Uma Foto Antes de Morrer

Honestly, I have no idea why on earth I watched this "movie". It is so bad it actually physically hurts. Acting is just poor and the story is absolut nonsense. All in all it is a true "horror" which you better avoid

I honestly adore the horror films, and I try to watch all the best representatives of the genre. I prefer mystic to slashers - all those ghosts, demons and etc. Watching Russian horror film is always a kind of box of chocolates, as Forest Gump said, you never know what you're gonna get. It may be a fierce trash, and maybe a great picture better than many Hollywood ones. With the same feeling I started to watch Foto na pamyat. It's quite strange but this time it was the second variant. If I hadn't known, I wouldn't have thought that the film was Russian. The plot is really very interesting. Polaroid camera killer is something new. It reminds of my beloved "Final destination" and "The ring". There was a lot of horror connected with photos as well. However here polaroid photos, giving such a nice retro flavor, are evil themselves. The main characters go on vacation and do not suspect what troubles await them ahead. Accident, misunderstanding where you are, the inability to call for help and as a result - overnight in the dark forest. Finding an old house nearby, they decide find some help there, it's empty since it was abandoned many years ago. Having searched the rooms, they find a camera inside and take a photo. Only no one knew that after that death itself would appear for boys and girls! Here we have a good old house with squeaks and sounds, surrounded by a dark, ominous forest. In short, the most beautiful setting for a strong horror. The atmosphere of fear, cold and hopelessness created just perfect. The picture tells us that it is not a pretty good idea to touch old things, such as old camera. The actors coped well with their task, although sometimes they overplayed a little bit. I especially liked Sanjar Madi. He is quite a nice guy, and as it turned out to be quite talented. In general, I am very pleased that I put that film on. It's nice when the movie is better than you hoped.

We are so used to photographing ourselves and everything round us, that we have completely forgotten that it may lead to real disaster. No wonder our ancestors endowed the art of photography with mystical properties. They considered photography as something very special, anxious and personal. Take, for example, the "post-mortem" fashion, which was quite popular a century and a half ago which depicted dead people. Some theologians and mystics still call it a kind of play with death itself ... You have to agree that this subject is incredibly fascinating, even though extremely scary. This film also made reconsider my attitude to the thoughtless click on the camera button, because something really awful can be hidden behind this hobby. The protagonists of this story are young people who decided to go to the country. But as often happens, on the way a small incident happens to them and now the guys have to stay overnight in some abandoned cabin. Where they find the main story trigger, an old Soviet camera "Sekunda". Tell me the truth, who could resist temptation of taking a few polaroid retro pictures? The guys couldn't. From now on a cruel camera will presage their upcoming death. Though the story with a bundle of teenagers in center who tries to avoid death in the middle of the woods is not new, the film turned out to be atmospheric It creates a feeling of penetrating cold and gradually glowing tension, which at a certain moment reaches its apogee. I do not argue that from time to time places logic fails, the actions of the heroes are not always adequate, but this is already a kind of law of the genre. My verdict: the film is quite interesting and frightens pretty well. The heroes are easy to feel sympathy for and the idea with deadly camera is superb.

Decades ago in the Soviet Union, a magician performs his new trick--a photo camera that predicts the future. The guy is somewhat reluctant but is pushed by his military handler. The show involves the assistant girl and two volunteers, one who operates the camera, another who places some colored vases in whatever order he wants. A photo is taken before the volunteer moves the vases and the instant photo that the camera spits out predicts the correct order. The camera operator is a scientist and a skeptic. He still doesn't believe it. He takes a picture of the triumphant magician. The picture shows him dead on the floor, and sure enough, he drops dead right there and then.

In the present, 7 kids meet to drive to a house somewhere. It's winter in Russia at night and while taking a selfie they crash into a deer somewhere remote. The car is wrecked. They decide to split up. One guy will look for help, two stay inside the car, the rest walk in direction of where they think the house should be since they think they are near it. There's no phone signal of course. This group does arrive at a house, not sure if it's the house they meant to reach. One girl finds a room with a bunch of pictures stuck on the wall. They are all pictures of dead animals, including the very deer on the hood of their car! Another guys finds the camera from the intro. He takes a picture of another guy, who then leaves with a girl. The guy falls head in first right into a bear trap. And indeed, the picture of him shows just that. Then the girl who left with the bear trap guy accidentally takes a picture of herself. Minutes later she's dead. And so it goes with the rest of the kids, one by one.

Another girl finds a movie tape which shows the scientist from the intro and the magician's assistant doing experiments with the camera on mice. But someone kills them. All along we've been led to believe there is someone else in the house, presumable the owner. While the camera at first appears as just a witness/predictor of death, little by little it turns into an instrument of death as the kids start turning on each other and using the camera to bring about death. At the end there are two girls left, and they will meet the owner of the house. There are a couple of revelations and a cool unusual ending for a horror movie.

Deadly Still is a well-made Russian horror movie. It's overdubbed which is always a little awkward even though here it's better than most times. The character's are a little goofy, but this movie doesn't focus that much on them, it's pretty straightforward and focused on advancing the story. It's a relatively shorter movie, too. I liked the story and the surprises. You really don't know what to expect and where it will go. Some deaths are pretty good, others not so much. The sights of snowy Russian forests are pretty amazing. The movie could have used nudity, a bit more gore and some more violence and overall just more content to make it longer. Overall, it's an above average original horror thriller that manages to surprise.

A brief summary: it is not a scary movie per se, each plot twist (and there are not many of them) would be foreseen by a 5 year-old under caught syrup influence, actors can't play... If you want to watch an unintentionally made parody comedy, like any Final Destination, but much worse, then watch this.

Longer story (still no spoilers): The plot itself is very standard for an average horror for teens, yet they forgot to put any logic into characters' actions, making them not just helpless and flawed (which is somewhat expected from a horror movie), but more like mentally disabled or straight dumb. Most deaths in this horrific movie are results of totally illogical and unmotivated actions of characters, which causes strong desire to break something (that is how dumb the plot and dialogues are). The crew (starred actors) performance is unnatural and provides no entertainment at all... unless you are watching this as a freak show of emotionally handicapped, which wouldn't be advised and is not nice for many reasons. The whole plot can be compressed into 3 sentences (or 10, if add unnecessary details, which are not affecting the plot).

And the screamers... neither of the screaming moments was delivered. None. I would be more terrified with a spam phone call during the lunch break, then with all this movie put together.

In total: I dare to bet, that this review is more entertaining, then this movie.