restrained and effective

Rating: 7/10 (30 July 2014)

I enjoyed the movie. The audience I was watching it with were a little weird at first (tittering and talking back at the screen, it was a film festival, they always seem to want to demonstrate their engagement with the the film early) But after a big fake scare early on, they settled down. The film was naturalistic for a horror film, the actors were wearing minimal makeup, the indoor settings looked to be locations as opposed to sets, and the performances restrained. It kind of reminded me of the Virgin Suicides, lots of girls with long blonde hair lying around and a story revolving around sex and death. The soundtrack was effective but it was definitely visually scary as well. It didn't rely solely on tricks to get its scares. The story jumped in places, and lagged in other places (the shots of expressionless blonde girls lingered too long to sustain my interest) It felt like there was symbolism, deeper meanings and themes running throughout, but i couldn't understand them. If I was meant to get something from the film it wasn't overt enough to be satisfying. However it worked on an entertainment level. The sequences I found to be most memorable were the wheelchair scene, the first attack in the house (especially the very tall man), the beach scene. The scenes I really didn't get was the boat scene, the pool, and the ending. I actually wanted the movie to go on a little longer.