Invader Xan
The unfortunate thing about this movie is there are some genuinely good elements in it which were utterly wasted on a forgettable story.The cinematography is great. Scenes are (mostly) well shot with some interesting artistic flair. The way the camera work is done for some sequences is distinct and memorable, and reminded me of Stanley Kubrick in places. The handheld camera style at tense moments uses the same trick as with found footage movies, making you feel closer to the action, and almost making you feel like a character yourself at times. It's just a pity that during the more tense action sequences, they resorted to clichés like shaky cam and inexplicably flashing lights.The setting also has a lot of potential. A remote, isolated house by a lake, surrounded by snow, giving a real sense of isolation. Unfortunately, that feeling is completely squandered in favour of the house's dimly lit and claustrophobic interior. And then at the end when you realise that a neighbouring house is not actually very far away.Unfortunately, all of this setup eventually gives way to a lacklustre story which seemingly makes up for a lack of substance by making nearly every scene far too drawn out. Everything goes on for just a little bit longer than it needs to and it makes the whole movie feel... tiresome.To be honest, it felt like half the movie was a long shouting match between three dysfunctional siblings, full of ultimately inconsequential information. I found myself wondering at one point if the plot was ever going to progress beyond three people standing around yelling. It eventually did, but this whole thing amounted to very little beyond an overlong setup for the disappointingly brief section of actual horror. Which would have been more impactful if the scriptwriter had given us any reason to care about the characters.The ending felt tacked on and contrived, thanks to a complete lack of foreshadowing or setup. Or maybe it was buried somewhere in the scene with all the shouting? It's hard to say.Ultimately, this movie felt like a waste of time. And there wasn't even an actual pod anywhere to be seen.
thelastblogontheleft
This movie starts off like many a winter isolation movie before it — with a freakin' dog getting killed in the woods. This is our brief introduction to Martin (Brian Morvant), a dishonorably discharged veteran who is now suffering from a slew of mental illnesses and has isolated himself at the family's cabin deep in the woods of Maine. He leaves a vague but worrying voicemail for his brother, Ed (Dean Cates), which prompts him and their sister, Lyla (Lauren Ashley Carter), to stage an intervention… though they find something far more disturbing than expected when they arrive.Honestly, I was disappointed by this one. It felt like they tried to cram a bit too much into one movie, and a short one at that (with only a 76-minute run time it'd be hard for much of anything to not feel rushed). We've got the dysfunctional family dynamic (with Ed and Lyla annoying the crap out of me with their constant bickering), the psychiatrist-brother (the apparent justification for him being a condescending prick), the mentally unstable veteran, the government conspiracy theory, the cabin in the snowy woods, and, of course, the monster, whatever it is. I think if it was done better it would almost feel like a lost episode of The X-Files but, as it stands now, I don't want to even insult such a brilliant show by making such a comparison.The acting left much to be desired… from everyone, really, but they went with such a stereotype for Martin's character, with the long, drawn-out stream of consciousness babbling and the pacing and the literal tinfoil on the windows. It just wasn't believable and honestly it was distracting to have him constantly moving around the screen, pacing and doing his very best "crazy guy" act.Their whole confrontation with Martin and revealing that they planned to take him to a doctor — it's implied that it's a doctor that he knows and has some prior issues with — and his violent reaction are, I think, good (albeit extreme) examples of just how wrong interventions can go. It's tragic, in a way, that they went to help Martin and it wound up taking such an extremely dark turn. His suicide was indeed shocking, though, and one of the few interesting twists of the movie.He had previously been trying to tell them about how the military had experimented on him (and many others) — there's a briefly bloody scene of him pulling out some teeth he is convinced have devices embedded in them — and how he has a creature trapped in the basement that he found in a pod in the woods. He was convinced that the government is attempting to create some kind of assassins, and Ed and Lyla are still worried about WHO (or what) he actually has imprisoned in the house. The moment of Ed yelling "hello?" down into this pitch black void of a basement was surprisingly scary… just not knowing what might be ready to answer on the other end was briefly terrifying. He goes down to explore (what!?!?) and, naturally, the power goes out (check the 34872nd stereotype off the list) and he is attacked in the darkness. He narrowly escapes and sends Lyla to go for help, which means we get to hear EVEN MORE of her screaming. Honestly, she spends like 67% of the dang movie screaming her face off (or crying, or just being otherwise hysterical).This is the point where it is confirmed, yet again, that Martin was right, this really IS a conspiracy, as Lyla encounters a mysterious man (Larry Fessenden) in a car who wastes no time shooting her and cramming her body in the trunk. He goes to the house and takes care of Ed as well, and then we hear him phoning in to another mysterious person about the state of things before he himself is killed by the creature. I understand keeping this aspect of the story so brief — the tragedy of knowing how close they were to starting to understand, and knowing that Martin WAS telling the truth after all, is key. But, sadly, this part of the story is wayyyy more interesting than siblings arguing or Lyla screaming or any of the other things that filled a majority of the movie.Again, I think a bit more polished (and with better acting all around), this could have been a real gem. I will definitely keep an eye on this director, though, since I think he's going in a cool direction! I believe this was his third film and I've heard great things about a couple of his others since (Darling and Carnage Park), so we'll see!
erolsabadosh
I decided to put this on after watching Darling on Netflix and subsequently looking up more from Mickey Keating as I really enjoyed that offering. 5 minutes into this movie I was hooked, and stayed that way until the end. The only reason I wouldn't rate this film higher is because it isn't very ambitious, but what it aims for it does pretty well. This is a B movie, and I don't want to say any more than that because I don't want to spoil it. In fact I'm angry at Netflix because the images on the film's page contain spoilers, I recommend going into it knowing absolutely nothing. Lauren Ashley Carter is really good in the film, yes her character is extremely wildly emotional which some may find annoying, but I found her very entertaining. If you go into this expecting a decent B movie with a simple plot then you should be satisfied, there is certainly emphasis here on style and atmosphere, the story won't impress you as its one we've seen countless times before but it does what it sets out to do and delivers a little bit of suspense, mystery and horror on a low budget and at under 80 minutes it's brisk and easy to watch.
Daniel Crescenti
Three words: Waste of time...... please, do yourself a favor and watch something else. Please!!!! avoid this movie!!! It's nothing like the best of the X-files... not even like the worst!!! DO NOT WATCH IT... The actors are awful... it doesn't even got a good plot!!! I hate myself for having lost the time... and even more, because i watched the entire movie... The worst of all is the "agent" at the end... please!!!! Smith??? really?? you didn't have a brainstorm reunion before writing the script????!?!? And... what is supposed to be? a governmental agent? Thanks for wasting my time... Remember me when you watch the movie and think "this guy was right".
