The Painted

The idea of souls trapped in paintings and thus haunting a house wherever the paints go is pretty unique. It's that classic horror of "the paintings move/eyes follow me" that surprisingly is rarely seen in horror films. The story of how the painting became possessed by a demon was also pretty good, although it took a lot of expiation during the final third of the movie to finally catch the audience up. And the character development of the kids was also decent. Usually a movie will just show some basic family drama with little to no resolution, or they just magically get along at the very end. Here tho there is clear animosity from the older teenage daughter towards her much younger sister (cliche sure), but as the movie develops we see them not only start to repair their relationship but by the end actually the older daughter takes on a much more nurturing relationship towards her little sister. So props to the movie having some actual character development. The movie is also set in the 1960s which, while it never really shows this era well beyond a few scenes, it at least removes the problem of having cell phones, internet etc of the modern era.

Where the movie misses marks for me are the parents, aka the actual main characters. For some reason this movie had to follow the modern trope of making the dad a jerk and sex obsessed while making the mom the universal victim despite being the least caring woman on the planet. And the sad thing is the dad actually does a lot to protect his kids while his wife is always gone doing her own thing, yet somehow we are still meant to see him as the bad guy. And to have him randomly just shout during a normal conversation with zero provocation is just unhinged on the writers part. People don't act like that.

If the writers got their heads out of their you know what, this could've been a solid flick.

Basically that...

What I did like about it was it's very old fashioned style. None of the OTT flourishes that permeate Horror films these days. No extreme sadism or violence. No annoying overacting.

And, like others here have said, it is a good concept, rather imaginative, and I thought the visuals were done well, especially in the way they blended the 'Real' with the Unreal (I don't want to give too much away...)

Also, with many films like this where a family is going through this kind of stuff, usually the acting is not so hot with a lot of the Drama overdone, etc. In this case, I really did like the way the characters were developed (primarily the parents, the children really didn't have much to do) and their reactions and the way they dealt with each other, particularly in dramatic or uncomfortable scenes, were very well done, realistic, and believable.

Also, like some others have said here too, the ending is probably not as effective as it could be, finishing with a bit of a whimper...

But, if you are not expecting a super modern Horror movie with all kinds of extreme violence and effects and such and can appreciate an older fashioned yet imaginative style, then you might find this one fairly entertaining. I gave it a decent '6'~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~MY PARTICULAR WAY OF RATING:

5 - Flawed enough probably to give it a pass.

6. A decently passable story maybe worth a watch.

7. A solid film, well made, effective, and entertaining.

And, obviously, you can probably figure out what above and below these would mean... : )

"The Painted" is one of those films that gets overlooked - at first - but then captures the human imagination and produces a cult classic. A definite watch!

This is a story about a house full of paintings and the couple that inherits it. The paintings are mostly portraits of high quality. I won't spoil the plot by adding more detail here, except to say that the paintings reveal "The Painted".

This is an excellent, rather novel plot that tells itself once conceived. You will experience more than one chill and shiver and I'll wager that you jump several times, too. You can't get that kind of feeling from Hollywood these days, but you can mos def get it from this indy production.

If you want to experience something spine-tingling new, then you should pop some corn, roast a dog, kick back and get ready for a scary ride as you marvel at "The Painted"!

I appreciate the challenges that come with a low-budget production, and I made an effort to manage my expectations while watching. The horror concept is fresh and intriguing but lacks support from the cast's performances and script. The lead actress's expressions could have been more nuanced, though the older daughter demonstrated stronger acting skills.

I appreciate the seamless movement of the paintings, particularly when one is reflected in the mirror. This aspect of the movie truly stands out to me and enhances my overall enjoyment. If a more talented cast were assembled or if this concept were integrated into the Conjuring franchise, it could enhance the film's overall potential.

I wasn't expecting much from The Painted and was surprised at how many points it got right. Well shot, with some excellent special effects, some good suspense and genuinely creepy at times, it showed real effort if at times not exactly succeeding. The acting was kind of all over the place, but it was the casting that really failed. It seems the 5 leads, all playing a family, did not seem related in any way at all. The actor playing the son looked way too old and the actress playing his teenage sister was excellent but neither she or the young girl seemed related to him at all. It was almost as if they chose 5 random actors with no thought that this was suppose to be a believable family. The effort to recreate the 1960s also was a big fail. Still I enjoyed this and it even had one scene, bordering on funny but extremely realistic that I loved. Worth a one time watch.