Jeanskynebu the audience applauded

AshUnow This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Griff Lees Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Kien Navarro Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

indranee The best way to approach a screening of this decidedly non-Hollywood fare is to not have any expectations. Bava succeeds to an extent in terms of bringing us the ambiance of the classic horror flick because there are definitely some weird/creepy scenes that do stand the "horror" test. But the script/dialogue/pacing/editing was so badly done that they completely drown the few virtues (which are): 1) interesting "chemistry" between Harring and the actor who plays the baby. The baby is actually very well chosen. The actor -- I guess without any real intent -- had an interesting face: that of a man-child. In his key scenes of interaction with his "mother", right after he did the "naughty" stuff (i.e., biting his mom's breast, vomiting on her, and then, of course, the... ahem... shower scene in which he has a little "accident", the camera focuses on his face and we see that he has this sort of mischievous smile on his face and his eyes are extremely "aware" of his deeds. I don't know but these may have been the only times I got a kick out of this movie -- watching that kid's face. So whomever edited/directed that bit did an okay job.2) The cinematography was simply superb (despite the choppiness of some cuts) but then even this is a problem as the African landscape is criminally underused.3) Laura Harring's er.. figure (for the boys watching the thing) ;)Anyway, the virtues are few and far between. The whole thing is an exercise in frustration and futility as all it made me do was regret ALL of the choices not made. Perhaps Bava was trying to not be predictable and so not use certain horror elements... but, hey, using green vomit is pretty much a standard horror element, so why not use some other ones to better effect? For instance, we don't ever get to see or hear Thandi's mom. Why not?! I mean, this is a GHOST story and you don't do anything with the oft-mentioned ghost in the tale? It's just, well, frustrating.So, yes, this is not a movie even five bucks will cover. So don't even try to buy it in a bottom of the pile sale. Use that fiver elsewhere. Just watch this thing on cable when they show it (which is quite often, actually).

bigdarvick I was strolling through a flea market and found this DVD in a bin for 5 bucks. It looked interesting. I wasn't quite sure what the film had in store for me and I didn't pay attention to the cast, director etc as I would for most horror films. I just liked the cover art, which has gotten me into trouble in the past with notable bombs such as Brotherhood of Blood, ReVamped and other bad ones. I fall for the artwork.This film, although slow and dragging in some spots, delivered some full fledged--top to bottom, spine chills. The "creep factor" in this movie scored with a bullet and had me squirming on my couch.Admittedly, I knew little about the director of this film, but I knew that it had an Italian crew behind it and in my humble opinion, they did a nice job. It was just an unusual story and a well made film. My wife got up and walked out on it because it upset her and believe me, it will upset and scare you at the same time. A well shot, acted and produced film. Plus, the star of this movie was someone I had never seen before and my first impression was that she was a talentless hot bod. Wrong on the talentless aspect, right on the hot bod. She was convincing and a capable actor.I give this film "7 hail Mary's."

rlange-3 The entire first half of the film drags beyond belief. There is a great setting in Africa, decent acting, and one half the movie to develop the background scenario that Mark and Stacey are in love and passionate about it and "make a baby". This is hardly a revelation given the title of the movie.The rest is perhaps intended to be mood setting but is really an exercise in trivia. The black Africans are all portrayed as having mysterious beliefs, a throwback to the films of the 50s. The rest is a long drawn out portrayal of the trite. Mark buys a piece of wood. Stacey wants to take a picture of the natives. Mark paints a room. Mark has weird statues and carvings. The natives lie a lot (really, this is actually a line in the movie). Get the picture? All of this is filled with music that is supposed to build drama I guess but instead just adds to the general and interminable boredom.Finally the plot begins to develop, but it does so in a way which strains credulity. Mark is in an accident on a clear road which somehow pins him under the outside of the car. (You read that right.) Stacey drives down the road and voilà, there he is, ready to die. She grabs a jack and raises the car just enough for them to have a long drawn out conversation. Meanwhile the car is balanced on two wheels in the most preposterous position imaginable. Gasoline is pouring out... oh no, wait, there must not be any gasoline because it isn't pouring out of the car tipped on its side. In fact the whole scene looks so contrived that it is hard to believe someone didn't leave it on the cutting room floor.The movie has its moments. Some of the interplay between the mother and child is indeed rather spooky. But the best of it doesn't make up for the mediocre plot build up, nor the rather milquetoast ending. When the plot resolution finally occurs, I was almost cheering because it was over. But that was premature, because it wasn't over. There was another few minutes of pointless epilogue remaining to be covered.If you make it through the first half and are still awake the second half is better. But all in all it is rather lame. I gave it a far too charitable 5.

Igor Shvetsov Alas, it seems that the golden times of stylish Italian cinema have sunk into oblivion. And the recent brainchild of celebrated filmmaker Lamberto Bava is yet another obvious proof to that assumption.I felt lucky to watch many films from this prolific director (like Body Puzzle, Delerium, Macabre and both Demons). Albeit not entirely satisfying they have never been that dull.A suspicion that this new entry to my DVD collection was money thrown to the winds arose shortly in the aftermath of the car crash scene exhibiting an awkward and unlikely position of the body under the flip-over car.And the sense of shallowness grew up in the course of the ponderously narrated chain of events that followed.Dumb dialogs, suspenseless script and a total waste of talents from the international cast. The only character that provided more or less passable performance was the mischievous Mark's son juicing up the entire boredom.Unfortunately, Mario's son job on all accounts could hardly be hailed.I look forward to seeing his Murder House hopefully expected to be an improvement.