Reviews

One of the best movies I saw lately. The only reason I do not give a full 10 points is that the end of the movie seemed hurried. Seeing the long intro, they could have added an extra 30 minutes.It has been said before but the idea is great. It reminds a bit of Freddy Krueger and a lot of "They" and resides primarily on one question: What if your fears would become real? And when we grow up we are told that monster do not really exist, and that the only monsters hold an human face. The reality is that even if monsters exist or not as an adult you are trained to ignore them. It is PAP (Problem of Another Person). It is similar in a way to the idea from the anime Melody of Oblivion. As I said great movie, but this idea could have been exploited much better.

Imagine what you are left from a porn movie if you cut all the scenes with actual sex. Now stretch those 5 minutes for an hour and a half and you get this type of movie. It is a waste of time. The only quality of this movie is the fact that Roxane Mesquida is hot. Unfortunately she appears in only a couple of scenes.It is a video equivalent of women's cheesy novels. It will appeal to those that have loved Twilight and other brain dead people.There have been a lot of romanticizing of vampire movies lately so I tell some of my ideas on vampire myths. If vampires would exists this rules would apply: 1. Sun light only weakens not destroys them 2. They do not need to feed very often. They can feed once every few years with one or two humans and would be enough. But to have superhuman strenght to heal faster or to have powers they need to feed more often. Basically the more often you feed the stronger you are. 3. Vampyres cannot consume synthetic blood or animal blood. It is not the consumption itself that gives them their power. The act of consumption of human blood is part from a demonic contract. In return of this act they gain rejuvenation and others. 4. Turning something into a vampire involves a contract between the human and the vampire sealed by the act of consuming each other blood. It cannot be done by accident. As a conclusion this movie has only one target: horny women. If you are not in their target you will waste time of your life for nothing.

The film started really good, especially with the kids that said everyone who lives in he house dies. It was reminiscent of shining. Yet at a certain moment it is revealed that peter ward is the main character and that his family was killed. The fact he did not kill them is not a twist and is rather expected. When I saw it I thought just "meh... it is k". But a little time after I started thinking about the film in the idea that I might find some redeeming quality. This was a mistake as I found a lot of inconsistencies and logic errors. I will list my questions in hope of better understanding it: 1. If no one else died in the house except his family why did kids say : "everyone who lives here dies!"? This seems illogical 2. Why did the neighbor let the man he payed for the murder (but failed) live for 10 years? 3. Why did he not try to kill his wife in those 10 years? (it is not like he was afraid, and home accidents can be staged really easy) 4. If the ghost of Elizabeth can open the door she can move objects, but she does not do anything to help her supposed husband. Why? 5. The neighbor comes visiting him, even if he acts as a crazy person bringing cookies. Why? 6. Peter Ward gets hired under an assumed name and nobody does a background check or ask for credentials and gets promoted. Really? 7. The police is totally incompetent. 8. No one would let a crazy maniac go so easily as they did.

The movie is disappointing at so many levels if you are someone that has a brain. Also I do not know what it is , it is not horror,thriller, psychological, drama. It tries to be all but fails miserably. My advice skip this movie. You will not regret it.

I will first state the good parts of the movie (because they are few): The images and the visual atmosphere is great. ...that is it...

Now for the bad: Characters: are very cliché and very unrealistic (all of them). The policeman is so stucked up he does not even know how to smile, the lady that teaches him is a crazy old lady in the vision of her mind, the little girl is much to refined for her age, and the list goes on.

Logic: The first thing that bothered me was the automation: we are let to believe that building an automation is easy. It is not. Many automatons we cannot replicate even today. So to be able to fix an automation that draws something is far more complicated than it seems. The kid must be a prodigy , a genius to fix it. But still he does not appear to realize that Mellier build the thing from the fact that he signed the automation... Also at first it seems he needs his father notes to fix it (that would make sense) but he ends up fixing it without them. Also at one time they say they colored all the movies by hand. The person that made this movie does not realize how expensive this thing is. The series VR5 experienced this first had and had to halt production

Emotional effect-none: The movie builds up to a secret that the old man has kept for many years. The thing appears to hurt them deeply. Any normal person would suspect a serious loss (i.e either deserted by a loved one, either death of a loved one)... But when you reach the last 15 minutes you find out the man was upset for so many years just because he lost his business... I was like wtf?! Did we become so materialistic that we care about a business that much?

Subliminal messages: The movie is filled with people that practically squandered their life and now, at the old age are happy. On the other hand all the people that actually worked for a living die in a horrible way. What moral does it have? That being an honest worker only gets you an alcoholised death, and being a total immoral person gets you everything you want?

As one previous reviewer said the movie is just an homage to an historical figure that no one even remembers today or cares about.

Recommendation: DON'T SEE IT! NOT WORTH IT!

I thought the movie is great, but i did not see it as many people do. I did not see it as a way to put a dilemma between good and evil, but to show us how easy is for us to lose control over to the demonic forces.

One of the first parts that you see if you look close enough is that the two main characters (the couple) are gradually changed by the people around them (that are portrayed as demonic minions) to become as them. The first change is when the wife wants a green wall, but the evil neighbor convinces her to go with another color. Then we see as the times passes by that the matter if the husbands clients are guilty or not or how horrific their crime is becomes less and less important to him. The only thing that matters becomes to win, or rather said have the impression he won.

The second is a vague sentence the devil utters while he kills one of his subordinates: "People have reached a point where they consider they are they're own god. This world is out of control". This means the pride of the people in this world has become so great that they have no more control over themselves , but they become easily controllable by him.

In the end the devil presents his defends, where he mixes truth with lie to become the innocent one. He says that God gave humans the instinct to do evil, the free will to do it , but commanded him not to. Although it is true God gave humans the power to choose between good and evil, he did not gave man the "instinct" to do bad. To give a quote from the Bible "our fight is not against flesh and blood (i.e it is not in our nature to be evil) but against the dominions , the powers and the principalities of the darkness of this age that inhabit the skies (i.e. the temptations and illusion the devil creates)". Next the main character asks the devil one important question: "Why should I bother, since you are destined to lose?" The devil answers: "Yeah, but look against whom we go against!". Another important question is: "What do I have to gain in this?" The devil answers: "Everything you want. Happiness as tap water.". In reality this is a lie. The devil can only give a faded illusion of happiness or pleasure. If you leave the things settle just a bit the illusion starts to fade and it becomes bitterness. Also this is only for a limited amount of time.

Another part is the now famous "look but don't touch..." that being attributed to God. In fact this the devil's mo. He understand you cannot transform a man who loves his wife into a person that could cheat without remorse (for instance) in one move. He does things gradually: first he says: "It is OK to look, you are not doing anything bad" then "it is okay to have sexual fantasies with that person it is just natural" then "it is OK to make an 'innocent' sexual joke once in a while" then "it is okay, just happened once, you where a little drunk, the wife was ignoring you, don't worry about having sex with someone once". then says: "If you did once why would it be wrong do do it again? and again? and again?..." and in the end he says: "don't you see it is in your nature? you cannot get rid of this behavior! You might as well enjoy it!"

At the end the devil is asked "What about love?" Since the devil cannot actually experience rue love anymore he answers it is overrated changing the notion of love with the notion of sexual attraction.

Seen as just a movie, without taking into account the message, the movie is extraordinary in many ways. But once you look at the message things change. What ideas does the message transmit? To put it simply it transmits the same new age crap TV shows had tried to brainwash us for a long time. But let's take it one at a time: MSG1: You can be Hitler , as long as you feel good you will eventually reach something similar to Nosso Lar MSG2: Reincarnation is the basis of reality, so no matter what you do in your life, don't worry, you'll get a second chance. So kill, rape, still, everything is permitted. MSG3: Jesus was into the new age BS (a blasphemy that should take the movie out of circulation since 60% of earth's people claim to be Christian) MSG4: The devil does not exist. It is a figment of the imagination. MSG5: channeling really creates a connection with the ones that died (in reality it makes a connection with demons)

I liked the ending of the movie a lot. Hadn't the patience to see it all, but I got the answers most questions. Although they are not answered directly they are implied. Honestly I do not like the implications, but this is what it says.

Part I: Why did the center was founded Answer: The scrolls have two qualities: 1. give details about the apocalipse 2. gives a way to either survive, either control some powerful and dark forces So the Center was created as to people to get the scrolls and presumably control the situation when apocalipse comes Part2: What makes Jarod's blood so special? Well the answer stands in the inscription "Tengo Arcana Dei" meaning I have God's secret. There are two possibilities: 1. Reference to the stupid Dan Brown book (holy blood...) 2. Jarod may be an attempt to duplicate Adam's original DNA (yes the biblical Adam) Part3: who are the parents of Jarod and Miss Parker? Answer: They where both conceived in a test tube using Dna material from unknown sources. Mis Parker was probably as all Miss Parkers (including Catherine) a clone of the little girl. Jarod was supposed to be a clone for one of the two possibilities in the previous answer. Part4: What where in the scrolls? I presume a form of magic that dates back to the origin of mankind. So the power to control all dark forces (The demon Asmodeus and the serpent appear to testify to that).

I am sorry the series turned out at the end to be a New Age crap film, but at least they went with style.