Director: Alexandre Bustillo, Julien Maury
Year: 2021
Country: France
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Supernatural
Plot:
After finding a new spot to investigate, a pair of adventurers descend to a special lake in France where a strange abandoned building has been reported at the bottom of the area, but as they investigate the house realize that there’s some truth to the rumors that it’s haunted and must get away alive.
Review:
Overall, this is enjoyable if a somewhat unremarkable genre effort. When this one works the best is due mainly to the highly effective atmosphere present during the numerous investigation scenes of the couple in the house. These are usually quite chilling and unnerving, with the slow camera movements and eerie abandoned state of the area that’s made all the more impressive with the truly foreign environment being underwater as deep as they are with little to no light, a few fish swimming around them and the desolate sign of life around them as they head into the fabled house. These scenes are perfectly in keeping with the atmospheric touches that continue on throughout the rest of the film and set up a rather chilling and creepy atmosphere which is incredibly well-done and welcome here.
On top of that, the film’s second half features a ton of shocking and effective shock scenes as the two swim through the submerged house. With the atmosphere of the house in perfect working order, the hints that something is indeed down there with them is truly effective and leads to some great times with the hearing noises, flash visions of someone or something in the outer limits of the house or the various mechanical malfunctions which signal something is going on. Once they discover what’s happened there and are being tormented by a series of effective attacks from the undead owners still trapped inside the house, there are some thrilling and genuinely tense moments especially once they’re aware that something has awoken the figures within. Since this all plays incredibly well with the atmosphere of the situation as the quiet of the situation, the suddenly appearing figures out of the darkness, and the brutality of the big twist at the end, this has quite a lot to like which holds it up over it’s few flaws.
There isn’t much to dislike here but it does have some flaws. The main detrimental factor here is that the finale has way too much-rushed exposition that doesn’t need to be there. With the revelations of what’s going on fully spelled out and revealed at a point that doesn’t really need to be there, the whole thing comes out of nowhere with very little setup or cause to exist in the first place which is quite unexpected and just comes off as a reason to add more time to the length here by spelling out something that didn’t really need it. With the finale also needing a twist that can be seen coming a mile away with the setup already accomplished, this also feels rushed and underwhelming as the whole thing runs through the motions of everything and generates the kind of empty feeling at the end that brings this down.
Overview: ***.5/5
A generally fun and creepy effort with some minor shortcomings in the writing at points, this one survives more on the strength of the atmosphere and visuals than anything else. Viewers who are more intrigued by that aspect of the film rather than the other factors here or fans of the creative crew will really enjoy this one, while others turned off by the style or approach of this one should heed caution.
Comments
Post a Comment