The Arbors

The official trailer on YouTube makes this look like a monster movie. But if you're looking for a monster movie, this isn't it. There is a creature, a really cool looking scary one, but it's not on screen much and doesn't have much to do with the story. Before you spend time and money on this movie, just know what you're not getting.

What is this movie about? Hard to say. The story revolves around Ethan, who discovers the creature but is otherwise a very dull person who does nothing, sleeps during the day, and avoids most people. The only person Ethan likes is his younger brother, Shane. They still live in the rural town they grew up in and seem stuck there.

And now people in this small town start disappearing and turning up dead, their torn up bodies found scattered around town. And only Ethan knows why.

This movie - Not a monster movie! - is painfully slow, taking gobs of time for very little to happen as it simmers and creates atmosphere. There's very little action. Much of the storytelling occurs through dialogue, especially long voicemail messages. Pay attention to these long verbalizations, they're practically narration and the audience's best hope to interpret what's going on or decipher the characters' motivations. There are some chilling bits of scenes, particularly a single line right at the halfway point of the movie, that indicate something very spooky is going on, but good luck figuring out what that is. I have some theories, but those would be spoilers. (See Denis Villeneuve's underrated Enemy (2013). I suspect it inspired the writers of this movie!)

To enjoy this movie requires A LOT of patience. Be prepared.

Like other reviews have noted, if you expect this to be a creature feature, you're likely to be disappointed.

However, even though that's what I expected going into it, I wasn't severely disappointed. The creature makes for a good metaphor.

And again I agree with others, it's definitely a slow movie, but I didn't find it boring. I was curious how the protagonist would proceed and react.

I really don't believe it deserves as low of a score as it's received. I appreciated the all symbolism and I thought overall it was a well executed film.

If it head to somewhere it's fine to be slow, the scary part just not to the point is main problem. I wonder no budget for those bloody scene? But in other perspective, the monster evolves due to the main lead dark side, I presume ? If something too hard to be accepted by audience, it won't get any applause in general. Haven't said that, still not that good objectively speaking.

This is a very intriguing film. Not the best of the genre. Definitely nothing new here. Even so it's a composed narrative , well directed and photographed. I like it.

Yeah, I was lured in by the movie's rather interesting cover. And indeed, I was expecting this to be a monster movie of sorts, given the spindly arachnid-like legs on the cover.

But this movie wasn't a monster movie. Instead it was a movie about a degrading mind succumbing to a sort of psychosis. So it was quite far from what I was expecting it to be. But hey, maybe I should have read the synopsis before watching the movie.

So was "The Arbors" a good movie? No. It was watchable, yes. But the storyline was just way too slow paced, too predictable and had not enough interesting contents to it, which made the movie feel unnaturally long and dull. So writers Chelsey Cummings and Clayton Witmer didn't exactly churn out something that will knock you off your feet.

It should be said that the acting performances in the movie were good, especially by Drew Matthews, whom played Ethan Daunes. But it was a real shame that the storyline was so bland and predictable.

Visually then "The Arbors" was adequate. Don't expect to be blown away by a myriad of special effects though. Whatever special effects that were there were scarce and adequate enough. But luckily, "The Arbors" is not a movie that is heavily reliant on CGI effects.

Ultimately, then "The Arbors" is a movie that is very bland and forgettable. I doubt that I will ever watch it again, as the storyline just doesn't have the material to support more than a single viewing.

My rating of "The Arbors" lands on a less than mediocre four out of ten stars. It was an interesting and alluring movie cover, but the same didn't go for the actual movie.