Flora

A team of students enter a forest and find the professor they were expecting to meet mysteriously missing.

This is an ecological thriller that has some surface similarities to The Happening. It's set in 1929, which raised my hopes a bit that it would have Lovecraftian elements, but the most you really get are a few shots of Weird Tales magazine. Lovecraft had such anxiety issues that he probably would have freaked out about some of the stuff in this movie, though.

The students have a party but eventually become worried about their missing professor. There's some credibly creepy stuff that goes on here, but you'll have to sit through some bad acting and less than stellar writing before you hit it. Once the characters finish yelling at each other and start acting more mature, it gets better.

Stranding some scientists in a remote location is reasonably Lovecraftian, or at least reminiscent of John Carpenter. However, it's a pretty location, not a desolate one, which makes turning it scary a bit harder. I couldn't place the forest, but the credits say it's in Quebec. They were going for beautiful but dangerous, which I think kind of worked.

One thing I definitely liked was the music, which I thought it was done quite well. The only problem was that it didn't always match what I thought the mood should have been. It was also a bit odd to see someone carrying around a phonograph and his record collection. But, whatever, the music was good.

I never realized there were so many thrillers and horror movies set in forests until recently. It seems like I'm hitting a lot of them randomly on streaming services. This wasn't the best one, but I liked it despite the occasional bad acting.

What we have here is a new director, a fresh cast and a commendable effort on their part to produce and create something basically entirely themselves. I mean when you see that the actors are also credited as the executive producers and fill several other roles in the production of the film you know it means this is a passion project for them and to me that is worthy of praise and commendation. As in twelve wins and ten nominations worth of praise and commendations including best picture, best director, best score and many other categories from several noteworthy film festivals (don't take my word for it you're already reading this on IMDB just look for yourself)

Will it compare to a AAA blockbuster with A-list celebrities and a massive Hollywood budget? No, but to me they came very close for their directors first real go of it and considering the short list of filmography history for these Actors and Actresses I am actually very impressed with them all. So please, go into this with an open mind and appreciate it for what it is, a young director and a relatively new acting team producing an idea and executing it with passion.

Oh, and many kudos to Nathan Prillman for such an amazing score. I'm looking forward to seeing the director's future endeavors and am happy to see young blood making moves in the industry.

It would be nice if people rated the film on its own merits in their own view as opposed to looking at an overall score, and deciding it's too high or too low and then overcompensating. I'm sure there must be a whole treatise on how to rate a movie, or how movies are rated by a voluntary self-ordained community.

That being said, I think this film is underrated. But instead of giving it a ten, I truly feel I've rated it fairly. The trailer intrigued me. Success in the trailer, though many bad films have great trailers. While the film may not capture the true period in props, or 'expected gender roles/attitudes' it does a great job in its consistency. Some of the acting felt like acting, but then again some of The people I encounter in my daily interactions are just as flat and stilted.

There is definitely tension, and an air of mystery, and anticipation. Not every tense moment has an immediate payoff, but that's what adds to the overall atmosphere and surprises when there are payoffs.

There is definitely something of quality here, and I'd certainly recommended it over many other films that fall into its varied categories 'independent, horror, thriller, period piece, debut, 'student effort', lovecraftian, low/no budget, passion project'.

While I spent a ting bit of time thinking about this film before reviewing it, I fully expect it will continue to haunt me. Why do I like it, what could've been better, how might I have liked to see the story played out differently, what happens at the end?

If anyone is still reading, I'll end by saying again... I think my rating is fair and not over or under compensating. It would be nice if people rated films on the film, and not in hopes of countering somebody else's review.

I've seen 'films' that shouldn't even receive a zero or a one for simple follow through in pumping it out and distributing it (even if a vanity project).

This is a pretty scenic -professional looking- intriguing film that allows one to ponder existing and potential themes.

I like sci-fi, but for a group of newbies, this film was pretty good. The acting was good and the writing was good too. Kind of similar to The Happening, but on a very very low budget.

Trolls may enjoy giving a movie one star and pundits feel really smart for explaining why this film is boring, but nothing has any value out of context. The context of Flora is that it is a student film, with amateur everything trying their best to make a good movie. And it is not great, but it's not that bad either. The premise promises a lot more than the movie delivers, but consider how many big studios tried similar theme movies and failed miserably.

That being said: imagine a cross between Lovecraft and The Ruins or maybe The Happening. This film is not it. The premise, though, comes really close. It is set in 1929 and the people caught in an area devoid of all animal life an fighting for their lives are scientists (well, students). When a member of the expedition starts dying in horrible ways, the others don't turn one against another, shout "let me out of here" or run around like headless chickens; they try to solve the problem with science. Unfortunately, being 1929 and the story being written by artsy people, that doesn't do them a lot of good, but the atmosphere was nice, the clothing gave the film an fresh look (even if the girls didn't act like 1929 girls at all) and the plot was original. They even used an old 20s car!

I would say that the film failed, but it was so close to something marketable that I can't help feel for its makers.