The Sublet

Well worth a watch, don't let the reviews put you off.

You've probably seen film like this before; I know I have. However, if you're in the mood for a haunted house-type horror, we could both do a lot worse!

The acting is excellent, the scares are carefully piled up, the characters are flawed but appealing - even the caterwauling child is a genuine cutie. When the relationship deteriorates between the couple, it's actually effective because as the audience, we are made to care about them both. Tianna Nori and Mark Matechuk are believable as Joanna and Jeff, both imperfect, but both likeable. There's not a bad performance on show, but this story certainly belongs to the couple.

Possibly as the end credits roll, you'll be struck how this fails to break any new ground, but events are unravelled so expertly, you'll have enjoyed the ride anyway. My score is 8 out of 10.

So the story was ok, there were some issues but mostly it was fine. Budget clearly wasn't huge but it was used ok - the movie looks decent. Overall the movie was a bit too slow.

The problems then: First we get the bad acting. The female lead was not as bad but with no chemistry with her husband it just doesn't work. And the husband was just horrible - very amateurish. And that's basicly all the actors if you don't count the newborn baby.

Second big problem was the sound. Too much loud banging on walls and doors. And because of that you can't hear anything else because you can't have any volume without having your neigbours calling cops on you.

Saw 'Tonight She Comes', being fond of horror regardless of budget (even if not my favourite genre) and being intrigued somewhat by the idea. Being behind on my film watching and reviewing, with a long to watch and review list that keeps getting longer, it took me a while to get round to watching and reviewing it.

Giving 'The Sublet' a fair chance with being interest and apprehension, it turned out to be a little better than expected, having seen a lot of bad films recently. Won't say that 'The Sublet' is a great film (mediocre actually) because it isn't and the potential, while not wasted, is not fully lived up to. Considering the large number of films seen recently being mediocre and less and wasting potential, was expecting worse and was relieved that while wanting in a fair few areas it was actually one of my better recent low-budget viewings.

'The Sublet' started off quite well, the first part starting the film off on a promising, unsettling and atmospheric note that really does intrigue.

Production values did have some eeriness and nowhere near as cheap as expected.

The setting is effectively spooky. Initially, there are spooky and suspenseful moments, it isn't dull, and the storytelling initially does intrigue. The acting generally was not bad, Tianna Nori carries the film very well.

However, the story was severely wanting in the second half after starting off promisingly. It is very disjointed and after the promising start the final third especially loses atmosphere, one loses interest and things start to not make sense. Too much of the film is vague and doesn't explore some elements enough, some of which go nowhere or serve much point. It also is uneventful too much of the time and the pace drags.

Ending is unsatisfying, on top of feeling hasty there are too many loose ends hanging in the air and it all felt abrupt. Got the sense that the writers didn't know how to end the film. Would have liked much more tension and suspense (where there is barely any of either in the latter stages), scares could have been more consistent (again nowhere near enough) and some weren't surprising enough and had no atmosphere, the over-obvious sound not helping. The psychological parts of the story were more odd and undercooked rather than creepy and intriguing

Found too the script to lack natural flow and with a fair bit of cheese and blandness going on, and the characters bland with some adopting some annoying and not always logical decision making. There is very little menace or urgency to the conflict and the direction is phoned in.

Overall, mediocre. 4/10 Bethany Cox

A young couple with a child try to settle in after moving in their new apartment, but after some time the wife (Joanna) is haunted by paranormal activities. Her husband (Jeff) doesn't believe her and at some point she finds an old journal from a woman that lived in the same apartment before. The journal reveals that the woman's husband was abusive and that she wanted to escape. The movie is really slow and the general premise was really generic. You have Joanna that sees an hears things and you have the overworked Jeff that is annoyed and won't believe her. While reading the journal Joanna starts seeing the same things that the other woman depicted in her writings. In the final act the movie has its climax as expected and picks up some pace but in general there is nothing redeeming about this movie that makes it stand out. It's slow and forgettable and similar things have been done before. [4,1/10]