Don't Look Up

Plot synopsis:
On the set of a dark war time drama at an old movie studio, a young director, Toshio Murai (Yanagi), is trying to complete his debut film. The two starring actresses, Hitomi Kurokawa and Saori Murakami, play sisters in his film. Murai has a crush on Hitomi (Shiroshima), the seasoned leading actress, and keeps a photo of her by his bed. The younger and less experienced actress, Saori (Ishibashi), is annoying and likes to have recess on the set. The production of the movie is consistently interrupted by strange occurrences and the cast and crew begin to get spooked. When Murai reviews the shoot, he is shocked to see that scenes from an unreleased (and presumed destroyed) drama from years earlier are intermingled with his negatives. As Murai is watching his footage, the scene is interrupted by a film within a film of an unidentified actress on a movie set, with something that looks like a woman behind her, long black hair, pale skin, out of focus, laughing hysterically. Murai is fascinated with the freaky footage, as it looks strangely familiar. The production shuts down for a formal investigation. Murai has only three days left to find out what is going on and finish the shoot. Murai looks into his own past, and finds a frightening connection between the film he is shooting and the strange footage he has uncovered.

Tags: paranormal, violence, murder, haunting

Review:
This movie started with some promise, considering that it's from the same writers of "The Ring," and directed by (until now) promising director Fruit Chan.The beginning is fairly intriguing, but maybe fifteen or twenty minutes in, I was losing interest, and wondering where the plot had gone.
Any brief horror they had managed to drum up had been whizzed right down their legs in roughly fifteen seconds.Yes, there is some gore, and at times I felt an uneasy sense of foreboding, but this film ultimately failed in delivering the punches.
although after watching this movie, it marked my life in such ways I had to leave a comment and warn others.
This movie shows promise at the start, thinking of such urban legends as the filming of The Exorcist...
The plot is very poor to say the least, and the main character inspires as much empathy in his role as a mad director, that by the end of the movie you are actually rooting for something to happen to him.
A lot of the other reviews are kinda harsh and seem to come from the Uber-Film High-Brow Horror Critic's row of the theatre.
. .different.What grabbed me was the notion of a ghost story set current day, in Transylvania, that didn't involve Vampires.
And here was a story about a modern day haunting in Transylvania on a movie set.Now I'll be honest, the plot is confusing.
I'm not quite sure on exactly WHAT was haunted: The Movie Set, the Film, or the 'Set Specialist' himself, But I like the fact that you're not quite sure whether the 'Set Specialist' Marcus is hallucinating or really seeing things.
The build-up of havoc on the filming set and the deaths here and there followed by the final send-up of the ghost/apparition at least did not follow the usual formula, so I was entertained.
. .the GF will NOT understand and will give you troublesome disgusted looks.Nah, it's not Horror Movie Gold-- but it has it's own Honorable Mention Category and definitely a good passable Saturday Nite Horror Flick.
Here a director would like to remake a movie that was never finished due to, as legends go, evil spirits.
Those evil spirits are killing all crew members or anyone involved in the making of the movie.
The formula has been repeated so often you have to wonder why they don't just quit.Take a good Japanese suspense film of the same name, which was directed by Hideo Nakata (The Ring Trilogy), and had a screenplay by Hiroshi Takahashi, who also wrote the screenplays for the Ring Trilogy.
and bring in a big time director (Fruit Chan) and someone to adapt the screenplay to add gore instead of suspense (Brian Cox), add some American eye candy (Rachael Murphy), and you have a film that is a pale imitation of the original directed to teens.Forget the eye candy, find the original..
This is apparently a remake of an Japanese ghost film, given a western twist and cast, and directed by Chinese director Fruit Chan (who made the sickening DUMPLINGS).The story tells of a film crew attempting to shoot a tale about a cursed production, only for themselves to fall foul of the evil spirit of a witch inhabiting the set.
The witchcraft/ghost angle is entirely predictable, although there are some cool CGI effects involving swarming flies, but that doesn't stop the film from feeling disjointed and more than a little unfocused.There are familiar cast members here, from a cameoing Eli Roth as a Hungarian director to Henry Thomas and Shiloh Fernandez, but the actors fail to bring life to what is a very stale script.
You can tell Chan is trying and indeed DON'T LOOK UP is unsettling in a few places thanks to his efforts, but as with most remakes I'd recommend checking out the original instead..
Marcus Reed (Reshad Strik), a film-maker troubled by strange visions, travels to Romania to try and make a movie based on a long lost film by legendary '20s director Béla Olt (Eli Roth).
Reed's film is hampered by strange accidents on-set: is Marcus losing his mind or is an ancient gypsy curse causing his problems?Don't Look Up is a remake of the 1996 Japanese film Joyû-rei; it is an American/Japanese/South African co-production starring an international cast and directed by Asian film-maker Fruit Chan.
The first half of the film is extremely boring, while the second half makes no sense whatsoever.A couple of gruesome death scenes and frequent clouds of CGI flies do nothing to make this garbage any more bearable.
Boring dialogue, terrible acting, horrible editing effects, a set that looks like an old derelict junkyard, an irritating Romanian character who says 'Mr. Marcus' every few seconds: this sorry excuse for a horror film is a total dud from dull start to utterly incomprehensible finish..
It's a Japanese director's attempt at making a more western-oriented horror film.
The script is certainly no more lame than other 'revered' Asian horror films like The Ring or The Grudge or The Eye. Give it a chance and an open mind and you'll see that it's not a classic, but still quite good compared to most horror films produced nowadays..
Traveling to Romania to finish a legendary movie, a troubled director and his crew must deal with the effects of a deadly curse over the production killing off anyone involved and deal with it before succumbing to it.Overall this one was pretty enjoyable if slightly disappointing effort.
This makes the filming of these scenes quite enjoyable as there's a fine sense of atmosphere displayed there during these scenes when looking back at them through the film-cameras which makes many of these accidents quite thrilling when falling lights, broken rigs and failing light-work all conspire against the crew in a slew of grisly accidents that come off rather nicely here to carry on the legacy of the curse here in addition to the few startling ghost attacks up on the stage- rafters and the ambush down in the basement.
This also brings up the events of the final half as the true value of that curse comes about with deadly accidents in the development lab, a thrilling revelation sequence on the movie set as the replayed events of the original story are enacted and then finally meeting up with the main spirit which causes this one to really get a decent enough finish here to help it somewhat against the few flaws here.
Rather than serving as a way to keep the filmed movie going or gaining insight into how to defeat the ghostly being stalking around, which is what's to be expected in this kind of situation here, they're more used to showcase supposedly creepy images and jump-scares that don't mean much instead as there's little purpose to them, and simply being there to remind us how troubled he is doesn't help matters so all these scenes do is serve to highlight the film's next big problem in the uneven pacing.
There's so many stretches here where nothing really happens that there's times when this one tends to run aground and derail itself by not going for the main storyline involving the curse on display against the film crew as they deal with their own petty problems or utilizing his moronic visions that keep the ghost actually off-screen so long into this one until the final battle.
I originally picked this movie to watch after reading the plot.
It seemed different from most movies so I thought I was seeing something new that would grab my attention.
When getting the movie home, I read the reviews on here and saw it was a "bad" horror film.
There is no definite beginning or end, leaving you to question the purpose of the entire movie.
The plot seems to change focus from the movie production to the mental state of the producer.Let it be known, this is NOT a horror movie.
There are "intense" images placed in scenes without much thought (i.e. the flashbacks the main character gets).
It lacks the core elements which would make a movie "R" - gore, language, and nudity.
The acting was subpar; I think a high school play crew could act the scenes better than the actors hired for this movie.
Don't Waste Your Time Watching This Film.
Her daughter Matya (Zelda Williams ) had the mark of the devil and was killed by the haunted villagers.In 1928, the Hungarian director Bela Olt (Eli Roth) decides to shoot Matya's story with the lead gypsy actress Lila Kis (Rachael Murphy); however, the director, the cast and the crew vanished with the film that has never been seen.In the present days, the discredited medium director Marcus Reed (Reshad Strik) and his producer Josh Petri (Henry Thomas) head to Romania to make a film about Matya's story.
However, the director, cast and crew are haunted in the set by an evil spirit and the survivors drive insane."Don't Look Up" is a terrible film with a messy and incoherent screenplay.
But "Don't Look Up" is confused and does not make sense, and my advice to the reader is to not waste your time watching this film.
"Don't Look Up" is a remake of an old Japanese film, following in an almost viral tradition; "The Grudge" and "The Ring" are but two popular titles that have followed this trend.
Both are stellar films in their own rights; unfortunately, "Don't Look Up" shows promise only moments before falling flat on its face.From the very beginning of the movie, the viewer is introduced to the significant element: a vengeful spirit seeking to inflict her sorrows on the world.
It's fairly bread-and-butter as far as backdrop folklore goes, but it sets a solid premise; this is where the solidity ends, as the movie begins to jump...
The spirit apparently kills the director of said film, then, and we cut to a man standing in his room, having what can only be described as a seizure.
He is apparently capable of seeing apparitions, and writes his sights down for movie plots-- he is a starving-artist director whose odd 'condition' has inhibited his ability to properly shoot a film.
Thus the man sets out for Romania to shoot another film based on these otherworldly sights.
They go to Romania, to the old film studio where the 20's director was killed.
A scene mimics the very first in the movie with the 20's film shooting, and then all hope is lost.
The director meets a strange old man with an unsightly growth on his neck who tells him he has been waiting for another to film a movie at the studio.
At this point, the plot and the characters are inexplicably inconsistent; if it is trying to make a knock on the style of "The Grudge," it has missed the critical phase of explanation.
Lots and lots of flies.At this point, the film has officially stopped making sense.
The actress portraying the disappeared actress from the '20s is making her move on the main character, people are still dying at an almost alarming ratio of roughly 1 per every 8 or 9 minutes, and the deaths are still inexplicable, have no allusion or purpose, and just seem to be for the sake of wanton murder.
There is a disturbing scene where the main character confronts the spirit, who proceeds to discharge a number of things from her vagina, and he runs.
The actress tells him they can spare this girl from her suffering and then the main character's girlfriend comes in from a giant backdrop of glowing white and everything disappears.
The viewer is left wondering what, why and how the spirit is what it is.In conclusion, "Don't Look Up" isn't necessarily a bad premise; I say this only because I could not grasp the premise fully from the film.
There is indeed a spectre, and there is indeed death, but what the relevance is between that, the myth stated at the beginning of the film and the main character, I cannot truly say.
Anything else in the horror genre ought to be better than this, as few films nowadays lack such basic elements of coherency and continuity.Note: I believe the scenes using the girl's eye are taken directly from "Ringu," the Japanese version of the film "The Ring.".
I had high hopes for this movie when it said from the people that made The Ring but this movie failed in nearly every way possible, The story makes little to no sense and at the end your wondering what the hell did I just watch and what the heck is happening.
The ending is confusing and like the rest of the movie makes no sense, The ghost only appears for about 5 minutes in the film the rest of the attempted scares are just flies, yes you read right lots of flies and a woman can be heard screaming before somebody dies, There are literally no scares in the movie, ONly worthy part of the movie is The close up of the Girls eye and the end when Marcus falls into the curtain and when he uncovers himself the ghost's head is coming out of the floor I like imagery like that.
Overall I give the movie a 2/10 because it made no sense, The ghost is only in it for a brief amount of time, It never explains how she became the next Kayako or Samara, I can only assume the devil gave her her powers avoid this movie at all cost..
Marcus (Reshad Strik), an aspiring director, sets out to remake an unfinished Romanian horror movie (how he got a production still from a movie no one saw isn't really explained).
Mysterious and tragic events plagued the first attempt - the question is: Will this time be any different?We open with a little exposition & look at the last day of the original filming.
Hungarian director, Bela Olt, is making a film about a gypsy curse legend.
A young Romanian woman makes a deal with the devil, promising her unborn child in return for marriage to a powerful man.
The devil will not lift the curse until the crime is brought to light, and another woman carries his demon seed.During filming, it becomes obvious that the set is haunted and cursed - allegedly by the ghost of the gypsy girl herself.
The film grinds to a halt as Olt searches out the spirit, and ultimately disappears.Except it isn't exactly told as a flashback.
We flash between Marcus' seeing seizures & the actual series of events that caused the original film to go unfinished.
all the time.Before flying to Europe to make this masterpiece, Marcus visits his dying girlfriend, chased out by her bitter brother.We cut to the winding road to the movie set.
He is the first to notice odd characters and happenings on their set - the exact location of the original studio.The cast & crew arrive, including the lovely Romy, who was especially keen to work with Marcus.
Here, they mostly swarm, sometimes leading to death.The film goes back and forth between current happenings and Marcus' seizures.
The weird occurrences escalate, strange characters are introduced, and the crew clearly becomes scared, then violently mad.The action culminates in two very convoluted and confusing scenes that first involves Marcus meeting the gypsy devil and becoming part of the story; then, he confronts the effected women in this story - the two actresses playing the original gypsy woman, the real gypsy woman, and Marcus' own girlfriend.Somehow, without knowing what the heck has to be done....
he makes SOMETHING happen.Yeah, very unclear.And, in an outro, there is a scene meant to explain a bit of the story, but is totally unnecessary.Overall, the acting is pretty good, and there are some clever devices used in the movie.
Remakes of Asian horror have always been variable quality, from the big budget blockbusters, to the bloodless knockoffs - and ever since the glory days of Ju-on and Ringu, any eastern horror seems to have been considered fair game.There's nothing wrong with the premise, per se: a doomed film shoot has residual psychic leaks and curses that are inflicted on someone wanting to take up the project decades later.
The production in general feels like it would be cheap for a TV movie, with some terrible special effects and props.
Viewers can get the general ideas, but so many things just come right out of nowhere - demon cancers on people's necks, glowing angel girlfriends who have secretly been dead for months - that more time is spent thinking you missed something than actually watching the movie.
Hinting at something in a movie without outright telling, in order to let the viewer draw their own conclusions is admirable, but to just throw in seemingly random scenes or twists just for the sake of it means the conclusions drawn are that the scriptwriter and editor need to be replaced.It's not a total waste of celluloid - some people may enjoy it, by the other reviews some people have.
I found it a painful, confusing experience with some parts that could have really played up the creepy aspect (the missing, undeveloped frames for instance) but instead chose to try for bizarre imagery and ridiculously contrived plot devices over substance..
The ivy leaves were as petrified as the walls of the filming set, which was far from realistic.
I had to do a real effort to continue seeing this film after the scene in which all the filming crew rush in a total disorder after a death of one of their work partners.
A modern day film maker decides to try again, turmoil ensues.
Oh yeah, they were the people working on the movie, but no one had a back-story, besides the director, who, all you figured out was that he was a whack-doodle.