comes to Nocturna, this Black Hollow Cage as a novelty among so many horror films. And it ad several prizes and nominations , such as : Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival 2017 Winner Bucheon Choice Award Jury's Choice for Feature Film Sadrac González-Perellón . FANCINE Festival de Cine Fantastico de la Universidad de Malaga 2017 Nominee Fancine Award - Official Jury Best Film. Fant, Bilbao Fantasy Film Festival 2018 Nominee Jury Prize Best Film . Fantasia Film Festival 2017 Nominee Best International Film Best Feature Film Sadrac González-Perellón . San Sebastián Horror and Fantasy Film Festival 2017 Nominee Grand Prize of European Fantasy Film in SilverSadrac González-Perellón . Sitges - Catalonian International Film Festival 2017 Nominee Best Film Oficial Fantàstic Competition and Oficial Fantàstic Competition, among others.

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Was drawn into seeing 'Black Hollow Cage' with a cool poster/cover, a very intriguing and creative premise and as someone with a general appreciation for horror. That it was low-budget, which from frequent personal experience is rarely a good sign due to that there are so many poor ones out there, made me though apprehensive.

'Black Hollow Cage' is sadly however yet another film seen recently, hence some reiteration because the exact same strengths and flaws those films have are present here, that to me was somewhat disappointing considering its potential which it doesn't do anywhere near enough with. As a film it is actually one of my better and more watchable recent low-budget film viewings though, it's not a great film at all but it is a long way from the mediocre at best and irredeemably awful at worst standard of most recent low-budget viewings, and it could have been so much worse.

Lets start with the positives. The scenery is atmospheric and spooky and 'Black Hollow Cage' is surprisingly well shot. The music is suitably moody and adds a good deal to the atmosphere.

Found too that the acting was not bad, doing their best with disappointingly nowhere near enough material to work with.

Also that there were a few nice twists that intrigued and weren't telegraphed too early.

Unfortunately, the story does feel paper thin, disjointed and over-stretched and some of it feels vague, under-explained in the last third where the film especially became duller, more predictable, more senseless and less scary. It didn't feel properly resolved or like everything tied up. Too many characters are too sketchy and with nowhere near enough to make one want to endear to them. The less said about that weird talking dog the better. The effects are ropy at best.

Dialogue can be stilted and rambling, with lots of clichés and no depth whatsoever (definitely one of the worst assets), while the pace goes to a standstill very quickly and drags with not enough going on worth caring about. Found too many the supposedly shocking moments not surprising or scary and the supposedly creepy atmosphere dreary, due to the excessive obviousness, a lot of dumb and vague moments and explanations and the lack of tension and suspense.

There are a good deal of underdeveloped plot elements and often nonsensical character motivations, while too many of the things to make you jump or shocked are far from creative or scary and are pretty tame. It is completely unimaginative and more odd than creepy, with little sense of horror or urgency. Some badly sagging momentum too. The direction is leaden, inexperience seems to be all over the film. There is little creativity or anything shocking, and it seems to try and incorporate more than one tone and it doesn't always feel very focused tonally.

Other than the script, the sound and editing are the worst assets. The sound is too echoey and often without warning or reason and makes some of the voices sound strange. The editing is haphazard and affects the coherence of some of the goings on and story structure.

In summary, far from great but surprisingly watchable. 5/10 Bethany Cox

By all means, this movie looks beautiful. Every shot is masterfully lit and composed, I just wish they put as much work into the screenwriting as they did the look of the film. Someone really wanted to stretch 30 minutes of film into an hour and a half feature film. I'm not sure who was responsible for the final product more; the director/writer, screenwriter, producers; but whoever it was should step away from film, it doesn't seem to be their calling.

I'm all for a slow burn, tense movie, but there are shots like a closeup of a characters face, just breathing, for a solid couple of minutes. Nothing tense or suspenseful happening, just a solid few minutes with absolutely nothing going on. No one in the film talks faster than a few words per minute, and that coupled with the fact that this movie doesn't have any kind of musical score makes it feel like a three hour movie. It was actually painful to watch and this is the first time in a long time that I regret watching a movie.

Overall cool idea, just wasted on a seemingly inexperienced director/writer/producers. Without all the still shots, slow shots of characters just walking around the house, closeups of characters just breathing; this movie would be about 30 minutes long.

If you have enough interesting ideas for a watchable seven minute short film but decide to stretch it out to feature length by simply directing your performers to "walk down the hallway slower...No, even slower than that." you would probably end up with this film. Other directorial notes must have included "Stare longer"; "Wait longer before you speak"; and "Cross the room as slowly as you can - don't worry we're not cutting away!" For the record I am a fan of the long lingering take; of strange original visions; of movies that want to play with complex themes and concepts. And here they might have been going for all of that, and just stumbling badly in the process. Watching patiently is one thing- suffering pointlessly is another. Full disclosure; I finally shut it off after an hour eighteen but unless there was an epic scene with flying penguins, exploding elephants, and a chorus of dancing robots after that I can think of no reason to have subjected myself to further boredom.