Animus

From gifted film maker Quin Davis comes this extraordinary and original horror movie. Both written and directed by Davis, it tells the terrifying story of students investigating paranormal activity in a abandoned hospital. Before too long, the investigators are running and fighting for their very lives as they are pursued by a blood thirsty maniac. Davis is superb at creating the fearful environment within the creepy hospital and his imagery is incredibly haunting. The script is intelligent and the characters are realistic and bright. John Bernath and Megan Davis give outstanding performances, giving their roles depth and humanity and compassion. While the paranormal investigation of derelict hospitals has been done a few times in the past, it has never been filmed with such insight, plausibility, and stark raving horror. An exceptional horror film, finely observed and beautifully realized.

This film was actually somewhat of a surprise to me when considering the low rating and turned out to something I actually enjoyed. Just looking at the background of this first time writer/director gave me an idea of the potential this film could have, him having a solid background in special effects/make-up really shows all throughout the film. The plot is about our lead character Maya(Megan Davis), a college film student tasked with the assignment of making a documentary film. She sets out in hopes of finding the paranormal with four friends at the legendary Copper Queen Hospital, which supposedly is haunted by the ghost of the head doctor's illegitimate son, who disappeared there long ago, presumed murdered by the doctor's angry wife. Instead they find a horror far more real than any ghost & much more dangerous, a blood thirsty maniac hell bent on slicing & dicing anyone that enters into his realm.

The cinematography is good, the effects & make-up are as good as any big budget Hollywood horror release. The acting by our lead Maya is acceptable although I can't say the same for the rest of the cast. Their purpose seemed to be limited to being killed off violently as they added little more to the film in terms of story and acting ability. Other than that indiscretion the film really excelled in it's special effects & gore. I also noticed some influence from other great films from the past during certain scenes which was interesting. That said, while not perfect it was an entertaining film that any horror fan should take a liking to. A recommended low budget time killer 4.5/10

The second movie called Animus that didn't really do it for me. Still this is a step (or two) up from the other one I watched. Which isn't really saying much, since this still isn't really good. Some nice shockers and I reckon for a low budget movie the effects are ok too.

So depending on how much slack you are willing to give this, how low you are comfortable lowering the bar to have fun or even if you just are into this sort of no money movie almost amateurish style of filmmaking ... I appreciate the love they put here, so I might be giving them some slack, always consider that when seeing my rating - bear that in mind so to speak

ANIMUS gets off to a relatively good opening with a gory murder followed by a suicide and I was somewhat surprised just how gory this was and also draws the audience in to the story . As the story proper starts we're then introduced to a bunch of film students studying at the University of Tucson . The students are young and good looking and I got feeling we might be watching a very traditional horror film like we had in the 1980s where horny teenagers get chopped up by a psycho killer . Indeed we have a very minor character called Wes Carpenter and this self reference gives you a clue what you're going to be watching - horny teenagers fighting for their lives

The problem is that very little happens after the pre-titles hook and the writer/director Quin Davis and early on in order to spice things up we have a horror sequence which is revealed to be a nightmare . This draws attention that for long segments very little is happening plot wise . The story drags at a snails pace and since the other reviews have mentioned the cinematography so will I - it's unimpressive and very grainy and nowhere near being compared to big budget Hollywood horror films . The camera work is also very static but I suppose that's due to a lack of money and post production facilities . Horror junkies especially ones who remember the 1980s might enjoy ANIMUS but not being much of a horror fan I didn't

This film, although I appreciate is a first attempt at a horror type movie, leaves much to be desired. The actors portrayed their parts in an amateur fashion and were given the stereotypical personalities so often seen in this movie genre. Some characters (Maya) were portrayed decently enough however other characters seemed forced and very static.

The plot could be interesting if it were told in a more compelling fashion but unfortunately the concept was not strong enough to deem the film 'good'. The make-up was another issue as the antagonist was shown very clearly with close-ups and bright lighting and the film could not get away with their make-up application and choices.

I do understand that this is a first production for the director and it is a commendable attempt however this film lacked finesse and was quite sloppy at times (some parts are very blatantly bad editing; one can hear sound being cut in and out and even re-recordings do not flow with the scene).