Igor is ready for anything for the sake of Polina's happiness and, in order to make up for the loss of her son, the spouses decide to adopt. But instead of an ordinary boy from the shelter, ... Read allIgor is ready for anything for the sake of Polina's happiness and, in order to make up for the loss of her son, the spouses decide to adopt. But instead of an ordinary boy from the shelter, their family gets not just a "difficult" child .Igor is ready for anything for the sake of Polina's happiness and, in order to make up for the loss of her son, the spouses decide to adopt. But instead of an ordinary boy from the shelter, their family gets not just a "difficult" child .
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As I sat down to watch the 2019 Russian horror movie "Tvar" (aka "Stray") here late in 2022, I had never heard about the movie, so I didn't know what I was in for here. But being a horror aficionado, of course I opted to sit down and watch what director Olga Gorodetskaya had to offer.
The storyline, as written by Olga Gorodetskaya, Maria Kabanova and Anna Starobinets, definitely had a good foundation and concept idea. However, the transition from script to screen made for a somewhat mediocre and bland horror experience. There was so much potential for something grand here. But when the movie came to the end, I have to admit that I was left with a sense of 'was that really it?' and also of somewhat having wasted 90 minutes on something mediocre.
The acting performances in "Tvar" were good. Needless to say that I wasn't familiar with the cast ensemble in the movie, as I have only watched so many Russian movies. But the actors and actresses carried the movie quite well. Child actor Sevastian Bugaev (playing the Stray) was definitely nicely cast as he was able to put on some genuinely disturbing performances when needed.
Visually then "Tvar" is somewhat of a mixed bag of nuts. Some of the special effects look good and definitely added a layer to the movie that helped carry the movie, and then there were effects that were questionable and dubious, such as the CGI animated kid.
For a horror movie then director Olga Gorodetskaya didn't bring anything new or overly thrilling or scary to the genre. "Tvar" is a watchable enough movie, at least for a single viewing, but that is also about what there is to it.
My rating of "Tvar" lands on a five out of ten stars.
The storyline, as written by Olga Gorodetskaya, Maria Kabanova and Anna Starobinets, definitely had a good foundation and concept idea. However, the transition from script to screen made for a somewhat mediocre and bland horror experience. There was so much potential for something grand here. But when the movie came to the end, I have to admit that I was left with a sense of 'was that really it?' and also of somewhat having wasted 90 minutes on something mediocre.
The acting performances in "Tvar" were good. Needless to say that I wasn't familiar with the cast ensemble in the movie, as I have only watched so many Russian movies. But the actors and actresses carried the movie quite well. Child actor Sevastian Bugaev (playing the Stray) was definitely nicely cast as he was able to put on some genuinely disturbing performances when needed.
Visually then "Tvar" is somewhat of a mixed bag of nuts. Some of the special effects look good and definitely added a layer to the movie that helped carry the movie, and then there were effects that were questionable and dubious, such as the CGI animated kid.
For a horror movie then director Olga Gorodetskaya didn't bring anything new or overly thrilling or scary to the genre. "Tvar" is a watchable enough movie, at least for a single viewing, but that is also about what there is to it.
My rating of "Tvar" lands on a five out of ten stars.
It's far to be perfect, no doubt.
But the idea is quite original.
Character are dumb like they often are in horror movie, but just enough dumb to make the movie work.
The story is quite good and believable.
The realisation is also quite good.
+1 for mains characters, they do a really decent job.
It's the first russian "hollywood style" recent movie that have a decent story up to the end, and for the first time I watch it until the end and not to see how f... dumb it is, but because I like it enough.
Watch it with open mind and no expectation and you might find it quite pleasant.
Nothing exceptional but ok.
But the idea is quite original.
Character are dumb like they often are in horror movie, but just enough dumb to make the movie work.
The story is quite good and believable.
The realisation is also quite good.
+1 for mains characters, they do a really decent job.
It's the first russian "hollywood style" recent movie that have a decent story up to the end, and for the first time I watch it until the end and not to see how f... dumb it is, but because I like it enough.
Watch it with open mind and no expectation and you might find it quite pleasant.
Nothing exceptional but ok.
Not sure what the poor ratings are about! Interesting plot with a few unexpected twists. Overall I thoroughly enjoyed it
I expected to watch a few minutes and move onto something else. Instead, the story gets hold and retains interest. Good character development, very atmospheric, and definitely scary.
Other than some bad CGI this was actually a really good movie. The acting was great and so was the story. You cared about the two main characters. This is a unique take on the "evil child" sub-genre of horror. The only off-putting thing about the movie is there are some things not clarified and that CGI is terrible. I'm talking laugh out loud bad, but the acting and the story more than make up for it.
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- Also known as
- Evil Boy
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- Runtime
- 1 hour, 30 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1
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