The Divide

Im not sure why some people here have given The Divide one star. One person even called it torture porn (Im not sure how many movies this reviewer has seen but I reckon he certainly doesn't know what the torture porn genre looks like). I cant say it was an "art" movie either which has been indicated (by some) for some reason. The Divide is an apocalyptic tale based on the aftermath of the destruction of NYC by nuclear attack and how a few survivors, sheltering in a basement of a building, slowly fall apart as their grim situation becomes apparent. As already stated, the acting is quite good for the most part, and as the movie develops some scenes will be a little unsettling for some but its all in the vein of the story. I enjoyed it immensely, all the more so for not hearing of the movie anywhere in the media. At the beginning it seemed as if it would just be another load of emotional drama loosely attached to the apocalyptic situation above (something which plagues TV series like The Walking Dead (just not enough zombies for me, and far too much chitty chat) but it soon became apparent that this was not the case. The Divide descends into a dark hell of humanities worse attributes and two characters in particular cause the viewer to cringe as they play out their terrible roles. All in all, The Divide was excellent, and any mockers here really should stick to movies polished and shined by the big Hollywood multiplex puppetmasters. This ones recommended by me.

Be warned. This is not an easy movie to watch. It's the story of a group of people who have survived a nuclear attack and are sealed up in an underground bunker. Essentially that's the story, with one minor (as it turns out) addition that presents a problem with the movie as I'll note later. It's not pleasant to watch. Basically, the group, suffering from radiation poisoning and closed off from everything except each other, starts to go mad; more and more deranged with the passage of time - turning on each other without mercy, in at least one particularly disturbing subplot, a couple of men using one of the female survivors as a sexual toy. I say again - it is not a pleasant movie to watch. Disturbing and at times quite gory. Not for those easily offended.

However, if you can get over the uneasy squeamishness that the story brings forth - it's not bad. There's even a sort of uneasy reality to it. After all, how would any of us survive or even hold it together in the same circumstances. Nothing that happens here seems beyond the capacity of normal human beings as time passes in this situation. That's probably the most disturbing thing about this. It's not impossible to read yourself into this situation and wonder whether you could handle it any better.

The performances from the cast were decent. I was familiar with Lauren German as paramedic Leslie Shay on the TV show "Chicago Fire" - but in all honesty I didn't recognize her as Eva, who's probably the main character in this movie. But she, along with everyone else in the cast, did a fine job in their roles - perhaps a bit over the top at times, but that seemed in keeping with the basic story and dilemma that characters were facing. The ending of the movie was kind of unexpected and incredibly sobering as well in the last scene, looking out at the nuclear-devastated skyline of the city.

The one part of the movie that confused me and in the end that seemed unnecessary was the "lab" up above and the "soldiers" (if that's what they were) that raided the bunker and carried off young Wendy. I didn't think it added anything to the story aside from a few minutes of suspense that weren't really necessary to add, and, in the end, it was left hanging. What was the purpose of the lab? Who was running the lab? I've seen speculation in some of the other reviews on here, but I don't believe anything definitive was ever stated in the movie. As far as I know it was just left hanging - open to speculation, I suppose, but with nothing definitive to base the speculation on.

Again - it's unpleasant, disturbing, gory. It's a very dark exploration of human psychology. And yet I found it quite riveting. (7/10)

After the first 20 minutes I would have given The Divide a 1/10. The characters are cliché and the dialogue is so cringeworthy that any self-respecting horror lover would quickly roll their eyes.

So I stopped the movie. I could've sworn I'd seen very good comments about the fil here on IMDb. I flipped open my laptop, re-read some of the reviews and sure enough, they were mostly positive.

Weird. Rarely a mention of the laughable acting and joke of a script. I decided to watch on.

It suddenly got better. The acting remained appalling but they introduced a sci-fi element that was kind of cool. The intensity ramped up and I became locked into the film. I watched it through to the end. All the way 'til the end of the credits. I was left with this very bad feeling. Very bad indeed. I guess it reminded me of being a scared kid. I'm not talking about my-brother-freaked-me-out-on-Halloween scared, I'm talking about I-saw-my-neighbour-drown-a-bunch-of-puppies-in-a-barrel scared.

Remember when you were seven years old? Did you ever see something you were much too young to see? Remember that feeling? Scared and a bit ashamed? Seeing something you're just not emotionally mature enough to handle? Remember how your heart raced?

Did you ever want to un-see something? I want to un-see The Divide.

One part of me wants to rate it a zero. But I'm a horror fan and it scared me, riveted me. How can I rate it less than a six? I would prefer I never saw the movie. So perhaps that makes it 'good', I'm not sure. It depends. I mean horror is supposed to freak you out. And it really has some original story elements. I suppose I respect it. Bottom line, it gave me nightmares. How can give a horror film that gave me nightmares less than a six?

Having said all that, every copy of this film should be incinerated and the ashes buried somewhere in the arctic tundra, away from people.

Some films require you to commit. Some demand a hefty price. For The Divide, it's a price that must be paid in advance and there are no refunds.

I don't know why this rating is so low. If you like the dark side of humanity you will love this. It's totally believable and a great take on humanity at its lowest as opposed to the happily every after commercial stuff.

I don't usually write reviews but I found this movie deserved one. I am a fan of the apocalyptic "end of the world" type movies so I gave it a try. The acting is phenomenal, great actors and they all play their roles so well. Some disturbing scenes, but I found it to be a realistic idea of the human nature in a life or death situation & how our true nature may possibly reveal itself. The divide is intriguing & kept me watching, not a movie I'd suggest before bed, I watched it once, don't think I will again, but worth the watch.