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.

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.

A nice try for a horror movie. There has never been a dutch scary movie that actually was scary. Compared to the rest of them, this movie is a masterpiece. It almost gives you a scare and its first 35 minutes are entertaining minutes. Then it unfolds to be a'the shining' wannabe. All the characters become unlikable. The motives are weird and unprovoked. The movie becomes predictive. And after an hour of watching you start to lose interest to see the end. It's just follow-up of nice shot scenes, but no overall story. The acting isn't that bad. I wouldn't recommend this movie for anybody looking for a entertaining evening. Because there wasn't any nude in the movie, something that we dutch always find functional, I can't give this more then a solid 4. Not really bad, but still far from good.

I don't often review films. Frankly, with the advent of "quantity over quality" which has taken place with free streaming on major providers, I find that movies of the horror and/or psychological thriller seem to be just recycling the same themes and storylines over and and over again, with cheaper and cheaper production budgets. I just find that it's much harder to suspend my disbelief these days - and maybe that's because I've seen so many horror films/thrillers at this point.

Let me tell you, don't be thrown off by the fact that this is a foreign film and contains subtitles. IT IS TERRIFYING. The characters are easy to identify with, as is the storyline. For those who enjoy the outdoors, they can relate. And for those who do not, well, this movie will only drive them further away from the woods!

I just have to say that this film was jarring. The twists, the turns, none of them were typical of the genre, and the writers were/are brilliant. The acting was top notch, and the filming was wonderful. The scenes were cut perfectly for the style and fit the scenery and context well. I literally couldn't stop watching, the film kept me on the edge of my seat. OH, and I tried to eat dinner during it. Don't do that!

As a genuine horror fan and a Dutch native, I did not have high expectations of this horror movie. Even without the expectations this movie was dissapointing. The story does not come to life, the acting was mediocre and there was no suspense. Things hppening for no reason and a terrible end that makes no sense. After watching the movie there was just a feeling of regret. I could have watched something even remotely interesting. This comes from somebody who has watched so many pulp and B movies.