Astral

There's a lot to like about this film, the premise is excellent and being a fan of the more theological/occultist area of the genre, it was refreshing to come across something possissing origianlity and quality. The script was well written and the film was beautifully shot/directed, despite what I suspect was a small budget, not that it was often evident in the production.

Where I thought things came unstuck was the acting which I found wooden and transparent, pretty much all round, and the casting of far too young protagonsits, This kind of film/script screams 'It's for Grown-Ups!' so having a teenage student ensemble nearly ruined it for me. Although the setting was first rate.. kudos to whoever snagged that beautiful off-term college for your set! A post-graduate/academia centric cast would still have worked in situ, but been more credible somehow.

The pacing was the other thing which I felt could've been greatly improved upon, particularly the second act which dragged on immeasureably longer than its 40 or so minutes and ate into what should've been a longer, richer and more detailed final show-down. Again, I felt the clairvoyant was cast way too young. Someone more suitable could've played a pivotal role in the final act, adding much needed texture, suspense and context.

That said, whist its conceptual strengths might not have been fully realised, overall I was impressed and I willl definately keep an eye out for whatever the brothers' Mul come up with next.

Scoring wise I think it's deserving of at least one star more than it's current 4.5, more like +1.5, for an all-round 6/10.

Astral is a British "Horror" and I use that term extremely loosely, that centers around the concept of astral projection and one mans obsession with it.

The first thing that struck me about Astral was how incredibly boring it was, and I didn't notice that until around the half way mark which demonstrates how underwhelming it is.

I'm all for a slow burning movies but Astral simply goes nowhere, accomplishes nothing and bores you to tears along the way.

The movie is simply lifeless with a cast who they could have switched out in each scene and I genuinely don't think I would have noticed. They were so bland, like the pacing, the story and every other facet of the absolute mess.

I think that Hollywood have lost their way when it comes to horror, apparently the UK have as well. My advice, steer clear.

The Good:

The original concept is at least something barely touched upon before

The Bad:

Really boring

Lifeless

I was quite liking this film then all of a sudden - nothing! It just stopped.

It was obvious that some of the cast were either inexperienced or lacked direction, but it didn't detract too much from the overall story.

The editing could have been a lot tighter in places. Sometimes a shot would linger just a little too long which detracted from the overall flow.

It seemed that the film was just one big build up to something that was never delivered. Just when there was a bit of interesting action in the film that could lead to some very interesting scenes it just stops dead in it's tracks. There is no payoff whatsoever for the viewer who is left wondering what the hell the film was all about.

It was as though the ending was rushed in at the last minute and a large chunk of the story had been culled.

This is yet another film that had great potential if a little more thought had gone in to it's production. As it is, the film just ends up being a waste of time.

Such a shame because I really wanted this film to be good when it started.

One to miss for sure.

It was ok but not that exciting, Some good parts but mostly slow. Really just watched it because I enjoyed the main characters acting from fear the walking dead.

5.1

Really a short film dragged out for a full movie. Also the ending is nowhere to be seen. I would say its the worst ending I've seen in awhile, but there wasn't an ending at all. I myself can't see why anyone would rate it over 3\10, but to each his own I guess. Creepy factor was also non existent. I've seen short 5 min films do 10 times more.