The Luring

Bad acting, a story line all over the place, characters you root for being killed off so you don't have to see/listen to them anymore. Completely disjointed ending. Rip-off of other horror elements.

The level of suspense in The Luring makes this clever psychological thriller a lot scarier than I was expecting. Written and directed by Christopher Wells, the film plays tricks on its audience by disguising itself as a midnight movie, making us think we can put our guard down.

From the first scene to the last, we're guided on a wild ride that's elevated by strong performances across the cast, coupled with a very well-done original score. But it's the nice little touches that make The Luring a worthwhile watch: from the way the characters become transfixed by the serene paintings (a metaphor that things aren't always as they seem), to the way poetry ties characters together and foreshadows their demise, to how the toy truck is used as bait.

We follow Garrett, played by Rick Irwin, and the hopeful romantic Claire, played by Michaela Sprague, whose characters have very different ideas about where their relationship is heading. The film digs into the power dynamics of dominance and submission and how we change our persona depending on who we're confronted with. A beautifully executed oner at the lake reveals a lot about their relationship; as the camera creeps closer, the tension builds, making us feel like an evil force is manipulating them.

The small vacation house somehow magnifies insecurities in some and amplifies self-indulgence in others, which leads to a heart-racing sequence involving a ten-year-old boy, all under the watchful eye of a sinister figure, chillingly played by Dan Berkey.

The way Wells reintroduces the devil in the bowling alley scene is brilliant. We almost forget his earlier involvement, so when he reemerges, the framing cuts off his head, creating unsettling foreshadowing that plays out in an underbelly of suspense.

Throughout the film, the characters are plagued by nightmares, and the blending of reality and dreams makes us wonder if they're trapped in purgatory or caught in a web of pure evil.

The Luring grabbed my attention because it quickly earned it.

The movie is exceptionally poor in pretty much all aspects.

The acting pretty much gives away what kind of movie it will be from the start. The performance is akin to a high school play with nervous kids that force their lines and overact. The cinematography is not too bad, although that alone amounts to nothing in the end considering the convoluted and disconnected plot. You know how in a dream you are convinced certain things make sense but when you wake up you wonder how come you didn't see the glaring contradictions with reality? That's how this movie plays out. There is a multitude of cliche horror elements - an eerie red balloon, a psycho kid killer, children hurting children, mysterious plot device shadowy man, a toy of unknown significance which the camera zooms in on regularly, etc. etc. Events do unfold, but saying they are in any way coherently connected is like answering a math problem with "green". I wouldn't even call this one pretentious as to me this is simply a bad movie due to bad writing and directing.

This is the type of movie that will have a few people pretend to understand its "profound" meaning and will insist that it is so deep that nobody gets it but do not be fooled. Deep applies to this movie like "dry" applies to "ocean".

Arriving at a cabin in the woods, a man begins a journey to recollect lost memories of a traumatic incident from his past, yet the closer he gets to uncovering everything the true nature of the incident is revealed putting those around him in greater danger.

This was an okay if somewhat flawed effort. What works best in this one is the general build-up and atmosphere of something being wrong with the house. The opening flashback to the encounter as a kid is quite chilling which is quite nice, while the constant attempts at reconnection to the fateful birthday provide some fun foreshadowing as it sets up the genuinely unnerving final half that spells out the true intent of the hauntings. These are what hold this one up as this one does have some issues. The biggest problem here is the disconnect we get from the main couple who in no way, shape or form come off like a believable couple who have been together for a certain amount of time. Not only is it obvious he's a closed-off, emotionally-distant sociopath who thinks flushing the toilet while she's showering is funny and calling her attempts at connecting cheesy, they display very little chemistry or warmth together despite the excruciatingly long build-up in the first half that tries to say otherwise and gets worse the longer it goes. That brings up another flaw here in the dragged-out pace that doesn't make this one all too thrilling. In addition to the constant attempts at making us think they're a loving couple, the rest of the running time here is devoted to flashbacks about the fateful party which paint him as an even bigger selfish brat than he is as an adult. It's barely worth wanting to stick around trying to figure out the mystery at times where the focus on him being so unlikable causes these to be so boring and unwatchable. As well, the other issue here is that so much of the film's insistence on tropes and ideas for its scares and tension-building is just routine ripoffs and cliches. The focus on the balloons is obvious, while the small-town cliches including the stranger who knows too much, the secretive stranger with a score to settle and the inquisitive girlfriend who gets caught up in everything just come off as pointless as none of it's scary due to being complete cliches. Combined with a wholly confusing and underwhelming finale, this one does have some problems.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Language, Violence and intense themes of violence-against-children.

I'd rather watch paint dry then watch this again. My husband said why do I have to be so mean... And I asked him to tell me that it wasn't that bad he goes no it was bad it was really bad... Considering that I don't think I'm being so mean. This was an hour and a half that felt like three hours of my life that I can't get back. From the writing, to the storyline to the acting it just seems like somebody had way too much time on their hands and no talent...