VeteranLight I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Abbigail Bush what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Roman Sampson One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Mathilde the Guild Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Brian Erzen *Spolier Free Review* I saw Finale last night and I felt this was an enjoyable low budget horror film, that had some really creative cinematography, and used a dark, and creepy visual effect technique that I haven't seen in too many movies. According the the behind the scene featurette, the producer of the film mentions the movie was shot was a small team of 8 people. It's truly and "indie movie" and it's a solid effort. The films strong points, are the look and style (Mise en scène) with some thought out and creative shots, as well as some damn good cinematography. Finale is work checking out, it's an interesting story that doesn't spoon feed you the answers, something I'll watch again to see what I missed the first time. his movie is worth checking out.

Bloodwank Things get off on the wrong sort of footing with this one it has to be said. Visuals painted in sickly green palette and a tad tricky to make out, it doesn't work for more than a minute or so but the film takes a good deal more than that before settling down into a regular color scheme. If you can get past this, Finale settles into a decent groove, a tense and smartly paced cult themed offering. It follows the Michaels family, devastated by the suicide of their eldest son, but getting into further trouble of a paranoid and possibly supernatural kind. As grieving mother Helen, Carolyn Hauck hits the right fraught and fragile notes, obsession and rising paranoia that comes off nicely and is well reflected in the films obsessive use of close ups. As daughter Kathryn, Suthi Picotte exudes fresh and likable natural star power and makes for a good grounded contrast to the mounting of strange goings on in the film. Other roles are solidly filled by an array of mostly newcomers, actors aren't always sparkling but no one comes off as a grinding dud, baddies have the right quiet menace, the teen casting is realistic enough and so on. Director John Michael Ehlers shows his inexperience with the aforementioned green lit opening debacle and also overuses the color red in the final block, as well as some other stylistic infelicities, mostly in the form of visually incoherent moments. Luckily he uses close ups well, makes some fun creepy visuals with clocks and mirrors and other everyday objects granted sinister significance and is quite good at conjuring a cramped, dangerous atmosphere. Which goes a long way towards helping out some of the more frustrating sequences. Some of the scenes of action do particularly well, a fine seat edge nervous intensity to them that really pushes the film a few notches. The film ends too abruptly and has a slightly sketchy feel to the writing, but its overall a pretty worthy and pleasing little offering. Probably won't please those who don't already have a taste for this level of production, but those who do its recommended.

gavin6942 Death is stalking a small town plagued with a rash of apparent suicides. But one grieving mother (Carolyn Hauck) believes that there are darker forces at work and plunges herself into a supernatural nightmare to uncover her dead son's association with an evil cult. Her behavior grows increasingly paranoid and bizarre as she races against time to battle the terrifying demon unleashed to destroy her entire family in this atmospheric descent into horror.According to he Internet Movie Database, "All the SFX were achieved in-camera (no CGI), melding techniques from early film magicians, like behind the lens filters, two-way mirrors and speed ramps." Also, "Real animal bones were used for set dressing." This was my primary reason to love the film. While the directing and acting are both great, I'm big on traditional / conventional effects, and what they were able to achieve here makes new methods look like garbage.Digital Retribution (whoever they are) are quoted on the cover as saying, "Truly bizarre and disturbing imagery... like Argento's best work." For me, any comparison to Argento carries with it a heavy burden of proof, as he is the ultimate master of cinematic style. Luckily for Digital Retribution, that wasn't at all what they were saying. The actual quotation from their review reads: "Like Argento's best work, not everything is solved by the end of the movie, and a lot of what you see simply goes completely unanswered..." Nice try, "Finale", but you took this completely out of context. The review also says the "bizarre and disturbing imagery" is "peppered", implying that it is by no means constant.The writer-director, John Michael Elfers, has gone on record as being an Argento fan, and has said that he prefers "Deep Red" over "Suspiria", so the film's comparison's to the Italian giallo director are not really surprising. ArrowInTheHead.com is more on target when they say, "Shot lovingly in the Italian Giallo vein..." I can see this, as the film has a definite style, almost stronger than the substance.The wardrobe person should be commended on the outfits of Kathryn "Kate" Hauck (Suthi Picotte), whoever this person was. She looked magnificent on camera and I think it made her character a lot more easy to identify with. I, for one, fell for her and sympathized right away.There's great use of direction, with camera positions bringing typical background objects (clocks, jars) to the foreground, and a conscious effort to highlight the symbolic, with a repetitive use of the clocks and mirrors -- very effective! James Speight and Shawn K. Clement's atmospheric music coupled with NEVER 3NOUGH's Mansonesque metal drove the film like a conductor in a barreling freight train. At first the film was a bit slow to get into, but it picks up quickly and does not let you settle in.The mythology is solid and crisp, and while there is no need for a sequel, one would not be unwelcome. The same ground could be explored by the same characters or all news ones with equal power. I believe Elfers is involved in other projects currently, but I do hope he has left the door open in his mind to walk back into this world.

Alan Bannacheck In the beginning of the movie we see Sean and his girlfriend presumably trying to halt a satanic ritual. When the dynamite fails to ignite, Sean is greeted with death through being hung by barbed wire. The rest of the film is directed at his family’s torment afterwords.First off, there is the mother Helen, who suffers from sleepwalking. After discovering some Satanical scrapbooks in her dead son’s room, she starts experiencing waking nightmares which we assume are of the past and what her son was uncovering. Granted there is some chilling sequences and good lighting effects, but the CGI here can be somewhat cheap too.Secondly, we have the daughter Kate, who is encouraged to join theater at her high school. Kate wins the leading role and is paired up with the theater hunk and seems to be optimistic. Unfortunately her mother discovers the director of the play named “Miss Bliss” is the one responsible for conjuring up the demon known as “The Collector of souls.” You can guess where the film goes from here.Overall the movie deserves a 6/10. There are a few good twists and the plot isn’t as cliché as one would expect. The filmography is above par for a B-grade film. The acting wasn’t flawless, but the cast did a convincing job, the left is up to willing suspense of disbelief. I would recommend this for die-hard horror fans into movies about cults.Alan "Skip" Bannacheck -The Horror Encyclopedia