Downhill

Plot synopsis:
At an expensive English boarding school for boys, Roddy Berwick (Ivor Novello) is School Captain and star rugby player. He and his best friend Tim Wakely (Robin Irvine) start seeing a waitress Mabel (Annette Benson). Out of pique, she tells the headmaster that she is pregnant and that Roddy is the father. In fact it was Tim, who cannot afford to be expelled because he needs to win a scholarship to attend Oxford University. Promising Tim that he will never reveal the truth, Roddy accepts expulsion.
Returning to his parents’ home, he finds that his father Sir Thomas Berwick (Norman McKinnel) believes him guilty of the false accusation.
Leaving home, Roddy finds work as an actor in a theatre. He marries the leading actress Julia Fotheringale (Isabel Jeans) after inheriting £30,000 from a relation. The unfaithful Julia secretly continues an affair with her leading man Archie (Ian Hunter) and discards Roddy after his inheritance is exhausted. He becomes a gigolo in a Paris music hall but soon quits over self-loathing at romancing older women for money.
Roddy ends up alone and delirious in a shabby room in Marseilles. Some sailors take pity on him and ship him back home, possibly hoping for reward. Roddy's father has learned the truth about the waitress's false accusation during his son's absence and joyfully welcomes him back. Roddy resumes his previous life.

Tags: violence

Review:
Bad trip.
Yes pun intended.
Although if you're looking for humor, you shouldn't stop and watch this.
Unless you like laughing at how bad some things are.
Like the dialog, or the "acting".
The story in general and some of the special effects too.
Is there any saving grace?
One of the accidental fun of course - and I guess if you like watching beautiful people, than there is something here for the eye too.But as far as horror movies are concerned, this is very weak.
I reckon if you haven't seen many, you might be mildly entertained.
But mostly for the wrong reasons as mentioned above.
I did watch it at a festival and it's always hard facing those who made this and put a lot of effort into this.
Learning by doing though and maybe someday the result will be better.
Downhill: Why does Natalie Burn always pick the worst roles?.
Let me start by saying this was filmed in 13 days, and it shows.
Oh boy, does it show.
Starring the underrated and potentially great action heroine Natalie Burn this Cabin Fever (2002) inspired mess truly has no idea what it wants to be.It's one of those horrors which makes its rules up as it goes along, gets more than a little weird then forgets to bother explaining itself.I walked away from the film scratching my head about what I'd just watched and more importantly why I had watched it in the first place.If horror has taught me anything its that woods are bad places, simply don't go there or you'll meet monsters, rednecks or lots of screaming folk and shaky camera work.The stories about the teddy bears picnic were lies, lies I tell you!
Downhill does exactly that, downhill from the start and before the credits roll succeeds in mowing face first into a tree, backflipping three times and landing in that pile of dung from Jurassic Park (1993).
weird horror.
Ha, let me say this is a nasty one to review.
It isn't going to be your downhill ride into a normal horror.
The opening scene was already confusing by seeing something in the style of a witch and some creature being put in a girl's throat.Then you are off for indeed a BMX ride down a hill filmed in GoPro style.
All nice but not exactly what I thought would become a weird horror.
It takes a while before this flick turns instantly into a strange story.
Once the party is over and the BMX ride starts again suddenly a crash is noticed by the bikers and off they go to help the one person sitting wounded in the car.
From then on this flick turns in some kind of science - fiction horror which reminded me of The Thing (1982) in some ways.
But it goes one step further which makes this little stinker a love or hate flick.
For me what started as a simple flick just on the edge of boredom becomes a flick that keep you watch it until the end.
In fact, it's got it all, witchcraft, satanism, creatures, and a bit of found footage.
I liked it.Gore 1/5 Nudity 1/5 Effects 2,5/5 Story 3/5 Comedy 0/5.
A fun movie with an amazing ending.
Some people are being overly critical..
The movie is a typical popcorn horror flick that isn't really doing anything new.
Everything about it is average, from the acting to the special effects, but it all culminates into a highly entertaining film that shouldn't be dissected or over analyzed like some people reviewing it have been doing.
It's a simple premise with a simple script, a b & C grade cast, and some competent special effects.
But to act like this is such a horrible film is hyperbole at best and an indication that not everyone should be reviewing movies.
Stop treating these movies as if they are supposed to be life altering experiences, and enjoy them for what they are; teh equivalent of reality TV, just condensed to an hour and a half.With all that being said, the ending was SPECTACULAR.
It's endings like that that make me glad to be a fan of the horror genre.
To me, it more than made up for anything I found average in the film as a whole.Go in expecting Shakespeare and you will be disappointed.
Set your expectations accordingly, for the genre, and just have a good time.
It's really that simple..
Trip to lack of sense.
Just for the record, it was very clear from the outset that 'Downhill' was in no way intended to be high art or a film one does try to judge it overly seriously.
Actually did watch it accordingly and really tried to take it for what it was aiming to be, which is always the case with everything watched and reviewed.
Have never watched a film with stereotypical views of what a film should do and with the mindset that there should be rules in what a film should be (i.e. not expecting every film to be "entertaining", because quite a number of films are not that type of film).Despite judging it fairly and with the aim of being encouraging rather than giving off the sense of being difficult to please (mostly am pretty generous), 'Downhill' didn't work for me sad and sorry to say.
The idea was not a bad one and it was for that reason as to why the film was seen in the first place, as well as it randomly appearing in my recommended for you section.
It was the execution of it that was badly off.The best thing about 'Downhill' was the make-up which did have an eeriness and professionalism, never being goofy.Actually, the production values in general were the film's least bad asset.
While not incredible-looking, for the budget and concept it really did not look bad, there are far cheaper looking films around.Unfortunately, that is where the praise ends.
The acting is poor all round, with a mix of not being comfortable and being robotic instead and also a jarring over-the-top-ness.
They do have to work with characters that are neither interesting, with very sketchy development, or with anything worth investing in, every one of them are either bland, annoying or both with vague motivations and frustrating decision making.
The dialogue always sounds improvisatory-sounding that it affects the flow and the cheesiness makes one cringe.It's the story that's the biggest problem with it being bad enough to pretty much single-handedly bringing down the film.
'Downhill' is not even a film that starts off well, even at the beginning it felt very confused.
Things get even more downhill from there, with sluggish pacing, no tension, suspense or creepiness at all, too many far-fetched moments and with so many unanswered questions and implausibilites the whole thing fails to make sense.
Especially in the last half hour, which is an overcooked, incoherent jumble of areas that don't gel.Summarising, very bad film.
2/10 Bethany Cox. Incredible!.
Downhill has a heartbeat that a lot of smaller productions can't relate to.
It feels like a spectacle with a mind of its own, and that adds a strange charm, but it also amplifies the loose design of the screenplay itself.
This is a flick that will be remembered long and it will frighten many , and it will do some very positive things for a large portion of the crew involved..
oh dear.
A poor story that puts self-survival over helping a mortally wounded, infected stranger being chased by a random collection of goat worshippers or aliens or whoever - we never get to find out.
In fact there are so many unanswered questions throughout the movie.Still the makeup/prosthetics are really good..
Apt title.
I have just typed up a review of this trash and my internet connection crashed and in all honesty can not be bothered typing another.
I would be surprised to ever watch a worse film ever again.
Acting awful, story a mishmash of other films ideas, no horror, no suspense no plot, awful dialogue.
The last half hour of this film you sense the makers knew they had a massive turkey and simply throw the kitchen sink at it hoping something works, sadly for us nothing works.Near the end when all the other characters are dead they through another couple in with maybe, maybe we can get Downhill 2, avoid this film or go and buy some paint slosh it on your wall and spend an hour and a half watching it dry..
You should be honored to be blessed.
Joe Lamb (Bryce Draper ) is a mountain bicycle racer as is his girlfriend Stephanie (Natalie Burn) who oozes with sexuality.
They go to Chile to race and end up getting hunted with an odd twist.The film opens with a teaser plot spoiler with Stephanie being tired down to a table and not in a fun way.
Some scenes worked better than others.
I liked the "please pull my hair" line, but our bikers did a whole lot of annoying whining and sniveling.
I am not sure how many mountain bicyclists who wear a helmet, actually die in a small crash., but I didn't buy the scene.Guide: F-word, sex, nudity.
Lovecraft on a Bad Day. I went into this film with very high expectations, especially as it seems influenced by H.P. Lovecraft of which I am a huge fan.
The BMX concept feels original and for the first 20 minutes I was very engaged in what was going on.
When the leads find a guy infected with a mysterious virus I thought it was going to go into Zombie territory but I was pleasantly surprised to find a twisted Lovecraftian tale of tentacles and worms along with a mix of the occult.
Ultimately the film seems to fit into the folk horror category and with the BMX and lovecraft themes in there it makes for quite a unique film.
The cast do a commendable job with what is a bonkers script and there are some great horror moments in there but it kind of falls short of greatness just when you think it's getting really good.
If there were more body horror in there it would have gone far to help improve things.
Unfortunately the last 15 minutes didn't live up to the rest of the film but I would still say it's worth a watch for horror fans.