The summary for this movie was not very good or helpful.
This is not a splatter film nor a shock-scare film. It is a horror film in the technical sense of the word: what happens is horrifying but not terrifically scary. There’s a few squirmy scenes but they don’t last too long (thank goodness) It also took us about five minutes into the film to figure out what was the real deal and what was going to happen. We were both dead-on the money but it was still enjoyable to watch. As Eldest said, it had a nice Kubrick-esque minimalism going for it and even though the pacing was a *tad* slow, it was still interesting. I found it refreshing to watch a film that did not rely on overdramatic sound or jump-scares or gore. Even the painful scenes did not last too long. In a way, the cinematography was very clever in that every scene was set up from a child’s viewpoint – very black and white, very simple and short. Eldest wasn’t impressed, however, with the transpositions of delusion versus reality and I think he was right – they tended to be TOO obvious but that may just be a cultural difference (the film is Austrian) It did remind me somewhat of Herzog’s films – long, silent, contemplative shots to establish mood via the landscape but somehow the attempt to build tension didn’t *quite* work. It was a valiant effort, definitely worth the time we spent watching it but it didn’t really find the intensity it seemed to be reaching for. We agree with the RT rating of about 75%. It was good, impressive in some spots but never really “great”
(warning for roach-phobics: they feature prominently in this film) I dont’ think either of us were ever scared or made a noise (other than me squirming a couple of times and covering my eyes) but we were satisfied with the time spent.