De poel

Directed and co-written by Chris W. Mitchell, this Dutch film introduces us to a group of campers determined to enjoy themselves however much events conspire against them. By events, I mean that Leannart (Gijs Scholten van Aschat, who co-wrote this), his wife Silke (Carine Crutzen) and his two sons discover unpleasant things about each other, as they do about friend Rob (Bart Klever) and his daughter Emilie (Jamie Grant). That's bad enough, even if, for the viewer, the myriad sardonic altercations are so true to life they raise a smile of familiarity (in some cases - not all). As a character drama, this succeeds handsomely. But there's worse to come.

When unpleasant things start happening, the images and moments are captured so fleetingly, that you're in danger of missing them. Suggestions of the supernatural, the possibility of nasty legends about the pool of the title proving to be true, and effective moments of realistic gore. You'd leave, wouldn't you? This bunch take a long time to reach that decision. Is it too late? I'm not giving anything away, although (for some, at least) you might guess the answer with a degree of confidence.

I had great fun with this, although the line between real and hallucinogenic is so blurred, we're occasionally flummoxed as to what is going on; and van Aschat and his fellow writers, isn't falling over himself to explain things. My score is 7 out of 10.

Never mind the 'critics' this is a nice small dutch movie, well acted, and surprisingly well done. No it's NOT a blockbuster nor was it intended to be one. Good watch anyway. gave it an extra point because of the naggers

Having watched this the word Fine is about the only thing that I can choose to describe it. There is nothing exceedingly bad about this movie, with fairly competent actors, nice scenery, and some moody shots thrown in. Yet at the same time, none of it is remarkable. No actor really stands out from the rest, there isn't any memorable gore effects, and the unexplained plot all drain what creativity is in this film until it reaches an equilibrium. If you watch it, you won't be wasting your time as it is a decent way to kill about 80 minutes. It is however something you may walk away from unsatisfied and eventually forget it exists.

We Dutch have a rich history of making movies with that typical 'Dutch mark'. Something that's hard to identify but somehow always involves nudity, swearing, a bit wooden acting and a sense of humor that is very much Dutch. Lacking budgets of, say Hollywood, Dutch cinema always has fairly low production values. Even compared to British, Scandinavian or French movies, Dutch movies alway fall short of outstanding quality. Which, even for me as a Dutchman, makes them hard to like.

Sometimes you need to give them a chance however. And with 'De Poel' (The Pond) being somewhat of a revival of the 'Nether-Horror' genre I thought I'd put my prejudice aside and give it a try. Dutch media outlets praise the movie, but to me (and I guess my fellow movie goers in the cinema) it failed miserably.

'De Poel' follows two families going on a camping vacation in a forbidden part of a Dutch nature reserve. They set up camp next to a pond, and sure enough: s--- hits the fan. The build up of tension is decent, and the main actors (the younger actors barely have any lines to work with) act quite naturally which is a relief for a Dutch movie. The tension between husband and wife is actually quite enjoyable. Mom blaming dad for being stubborn and relying on technological 'toys' instead of a good old analogue compass is fun and recognizable. There are some nice scenic shots too. That's where the goods end.

'De Poel' fails to be scary. Overly stylized shots from the perspective of 'the threat' distract and only serve to reinforce something is wrong...again, and again, and again. There is some gore, including cutting off a finger. Which is followed by the character almost ignoring his missing finger just an hour later... The story doesn't explain anything, and only barely hints at the cause of the trouble.

The Netherlands has a history of prehistoric human sacrifices in bogs and marshes which this movie hints at, but never fully embraces. There's something about the virginity of 'the sacrifice' which made me fear they would actually go as far as having an awkward forced sex scene to prevent that sacrifice from happening...luckily 'De Poel' doesn't take it there. Instead: 'De Poel' simply becomes a snore fest best to be ignored completely.

During my screening the crowd would laugh at the movie all the time, would critique it all the time and everybody walked out saying "what a terrible movie." The worst thing is 'De Poel' had potential, but in the end feels like something a film school graduate should be proud of. Nothing cinema worthy. And to be quite frank: nothing worth your time and money. So once again: Dutch cinema fails to impress and falls flat on its face.

The Netherlands always had a thing for horror, a few classics came out of that country, the best known one must be De Lift (1983). From that moment the name Nederhorror came to life.

De Poel is classified under Nederhorror due Jan Doense being involved. He's known as Mr Horror in the Dutch era so this flick did had an easy promotion and distribution. But to be concrete , was it all worth watching. Well if you think you will see a gory flick or a slasher then skip this flick. If you do like ghost stories and people going berserk by dreams they have then this is your stuff.

I must say that I do had mixed emotions about it. The positive thing is that the acting was above mediocre but the story did lack suspense. Don't get me wrong, there are things going on but after a while it's a bit predictable. After eating the fish things go rather wrong at the camping era and from there you can say, well, this and that is going to happen. The last 7 minutes do offer a bit of slasher horror with one nice killing, but i won't spoil it over here. Even clocking in at 76 minutes it's a rather short flick but it was enough due the predictable parts. Even the ending wasn't a surprise.

But the way it was shot and the effects used did upgrade this flick a lot and for some the score used will do the scary part I guess. Nederhorror? Just on the edge.

Gore 0,5/5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 3/5 Story 2,5/5 Comedy 0/5