O Monastério

Pretty grim film with a lot of equally grim atmosphere in a monastery somewhere, I presume, in Poland since it's Polish film. I was about to say the premise is, but this has a few premises so let me just say it's starts off with a priest shot to death while about to stab to death an infant thinking it to be the anti-Christ, very reminiscent of The Omen, and he might be right. We immediately switch to 30 years later when a detective infiltrates this monastery due to the disappearance of a number of women who went in only to never come out. It annoyed me for a while at how easily he discovers various things in his snooping around. He gets found out quickly enough and things get ugly and brutal and very gruesome. This is not a great movie, but it accomplishes what it sets out to do right to the end with no holds barred.

Initially I was not particularly intrigued by the cover/poster for this movie, but the movie's synopsis seemed interesting enough. And also the fact that "Ostatnia Wieczerza" (aka "Hellhole") was a horror movie that I hadn't already seen also played a part in me sitting down to watch it.

Now, I had never heard about this movie from director Bartosz M. Kowalski prior to sitting down to watch it. And the fact that a movie like this made its way to Netflix was definitely quite a surprise.

The storyline in the movie was genuinely creepy and atmospheric, so writers Bartosz M. Kowalski and Mirella Zaradkiewicz definitely put together an amazing script, and I have to say that I was genuinely entertained from beginning to end of this movie. It was such a well-written storyline that sank in deep under the skin and will stick with me for some time. This felt like a trip back to way back when they used to make really atmospheric horror movies.

I wasn't familiar with a single actor or actress on the cast list, since I have not watched a lot of Polish movies. But it should be noted that the acting performances in the movie were good and very convincing. The performers really did good jobs in bringing the movie to life on the screen and bringing the characters to life on the screen as well.

Director Bartosz M. Kowalski was good at slowly building up the story, piling on slowly layer by layer, letting the suspense amass and the disturbing atmosphere brood and sink it with great effect.

Visually then "Ostatnia Wieczerza" was interesting. It is a movie that is filmed in bleak colors and an equally so environment, which really adds to the atmosphere of the movie. It works and it works on a great many levels. And the special effects and CGI in the movie were phenomenal. It is not a movie that made use of an abundance of special effects and CGI, but what was in the movie worked quite well. Thumbs up to the special effects team here.

If you enjoy horror movies, then you most definitely have to sit down and watch "Ostatnia Wieczerza". I was pleasantly surprised with the movie's storyline, its impact at the hands of director Bartosz M. Kowalski. This is without a doubt a horror movie that I will recommend to fans of the horror genre.

My rating of "Ostatnia Wieczerza" lands on a well-deserved eight out of ten stars.

Not a great movie, but still the best horror movie i have watched the last 2 years, except for "WHAT JOSIAH SAW". But this, unlike JOSIAH, is a pure horror movie. There are twists, some are predictable and one i didn't see it coming. Acting is good, especially for a horror movie. It's much scarier than watching a masked-face man killing others. I got scared watching this and the ending made it even scarier, in retrospect.

In any case, this is a polarising ending. For sure, some people will dislike the whole movie because of it. I don't wanna spoil it, therefore i won't say anything about the ending, but if you are looking for a real horror movie, not a comedy horror, not mindless fun, i believe that you will like it.

Having seen no trailer of this, I've decided to do some mix and match with The Cabinet of Curiosities and I like this better than the first 4 episodes of that show (Lot 36, Graveyard Rats, The Autopsy, The Outside). The monastery in this movie felt lived-in and authentic compared to the obvious movie sets in that Guillermo del Toro show. Although both of these are disgusting so try not to eat during it.

This movie started a little slow and obvious but there are twists and turns along the way to keep you going. Not much characterization beyond the 3 or 4 names that are mentioned in the movie but no matter, the plot (and the title) is what draws the viewer interest anyways.

As for the ending, yes they did go there. It's divisive for sure but I like it and I find it appropriate.

All in all, a decent watch for Halloween season. Much better than I expected and much better than those cheap Blumhouse horror flicks.

Jacob Boehme, a mystic from Silesia - the area where the monastery (Lubiaz) is located where the film was shot - named the expected time of "the rejuvenation of the world" the Time of the Lily. In Catholicism, lily is a symbol of innocence and Virgin Mary.... yet in the more esoteric circles, it is also a symbol of Lilith, the first wife of Adam, like Satan banished by God - in her case, to the desert. As often in the case of Christianity, meanings are bestowed upon the older pagan symbols, reversing them yet raising the question which meanings are the real ones. Here, the well descends to Hell ("Hellhole"); in the Old Testament a well is associated with the beloved of Jacob, Rachel; in Judaism a woman comparable to Virgin Mary, whose name, maybe surprisingly, maybe not will be the last words of Satanic messiah during sacrifice. Likewise, the most knowledgeable in the matters of the cult of the Prince of Darkness in this movie is a monk named after a man who set up Christianity as a religion.... Peter. He will betray the Satanic messiah in the way original Peter betrayed Christ, finally both enabling and completing the sacrifice of Satan's Chosen One, in the end so akin in his fate to Jesus Christ.

The appearance of lilies, rather untypical for cinematic stories about devil, is an example of how well versed in the occult this movie is... In this gripping story of ritual, human sacrifice, cannibalism (the original Polish title is "The Last Supper/Ostatnia wieczerza") and deceit (of his own worshippers by Satan is the last one), the Son of the Dawn (reversal again) is the only winner, even his earthly followers paying price: perhaps they never paid enough attention to the wisdom which says that "No one really knows what the World to Come shall look like". This movie says it will be the great Reversal again, high up to Sky - As above, so Below - to remind one of occult tenets, again somehow present in the Catholic Oratio Dominica prayer ("in caelo et in terra").

The knowledge this movie conveys (up to the pattern of thyrsus on the ceremonial robes of the high priest of Satan) in a way is more terrifying than multitude of slashers inhabiting only the realm of fiction.