Porta do Inferno

While this is not the best movie by any means it is pretty good. Better than I thought it would be, at least.

The best part is the mystery of the weird building. It reminded me of the Peter Clines novel 14, in that it involves a mysterious apartment where not everything is as it seems.

The ending and explanation are pretty good. I was somehow expecting to feel let down by the reveal and that wasn't the case.

The acting is pretty good, or maybe I should say its really good for this type of movie. The characters seemed nuanced and not just 2D cutouts are can be often found in these lower budget movies.

Plus I liked that the setting was somewhere other than the US, that added a little bit of extra charm to the movie.

Recommended, honestly this movie is better than I thought it would be and I was entertained for the whole 1.5 hours it took to watch.

The film is a Euro-horror filled with heavy, stylized atmosphere both Gothic and ghosty. It plays of tempered elements of Italian horror masters like Fulci with weak results.

The story is a classic ghost story with the notable presence of mid-20th century megalomania in that the big bad has an apocalyptic agenda against humanity. The film is saturated with spooky atmospheric moments built on Eurocentric melodrama. Think Eastern European soap operas. London gives a credible performance in the lead which almost makes you wonder why his career did a 180 all those years ago. Englund sadly gives a mediocre performance that shows either an issue with script or money. My guess is script material which almost seems to phone it in.

The special effects are limited and subpar at best, driven by eerie, creepy music and Gothic spectacle that doesn't quite get you there. Practical and CGI FX work barely meets basic cable paranormal shtick found on almost all networks. Shadows, ghosty sounds and low budget horror are the soup-du-jour. Most fall flat and by no means give fright.

Overall "Nightworld" doesn't really do much for the paranormal genre other than provide a nice slice visual beauty that can be found in Eastern Europe. London'so performance, as good as it was, isn't enough to entertain and the scare-adjacent theatrics are "too little to late". Englund adds a little value to fans looking to have all his projects adorn media shelves, but "Nightworld" only warrants the standard once-over.

A retired LA cop gets a job on security at an old Bulgarian apartment block, which turns out to be built on one of the seven gateways to the other side. So many movies are filmed in Bulgaria but set in the USA these days, it's nice to see a film actually set in Bulgaria. As my headline says this is a slow burn but the story held my interest. That is until the final 20 minutes or so where it all became rather predictable and disappointing. The obvious similarity to me was Lucio Fulci's The Beyond, a FAR superior movie. The character played by Gianni Capaldi could not decide if he was Scottish or a Londoner judging by his varying accents. Good to see Robert Englund though - he's been in some real turkeys since his Elm St days but this is not one of them. Overall this is a reasonably creepy but forgettable movie. Could have been better. Could have been worse.

The story in general is interesting, and the setting perfect - but there is something missing in this film - or some things.

First is the acting. Why they chose Jason London to play the main character I really don't know. He just isn't a very convincing actor in this role (not that I remember ever hearing of him before) which means the character became unbelievable. The other actors were fine with good performances.

The second thing is either the script or editing. Some of the reactions and things that happen in the film are just so unbelievable and unnatural that they break the flow of the story to such an extent that it becomes annoying to watch.

Such a shame for a film that had potential.

I liked the theme and still believe that the story had the potential to deliver a blockbuster movie but the film fell apart due to sloppy direction, script and time constraints. Half explained story and hurriedly completed scenes made this an average film. The acting was OK but really handicapped by the how the film evolved. First half was fairly enjoyable but the second half was rushed and left too many gaps.In short, This film needed a better director and script writer.