Siembamba

I don't watch horror movies expecting a great story. I expect to be entertained, disturbed, frightened and disoriented. This movie did all of that.

Without spoiling too much, the main character (Chloe) returns to her hometown, struggling with her own emotions after bearing a baby she does not seem to want initially. she begins to see very strange and horrific things after moving back into her home. This is exacerbated by the presence of her mother (Ruby) and her shrink (Dr. Timothy Reed), whose competence and ethics was questionable throughout the movie.

The cinematography is very well-done. I was not at all disappointed with the way the film was shot. Although, the story does not have to be great in a horror movie, but as with most movies, the story ought not be overly confusing and vague. While watching this film I get the sense that sometimes, the incoherent story was written this way intentionally. Vagueness and open-endedness is great for a horror movie, but I felt that it was not executed smoothly in this one.

The actors did an excellent job, especially Reine Swart (Chloe) and Brandon Auret (Timothy Reed). The only black spot was Adam Hess, who played Chloe's love interest. He was dull and uninteresting throughout the entire movie and seemed to serve no relevant purpose. Chloe does an excellent job portraying a disturbed and distraught new mother. The supporting characters all seemed to have their own agendas, and trying to find out what those agendas were, kept me interested up until the end. As for Chloe, the movie kept me thinking whether she was hallucinating, or whether she was experiencing something paranormal (or even both at different times).

In the end, I would recommend giving this movie a watch if one has time to spare. The movie kept me uncomfortable and curious throughout the entirety of the movie up until the ending, which is what you want in a horror flick. The final scene caused me shock (in a good way) but unsatisfied due to how the story unfolded towards the end. Most of the characters had a lot of layers, and the intentions of the supporting characters were unclear even until the end if one does not do a bit of thinking of their own. Be warned, this movie contains some disturbing gore.

This was not a forgettable movie in the slightest. In fact, some scenes will haunt your memories for days to come. However, due to the unsatisfying ending and the overly confusing nature of the plot, it keeps me from giving it anything higher than a 6 out of 10, which makes this a passably entertaining, yet unfortunately flawed film.

I do love watching horror movies, and I must admit that this 2017 horror movie titled "The Lullaby" (aka "Siembamba") was alluring. So I picked it up and gave it a chance, without knowing who was in the movie or what the movie was about. Yeah, I was sold by the movie's cover alone.

Turns out that this movie was a massive swing and a miss from director Darrell Roodt, and it utterly failed to entice or entertain me. I managed to endure just about 30 minutes of the ordeal that is "The Lullaby" before I turned it off and gave up. Nothing had happened, nothing of any worth or any entertainment value. The movie's storyline was just so unfathomably slow paced that it was a drag to sit through.

It should be said that the acting performances, from what I saw, was adequate, especially when you take into consideration the appalling lack of a proper script and storyline, which serves as an anchor around the performer's legs.

I have zero interest in returning to watch the rest of "The Lullaby" ever. It just failed to provide any kind of enjoyable entertainment for me. I've watch many, many horror movies, but this was simply just a waste of time.

My rating of "The Lullaby" lands on a two out of ten stars. It scores two given the production value of the movie. The rest of the contents weren't exactly lifting the movie upwards.

The Lullaby otherwise known as Siembamba (For some reason) is a horror title with themes we've seen many times before.

It tells the story of a girl who moves back in with her mother after giving birth to her first child. She's immediatly plagued by visions and begins fear some entity is after her newborn.

Sadly this movies near exact plot has been done before, you'll see the "Twist" coming very early on primarily because it's recycled.

It looks creepy to it's credit and I love that cover art but beyond that there is absolutely nothing going for the film. I knew from the outset what was going on, how the movie was going to play out and what the big "Shocking" finale would be.

It's 2017 where are the new ideas people?

The Good:

Cool cover

Looks the part

The Bad:

Seen it all before

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

Does mental illness come from having a child or do you need to be mentally ill to have one in the first place?

Even a non-parent like me recognises that leaving a baby alone with her is a bad move

I am well aware of what postpartum psychosis is and this is a really good depiction of it. This movie is more of a psychological horror than a full on jump scare horror. The mental illness was shown very well and for that I'm glad.

I feel like this would have benefited with better talent attached to it. I would have much rather it be a drama/thriller. To me all the demonic haunted house delusions, weaken what could have been. the lead actress looks like barbra palvin