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Ratings1.3K
manuelasaez's rating
Reviews270
manuelasaez's rating
Imagine, if you will, pouring heart, sweat and tears into a novel. It's your baby, and your story is original and unique in both theme and premise. You get the great news that it has been optioned for film, but a script writer is going to take your story and "adapt it for the screen". They take your story, butcher it until it's barely recognizable aside from the names of the characters, and release it with the exact same name as your novel. The book you wrote is now a film that discarded everything about it to make the most basic film possible while retaining the exact same title. How would you feel?
This was my thought process while watching this movie. I read the book, so I'm not going to go on a tirade about how this film is nothing like it, but I will express how utterly disgusted I am that someone can take a great story and literally massacre it just to appeal to a movie watching audience. I would be livid if someone did that to my work, and although this is definitely one of the worst offenders I've ever seen IN MY LIFE, at least the acting was serviceable enough that it kept me watching until the roll of the credits. Even the bare was a visual mess. I truly wonder how anyone thought this was acceptable, visually, in a film released in 2024.
Another thing that really bothered me was the movie being labeled horror, as it was an actually a folk drama. There was nothing that would merit it being labeled as a horror movie until maybe the last 10 minutes, and even still, it's not frightening in the slightest. It was a slow, plodding film that left out many of the details that made the story unique and thought provoking. It truly is one of the worst cinematic disappointments I've seen in years. Even if you didn't read the novel, you would find very little to laud or praise. It's just a poorly paced, poorly written story that tries too hard to be one thing when it could have been something really special and unique if it had just followed the source material.
The acting is the only thing this film has going for it. All of the actors played their roles perfectly, and I guess for that it deserves the few stars I'm giving it. Other than that, skip this movie. You won't be missing a single thing. Trust me.
This was my thought process while watching this movie. I read the book, so I'm not going to go on a tirade about how this film is nothing like it, but I will express how utterly disgusted I am that someone can take a great story and literally massacre it just to appeal to a movie watching audience. I would be livid if someone did that to my work, and although this is definitely one of the worst offenders I've ever seen IN MY LIFE, at least the acting was serviceable enough that it kept me watching until the roll of the credits. Even the bare was a visual mess. I truly wonder how anyone thought this was acceptable, visually, in a film released in 2024.
Another thing that really bothered me was the movie being labeled horror, as it was an actually a folk drama. There was nothing that would merit it being labeled as a horror movie until maybe the last 10 minutes, and even still, it's not frightening in the slightest. It was a slow, plodding film that left out many of the details that made the story unique and thought provoking. It truly is one of the worst cinematic disappointments I've seen in years. Even if you didn't read the novel, you would find very little to laud or praise. It's just a poorly paced, poorly written story that tries too hard to be one thing when it could have been something really special and unique if it had just followed the source material.
The acting is the only thing this film has going for it. All of the actors played their roles perfectly, and I guess for that it deserves the few stars I'm giving it. Other than that, skip this movie. You won't be missing a single thing. Trust me.
As a fan of the demonic possession sub-genre of horror, I'm always looking for films that diverge from the tropes initiated by The Exorcist, and unfortunately, not many of them do. All Western exorcism films follow the same basic outline; Catholic priest, demons, exorcism, almost always in that order. While this movie didn't break any new ground for the genre, it did some interesting things that really set it apart from the movies that refused to evolve, and for that it should be commended.
Right off the bat, you will find that the star of the movie isn't the actors or the score, it's the SFX. Practical effects make a HUGE difference in movies like this, and this movie not only has it in spades, but I was actually really surprised at how good most of it looked. The realism and attention to detail and the use of prosthetics instead of CGI, all culminated into some really effective on-screen action. I really became an instant fan of whoever is responsible, and I can't wait to seen how their work evolves moving forward. The direction of the film is also really interesting, with nods to some of the classics of the horror genre, and some wicked screen effects that were really apt for the genre.
The rest of the film is really more miss than hits, with the acting being serviceable but the story a muddled mess, the jumping around the timeline was confusing, and the overall pacing to be a bit disjointed. But stick around for the actual horror and demons and you might find it as enjoyable as I did. I wouldn't recommend the movie, per se, but if you don't have anything else to watch and are looking for something involving demons and the possessed, you could do so much worse than this film. (Not a shinning endorsement, I know, but I have to call I like I saws it).
Overall, I was truly impressed the work of the SFX y team, the nods to movies like Jacob's Ladder, and the style in which the film was directed. The rest of the movie needed some serious re-tooling in order to make for a more enjoyable experience. A sequel should rectify many of these issues, but they rarely ever do, so I'm not holding my breath.
A very respectable effort that just needed some fine tuning. Worth a watch solely for fans of the genre.
Right off the bat, you will find that the star of the movie isn't the actors or the score, it's the SFX. Practical effects make a HUGE difference in movies like this, and this movie not only has it in spades, but I was actually really surprised at how good most of it looked. The realism and attention to detail and the use of prosthetics instead of CGI, all culminated into some really effective on-screen action. I really became an instant fan of whoever is responsible, and I can't wait to seen how their work evolves moving forward. The direction of the film is also really interesting, with nods to some of the classics of the horror genre, and some wicked screen effects that were really apt for the genre.
The rest of the film is really more miss than hits, with the acting being serviceable but the story a muddled mess, the jumping around the timeline was confusing, and the overall pacing to be a bit disjointed. But stick around for the actual horror and demons and you might find it as enjoyable as I did. I wouldn't recommend the movie, per se, but if you don't have anything else to watch and are looking for something involving demons and the possessed, you could do so much worse than this film. (Not a shinning endorsement, I know, but I have to call I like I saws it).
Overall, I was truly impressed the work of the SFX y team, the nods to movies like Jacob's Ladder, and the style in which the film was directed. The rest of the movie needed some serious re-tooling in order to make for a more enjoyable experience. A sequel should rectify many of these issues, but they rarely ever do, so I'm not holding my breath.
A very respectable effort that just needed some fine tuning. Worth a watch solely for fans of the genre.
Let me start off by saying that I've read the manga many times, and at almost 700 pages, it's not a light read. It takes quite a while for the story to truly develop, and there are many subtle details that creep up on the reader with each page. It's subtle horror that deserves a slow, meticulous pace, and a film/anime adaptation would need several episodes to truly encompass the events of the story fully and faithfully.
The first episode was everything I hoped for in an anime adaption of the manga; the animation was incredible, the style and art direction was incredibly faithful to Ito's work, and the soundtrack was absolutely appropriate and commendable. The pacing was a bit rushed, but again, we're talking about trying to adapt a 700 page manga into a 4 episode mini-series. This episode really set the bar astronomically high, and I eagerly awaited each installment.
Then episode 2 and 3 aired and almost everything that impressed me about the first episode was gone. The animation literally degenerated, so much so that it seemed like an entirely different series. The Ito art style that was so prevalent in the first episode was replaced by some 3D anime nonsense that was stiff and puppet-like, and I know it was due to budgetary reasons, and that's a shame. I literally cannot wrap my head around how you can start off a series on such a high note and then let it devolve so sharply. I'd be ashamed of my animation team and I would not have released these two episodes in this state. The pacing is still way too fast and many things are shoved into the runtime, ruining the slow dread that was present in the first episode.
The final episode takes great strides to return to the greatness of the first, and the Ito art style returns, with the animation returning to almost the same quality as the initial episode. Subtle details return, and it just looks exactly like I expected the adaptation of look. Again, the pacing is way off, and I felt like I was speed reading the manga. The person who wrote the script really did a disservice to the source material, and I can't fathom how anyone thought the final script was acceptable in any way. Ito's work deserves so much more deliberation and care, and I'm just so angry that the anime industry doesn't feel like it deserves it.
As a fan of Ito for over 20 years, it's really disheartening to see so many of his works butchered to meet the budgetary limits of the people who adapt them. If you're going to do it, make sure you have a team that appreciates his art, and a budget that can be raised as needed in order to achieve the highest quality end result. As it stands, this is another average attempt at adapting the work of the one ultimate genius of horror manga. Had they kept the same level of detail and care found in the first episode, and lengthened the series to at least 8 episodes, this would have been a much more successful endeavor.
A huge and utter disappointment, even with the potential heights the first episode presented.
The first episode was everything I hoped for in an anime adaption of the manga; the animation was incredible, the style and art direction was incredibly faithful to Ito's work, and the soundtrack was absolutely appropriate and commendable. The pacing was a bit rushed, but again, we're talking about trying to adapt a 700 page manga into a 4 episode mini-series. This episode really set the bar astronomically high, and I eagerly awaited each installment.
Then episode 2 and 3 aired and almost everything that impressed me about the first episode was gone. The animation literally degenerated, so much so that it seemed like an entirely different series. The Ito art style that was so prevalent in the first episode was replaced by some 3D anime nonsense that was stiff and puppet-like, and I know it was due to budgetary reasons, and that's a shame. I literally cannot wrap my head around how you can start off a series on such a high note and then let it devolve so sharply. I'd be ashamed of my animation team and I would not have released these two episodes in this state. The pacing is still way too fast and many things are shoved into the runtime, ruining the slow dread that was present in the first episode.
The final episode takes great strides to return to the greatness of the first, and the Ito art style returns, with the animation returning to almost the same quality as the initial episode. Subtle details return, and it just looks exactly like I expected the adaptation of look. Again, the pacing is way off, and I felt like I was speed reading the manga. The person who wrote the script really did a disservice to the source material, and I can't fathom how anyone thought the final script was acceptable in any way. Ito's work deserves so much more deliberation and care, and I'm just so angry that the anime industry doesn't feel like it deserves it.
As a fan of Ito for over 20 years, it's really disheartening to see so many of his works butchered to meet the budgetary limits of the people who adapt them. If you're going to do it, make sure you have a team that appreciates his art, and a budget that can be raised as needed in order to achieve the highest quality end result. As it stands, this is another average attempt at adapting the work of the one ultimate genius of horror manga. Had they kept the same level of detail and care found in the first episode, and lengthened the series to at least 8 episodes, this would have been a much more successful endeavor.
A huge and utter disappointment, even with the potential heights the first episode presented.