Athena

Athena is an interesting horror/sci-fi indie that I stumbled upon on Amazon. Two troubled individuals start to hear the same voice in their head -- Athena -- who attempts to influence them, but does it have sinister intentions? Now this film might not be everyone's cup of tea due quite simply to the massive amount of blood that appears on screen, but on the other hand, there's probably plenty of us that would watch a horror film just knowing that it doesn't hold back in that department haha. I really liked the psychological element to this film, which is often lacking in many horror films. Pretty good acting and production values in Athena too, particularly for an indie film. It appears as if director Robert W. Filion had many jobs on this film by looking at the credits, so kudos to him for his work here. He seems to have a fairly lengthly list of directing credits according to IMDB, so I might go check out his other work.

This is definitely one of the more offbeat indie horror movies I've watched in quite some time - the best way to describe is if you took elements of William Friedkin's film "Bug" (in terms of a man and a woman both dealing with trauma, and as you can see from the photo here, bugs), Spike Jonze's "Her" (an unseen female voice driving a lot of the story), and a dash of Cronenberg and put it all in a blender with a lot of fake blood, you'd get something close to this film.

As Carl, Matthew Ewald gives a compelling performance as a truly tortured man dealing with an intense loss, and I look forward to seeing other performances from him in the future. That being said, I did have some issues with the usage of blood in this story, both figuratively and literally - and no, I'm not the squeamish type, and you shouldn't be either if you watch this film.

Unfortunately, the blood is here is not only a bit excessive (people don't bleed that much that fast), but there are various moments where a character is bleeding (there's a scene in a bar that comes to mind) and people just ignore it - people don't react to people who could have some sort of contagious disease like that in the real world (especially right now.)

In short, this was an interesting movie - there was a cool story here, but some of the special effects distracted me from focusing on it in full. I'd like to see this director make another film, even a horror film, but one that relies less on the gross out and more on the genuine horror found in the human condition - I have no doubt he's capable of it.

Horror fans are an infamously fickle lot, but their insatiable appetite for psychology-driven themes is nothing short of a historical fact, and with the stakes always ratcheted further up once everything arrives soaked in blood. With these truths in mind, it's hard to imagine they won't find loads to soapbox about with Robert Filion's uniquely excellent, "Athena."

Melding the best elements of horror with those of sci-fi, the disembodied namesake character of "Athena" is heard but not seen as a voice that slowly inhabits the heads of the film's two lead characters. Carl (Matthew Ewald) and Emily (the singularly named Vanelle) share in life's brutal struggle, but in acutely unique ways that find a dark commonality once the inner voice of Athena separately enters their heads and begins commingling with their own thoughts. It's a great concept made more so by Athena's ambiguity of intention: Is she the metaphorical angel whispering in one ear, or the devil whispering in the other?

Filion has married a strong premise with great cinematic execution, and all while coaxing fine performances from his actors. "Athena" is indie horror filmmaking at its most shrewdly aspirational, and is ideally made the masses. - (Was this review of use to you? If so, let me know by clicking "Helpful." Cheers!)

Athena is a film that's off the beaten path, largely using inner thoughts expressed in voice over to tell the story. The film kept me engaged from beginning to end. I reccomend this film.