Broil

There are so many movies released that fall under the genre of horror, there really needs to be a unique angle for it to stand out. This has its moments, a sinister hint, a mother who isn't quite what she at first seems and a dysfunctional family. It genuinely had promise in the early stages. Although the jumping from scenes and music was a little jittery, I was definitely intrigued. AS the movie progressed and a slasher element was introduced, the movie lost its eeriness and intrigue for me. Some of the acting was suspect but a shout out to Avery Konrad who had a natural innocence as Chance Sinclair and particularly toJonathan Lipnicki as the chef, played in an almost autistic way, he was spot on. Almost futuristic at times, this was artfully shot and the music over the end credits was well researched. I just never felt this reached its full potential. Touches of the Adams family and Snow White in a loose kind of way, it has a place, just not at the front of the queue.

My favourite line - "Oh my God, please kill me before you finish that sentence."

The sound is terrible.

Otherwise, the movie is solid.

The acts are very well executed.

It could be considered a slow burn, except I have seen and read plays. And this film is successfully crafted that way.

This movie starts a bit slow and you have no clue what direction it takes. Once you get into it, it will keep you watching. The writer clearly has been influenced by some other movies within the mystery and horror genre, The Man from Earth has been mentioned, I'd like to add 'He Never Died' as well.

The well thought through story is what makes this movie stand out above the, mostly cliché vampire horror flicks of the last decade or so. You do need to stay focused to make sense of the whole story: the origins, history and grand picture. Together with the actors giving it the right feel, it gets a 6,5 rating, despite the sound track being somewhat poor and badly channeled (I had to use the 'normalize' feature of my sound system). Blood and gore/hack and slash isn't overdone, and that works quite well here (just wait for the surprise).

Cast is certainly interesting, and well fitted for this movie. Grandpa August was excellent. There was some very decent SFX. The flashback editing part could have been a tad smoother. For a low-budget production, this is was well balanced.

I can certainly recommend this, but watch it with subtitles if you can.

It's not every day I stumble across a movie with no stars, no rating. I expected another failed attempt at a college film-school project. I have rarely been so delighted to have my expectations destroyed.

This movie slightly reminded me of the Twilight series, with a bit of Hannibal Lecter mixed in. The overall effect was good, with much less of a teen-aged love-story flavor. Some of the themes and plot elements are definitely more in line with a more serious "horror" genre than that other, lighter material.

Beautiful actors, acting, music, settings, and a thought-provoking story line. It's a little bit hard to follow all of the details at some points, but they do all seem to mean something, and they are not so many that you can't mostly keep up. Actually, I would watch this a second time, to finish examining some of the frayed edges. I suspect it would only lead me to a deeper appreciation of the quality of the fabric.

A different twist on familiar themes of angels, devils, and vampires was original enough to be interesting - and avoided beating those subjects even further into the ground.

Perhaps, after a second viewing, I would revise my rating of 7 stars upwards to 8 stars. I'll see if I get back to it again sometime in the future. I have a feeling that I will. This one "stays with you" for a little while.

Broil had been marinating in my watchlist for months. I finally decided to give it a try. Bad choice.. I'm surprised I actually finished this film. It was boring and unentertaining. Jonathan Lipnicki held is own, but the rest of the cast was pretty stale. Nothing really happens throughout the film. Just a bunch of corky dialogue and strange music. Nothing I'd recommend. 4 stars