I've only rated as high as 3 because of a random assortment of strangely excellent facets in the film. The score, several members of the cast, and a few sequences make it seem like it is cut out to be something much greater than it is.
However, for the majority of the main cast, the acting is subpar. Two main characters are dubbed over in english, even though the film is already in english, and the actors are already speaking in english. Presumably, being a croatian film with local talent, the original actors' voices were too accented. However, i feel like this could have added a layer of authenticity i felt was very absent from the film, what with the jarring interjections coming from actors who's voices did not match or sound even relatively close to what the line delivery had to have been intended.
Like the title says, it feels like three films spliced into one. A supernatural creature feature, a psych ward horror-thriller, and a mystery laden drama. The film as is does not come close to any of these as a whole. Some reviews say it feels psychedelic, surreal, and this is true. And at some points, this is meant in a positive way. But it fails extremely the majority of the time. It seems to be also have a blend of satiric and comedic aspects, but not nearly enough to be classified as such and entirely too much for the film to be taken seriously as it is. Plot points of the film were also casually introduced and then never touched again very often. Not in a manner of red herring, but in a manner of dropping chekhov's gun and shooting yourself in the foot with it.
I will credit that the score is wonderful. It's a very classically frightening one, that kept tricking me into thinking i was watching a better movie than i was. Yes, it was cheesy or played at times (a music box theme that was so frequent that i thought it would turn out to be an element in the story, or at least a character's backstory. It was not.), but it supported the film more than the entire cast, and every detail of the plot combined.
One of the best actors in this movie was tom sizemore, and he molested a preteen in 2002. That's the caliber for this. I will say however that the lobotomized looking maître'd/busboy was an excellent talent that deserves to be in much more than this. A very chilling expression is kept on him the entire film that again, like the score, leads to the impression of a much more impressive film.
In all... no, it's not a big time film and it should not be treated in regards to one. But it is an annoying insult to indie films to pretend this mess is a product of budget restraint or lack of name recognition and not of absence of writing and acting talent for the majority. Its biggest failing is honestly the fact i wouldn't recommend it to a friend. Nor would anyone. It's not comically bad, it's not so bad it's good. It's boring and uneventful and feels like a genuine waste of my time, unlike most bad films. I really don't recommend it.
