Temple

Stuff I liked about it:

• The awe of being someplace new and different was pretty well felt by the main character. It made me wish to go. That was nice.
• He seemed like a real person for a second (unlike the others).

Stuff I disliked:

• Like every horror film, every character is virtually unlikable. Why though? Don't you want us to care about them?
• Also like every horror film, whenever there's a "twist" (there really isn't), it pauses the action to replay some old scenes because they think we're too slow. I wish they'd quit with that.
• It ends so abruptly and randomly. This movie builds up with interesting details and then seemingly forgets at the last minute. They did nothing with the, uh, topic of the relationship fight, which is kind of a weird thing to write about so casually. A lot of wasted potential there. Perhaps stuff happens, but it's all left up to you to write the ending in your head.

In fact, the movie straight up tells you at the beginning that people go mad and murderous at the temple that makes people go mad and murderous. It does a decent job of making you think there's a story unraveling, but there isn't. there's honestly nothing to spoil here.

This is a far cry from Simon Barrett's work with Adam Wingard. A running time of 78 minutes would be okay if those minutes were packed with meat, but this bone is padded with empty fat calories.

The storyline is like a stretched out short story. Character development is minimal. The payoff is pathetic. The camera work is nice during the set-up scenes in the city and daylight but once the "scary" stuff starts we are literally in the dark, annoyingly so, for long stretches with whatever is finally happening taking place in short bursts in near pitch darkness. One major "surprise" is obvious right from its initial setup.

If you think you're in the mood for this, I'd recommend watching The Forest instead, even if you've already seen it.

Three American tourists (that create a love triangle) decide to visit a temple located at the forest of a small Japanese village, because one of the tourists (Kate) is studying religion and its traditions.

All well, seems like a decent plot and overall the acting (especially from the Japanese actors) is quite good. Except for the actress who played Kate, her acting skills need to improve... a lot.

Well-shot, with a good scenery of Japanese rural landscape.

Unfortunately the plot is very weak, there's no tension and the last 10 minutes seem rushed and quite confusing.

Could've been a good one but it was a waste of my time.

The film had beautiful photography direction, but the plot was unacceptable. It is literally a composition of erratic and incoherent plot points. The transition between these points was rather 'normal' in the beginning. However, there was such a lot of time invested in it, that the middle point was extremely rushed. I have never watched a movie that does not have an end. This film had a beginning and a middle - it lacked a denouement.

Natalia Warner's performance was atrocious. All she did was smile exaggeratedly in a tone that was quite reminiscent of a valley girl (without the 'oh my god's). There was a lot of subtlety in the feelings she had to convey, and not once was I convinced that I was seeing her as her character.

Brandon Sklenar, on the other hand, was promising, but he was purely decorative thanks to the predictability of his role. For such a small cast, that had a strong impact.

Character development was nonexistent. A group of three is in Japan and they decide to go a temple. We only know why they are there. That is pretty much it. Next thing we know is a repressed passion surfacing - though it was pretty evident from the first scenes.

Additionally, the sound effects were clumsily put together and did not have any fade-ins and fade-outs.

Finally, the Japanese cast was far superior to the American, but Logan Huffman's performance was acceptable, albeit constantly wearing a face in which he looked lost. I suspect this was a direction issue.

I always tell myself that even a bad movie will have something memorable and will be able to evoke some thoughts or feelings. Now, I do not consider this a bad movie, simply far from being a complete piece. As such, I am not sure what the takeaway is.

I had initially expected somewhat more from this horror movie, and I must admit that I was rather disappointed with the overall result of what the movie turned out to be.

The story told in "Temple" was pretty straight forward, although it didn't offer anything to the horror genre that hasn't already been done or seen in other horror movies.

The movie was surprisingly devoid of anything even remotely scary or impressive, and it just lulled itself into a tranquil pace that made it lose all momentum and drive. And it didn't help much that the characters were one-dimensional drones that served no purpose. This reflected badly on the actors and actresses, as they had surprisingly little to work with. Logan Huffman actually managed to perform somewhat adequately and keep the movie afloat.

If you enjoy a good horror movie, then this joined American and Japanese effort is not the best of choices to put your time and money.