Cabin of the Death

Hailed by many as the new (or next) EVIL DEAD, WITHER turned out to be a bit of a let down as its conclusion and end credits withered away. Don't get me wrong. I enjoyed this. Just not nearly as much as I had anticipated. Where shall I begin?

Without a doubt, WITHER was pretty well done considering the low budget. The acting was decent. The setting was cool. The gore effects were better than expected. But that's about where it stops. The story was too simple and the characters were not given enough...not sure of the word I am looking for...depth, maybe? There just wasn't much of a back story in general. The actors did good with what they were given. The finale was...well, if you blinked you may have missed it. Nonexistent for the most part.

This really had a chance to be great, but instead it withered along the way in becoming just average. I promise I won't use the word "withered" again in this review, but it's damn hard not to! Overall a decent film. Much better than most low budget horrors these days, if only the story would have been told a bit better. And the death scenes could have been a little more creative. The ending is the biggest let down of all though, in my eyes.

Good acting. Good setting. Great gore effects. Limp story. Lame ending. Still worth a view. Just don't expect this to be up to par with the original EVIL DEAD, because if you do, you will be sadly let down. EVIL DEAD set the standard for how to make a scary, no budget horror film. Hopefully, if a WITHER 2 is somewhere on the horizon, a bigger budget and better storytelling will emerge and just maybe we will get the Swedish equivalent of DEAD BY DAWN: THE EVIL DEAD II. Just maybe...

Yeah I also read all the buzz about this movie being the new Evil dead or whatever they were saying. I suppose it is like evil dead plot wise, group of kids go to a cabin (or abandoned house in this case)are all one by one possessed or infected by evil. Then gorily kill each other off.

Unfortunately that kind of comparison is unfair to Wither as it gives you certain preconceptions. Unlike Evil dead this movie has no sense of fun. It is far too serious and given the quite silly plot this doesn't work in its favour. The only laughs I had were at the main guys hair becoming quite crazy during one of the fights the brother characters generally cheesy appearance and the subtitle coming up for a quite obvious shouted expletive, twice. Also none of the characters seem to have a problem killing each other. These people are supposed to be long time friends but they quite happily shoot and stab each other in the blink of an eye.

It is fairly gory but if gore is what you're looking for it doesn't even do that in an original way. None of the kills are inventive. I had seen nearly every kill bar one (the one with the stool) done before. The effects are in the majority done with practical effects with a bit of CG help. There are a couple of CGI blood squirts which I loathe because the blood just vanishes. Overall the gore effects are good but not as extreme as some reviews claim. The possession make up for the actors is pretty good. More effort does seem to have been made with the brother character than anyone else though.

The Gore effects aren't the only time CG rears it's ugly head, there is added heavy rain in certain scenes that doesn't appear to be making the actors very wet (oops). Also some over the top clouds of dust and debris.

The ending is also a massive anticlimax you wait the whole movie to see the thing that caused all this mayhem. when you do finally see it it's a bit of a non event.

I was really looking forward to Wither I enjoyed the directors other movie Blood runs cold but this one lacked something for me.

This movie was in my radar for a long time. It wasn't available in the library. Searched the market where they sell pirated ones for 50 rs. Was to no avail. Heard some very good reviews n how some compared it to the evil dead. Well as a fan of evil dead like most people, i was eager for this. Finally saw this. Thank you Steve for the movie. Coming to the movie, the acting was horrendous. There was minimal character development. The chicks were not that eye candy. The Swedish forests/woods weren't utilized. There was zero cinematography. What really bugged me was that this movie was not at all creepy or scary. There was no proper explanation given about the house or the "thing" inside the cellar. Read bah the "thing" on wiki. Scary n interesting. In one scene the zombie/possessed person is screaming so much that I felt sympathy for it. The characters were so lame n stupid, i mean all of em? The movie is full of scenes like "why would they do that" "common man". The director tried to make it look like an 80s film with the music n that grainy feel. One thing the movie can really boast about is the amount of impressive gore. It's gory. I mean much gory than the Evil dead remake. All in all a good effort. Check out Gallows hill. A better demon movie. Well this is a decent non scary horror flick with impressive gore but lacked originality.

A group of friends head out for a weekend of fun at an abandoned cabin in the woods but unwittingly unleash an ancient evil that begins hunting them one-by-one.

So originality is not a key factor with 'Wither' but then it isn't supposed to be. What 'Wither' is though is an okay little cabin-in-the-woods story that evokes the gritty and primal feel of old school horror flicks of the 70s and 80s - the good and the bad.

The good: (1) There is minimal back story before we get to the "goods"; (2) The cast do an adequate job of looking pretty one minute then terrified the next; (3) There are some pretty neat practical effects throughout; (4) From the setting to the use of film grain, the entire film looks very gritty which helps set the atmosphere; (5) The horror set pieces are entertaining for the most part (and gore fans are well catered to).

The bad: (1) Things happen a bit too conveniently in order to push the film along and there are some breaks in the film's logic that were a bit jarring; (2) Although it's to be expected, there are A LOT of "Why would anyone do that?" moments which are really infuriating; (3) The neat practical effects are counterbalanced by some not-so-neat CG effects; (4) The film starts to drag towards the end and peters out into a bit of a ho-hum conclusion.

'Wither' is no classic but is enjoyable enough if you don't expect too much from it (and we all need films like these once in a while, right?). This is a simple cabin-in-the-woods story: no muss, no fuss. Worth a view.

Watch out, folks!! The Swedish "Evil Dead" is here...

In horror Movies curiosity usually kills the cat, but reinventing old Movies Always kills the Movie. Some Movies are just better off left alone. Evil Dead is such a Movie because it is a true Product of its day. You cannot outshine Bruce Campbell, nor the great atmosphere and the ingenious, although amateurish, sfx.

For such a small country as Sweden we have succeeded in delivering so many international stars within the Movie industry: Max Von Sydow, Greta Garbo, Ingrid Bergman, Mauritz Stiller, Gösta Bergman, Stellan Skarsgård. Now, Vittra won't go down in history as the ultimate Swedish Movie, however, it is far better than I expected and I am not a fan of Swedish Movies, especially Movies within the action and the horror genres where we suck big time. Why? Because we haven't succeeded in creating our own identity within those two genres. The dialog just doesn't work, it just sounds silly and the action sequences is retarded and static and the Movies themselves lack ingenuity. Everything tries to be American. That said, I love and prefer American Movies because they give me what I want, i.e. Entertainment. But when genres lack their own identity and at that, instead, tries to be something they cannot be...well I Think you know how the result will turn out...

Plot: a Group of Young friends decides to get together for a weekend in a cabin in the Woods to catch up. One of them wonders off to explore and silence her curiosity, when she returns something has changed...

Well, what to say? It is not bad, in fact, it is quite good. Of course, the weight is on the sfx and as I mentioned above, it lacks story, originality, wit, identity. Above all, it is too much Evil Dead to be taken seriously to any degree. Nevertheless, it is not, thank God, cheesy and badly executed. The dialog sucks and it just sounds silly.

To my fellow Swedes, I can't really compare Vittra to any other Swedish Movie within the genre since we don't make a lot of these. The only Movie that comes Close is Evil Ed (1995) which is, truly, a cheesy Movie, so cheesy that it becomes funny. To my international colleagues, Watch this one if you like "Evil Dead" or any other Movie about people being stuck somewhere and stalked by creatures of the unknown.

I give it 5 out of 10 because it is well made, good sfx and lots of gore. It lacks any degree of originality and it is one of those Movies where the directors/creators just want to show off their technical skills in order to get funds for their next venture, which I Believe they will. But Vittra will not stand the test of time like Evil Dead.