Disquiet

The plot is so transparent and derivative that nothing I write here could possibly come as a surprise when it happens on screen.

I used to do SFX makeup for haunted houses where we had like 15 minutes per person and had to do a dozen each a night. Even though it was only (barely) seen in a dark, poorly lit room by kids and/or drunk adults, it all STILL looked better than what's shown here.

I swear, the brunette looks like her "stitches" are some kids temporary tattoos they're so bad. The "creepy" nails on the old man literally look like they're just cut out of old yellow tape and stuck it on. I am gobsmacked that anyone thought ANY of that was good enough for film, and I'm not even watching on an HD set!

Not worth renting, not worth watching. At all.

Well, this movie certainly was in a league of its own.

I had not heard about this 2023 thriller titled "Disquiet" from writer and director Michael Winnick prior to stumbling upon it by random chance. And seeing that the movie had Jonathan Rhys Meyers in the leading role, I figured that chances were that it might be a watchable enough movie.

However, I opted to scroll through some reviews of the movie prior to watching it, and those weren't painting the movie in a good light. Yet, I still opted to give "Disquiet" the benefit of the doubt. Though, I ended up turning off the movie with just about 20 minutes left to watch. But I have to admit that I was bored senseless by that point, and just couldn't take more of the torment that is "Disquiet".

Writer and director Michael Winnick put together a very, very bland script for the movie. And there wasn't much of anything that really made much of any coherent sense throughout the course of the movie. It felt, for the most parts, just like the writer and director made things up as the shooting of the movie progressed.

The acting performances in "Disquiet" were fair enough. Not Jonathan Rhys Meyers finest work by any means, but watchable nonetheless. There were three familiar faces on the cast list here for me, that being Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Lochlyn Munro and Garry Chalk.

Visually then "Disquiet" was an okay movie. The special effects were fair enough, but nothing that had me impressed or anything. But it was just lacking that particular ingredient to make it outstanding.

For a thriller then "Disquiet" was a rather strange one. I am sure that there is an audience out there for a movie such as "Disquiet", I just happened not to find much of any enjoyment in the movie.

My rating of "Disquiet" lands on a very generous three out of ten stars.

What was a good feeling in the first 5 mins of the movie, then quickly deteriorates as the acting and script kicks in. It is so frustrating obvious to see what was trying to be done here, but sadly, the concept misses the mark completely. What could have been a horror masterpiece concludes with a plink plonk piano soundtrack to a lame finish as you hit that realisation that you should have just watched Silent Hill again, and then again.

Special effects can be decent. Make up is not. Boob job zombies are decent. Blurred shot of what looks a cracking pair of boobs is frustratingly not.

D- must try harder.

The plot (or lack thereof) and wooden, sometimes cliche dialogue and makes this feel almost like a parody of cheap horror films. It switches from trying to be somewhat realistic, but then there are stylised shots that are done in a cheesy way, like the 3 shots of the 3 demon women shrieking at the camera in purple lighting. It deserves at least 2 stars instead of 1 because some of the cinematography is decent. The story is about as deep as a puddle, it would probably seem like an epic horror film to a 10 year old, it feels like it was made by one because of how derivative and predictable it is.

Not really sure what they were going for here. Was it to get you to think about your current life and what could happen in the afterlife (if that's your belief)? Is it that people are caught in this never ending pit of purgatory or that if you've lived your life, well, there is that bright light that you can walk into. Not sure what the goal was but it makes for a goodnight of margaritas and a room of friends for a good philosophical discussion.

And on the other hand it could just be a very, very awful film that missed all intended objectives and goals. I'm thinking it's a mix of all things noted, that resulted in a bad movie.