 Next we're checking out this movie review video. This is for the 2020 release scare me and it's a shutter original So when I'm putting up this review, it's not available on shutter yet because I do get screeners to do reviews for And also for that reason I will not be doing spoilers for this So it's spoiler-free, but I will tell you some enough information basically so you can kind of make up your mind Do I really want to watch this or do I really not based off? You know what it sounds like for me, so either you trust me or you don't that's fine although I also do always say that every single film is worth seeing at least once just to make up your own mind because films I like other people aren't necessarily gonna like and vice versa, so This film hits shutter on Thursday, October 1st, so just know that It was written and directed by Josh Rubin who actually did a bunch of original videos for college humor If anyone remembers college humor, I think they're still around actually. I haven't looked As well as the show that I found quite interesting and cool Adam ruins everything and those are just a few things He's worked on before. I believe this is his first feature length film. So, yeah This ended up actually premiering at the Sundance film festival So it made it in they must have thought something of it and I will say upfront, you know I did enjoy this film for the most part. I do have some problems with it I do, you know, it's a mixed bag for me There are things I didn't really like about it and things I did really like about it And obviously I'll kind of talk about that without spoiling things. So a quick synopsis of this It's basically about a writer Or a guy who's trying to be a writer basically who goes to a cabin That's kind of secluded because he wants to get away and be able to focus on his writing and come up with I believe he's trying to work on a book at that point So when he's there, he runs into another person who's actually an established writer and is known And they end up spending some time together because the power goes out and they decide to tell each other stories so that's kind of The main crux of the whole thing now What I believe was gonna happen based off the way the film was going and based off of other horror comedies Because this is classified as a horror comedy What I thought was gonna end up happening is when they started telling each other stories That it was going to go into actual film versions of those stories now They didn't do that so know that going into it So I can see for that reason that some people may very much not like this film because of that because literally you are spending this film watching people tell stories and Act to them out too so that the acting out portion of it adds a little more interest than some then literally just You know sitting the camera there and having it on a person just sitting on a couch Telling the story so that is a way to kind of liven it up that they did that I did appreciate The other thing is the premise is interesting because it's unique You know, I don't know of anyone else who's done a film like this where you know It's kind of an anthology film in a way, but they don't actually have The individualized short films for the stories It's just people telling the stories and act partially acting them out now That said one of the really cool things that they do with that is the sound design sound design And this is really really cool And I really enjoy that about the film while they're acting things out, you know They'll like use their hand for a gun or something like that They're make they there are noises inserted into it to make it more realistic for what they're doing so It's it's a little You know meta in a sense because it's not that's not really the real word It's a little more immersive as a film for that for that reason is what I want to say because It's not real life that you know these types of noises would actually be happening like a prime example I said, you know someone using their hand as like a gun while they're they're like Doing the motion of like putting bullets in like a revolver And you hear the noise of like bullets clicking into place and then like snapping it closed So like stuff like that. It's cool. It's a cool addition. Those sounds are really awesome I think they did a good job with it So that said I think a lot of people may really miss What they assume would end up happening or what they would hope would end up happening Which is having actual films for those stories now It plays to the overall story of the film for them to just be you know telling the stories and acting it out and For a while it kind of felt to me like this film wasn't going anywhere That it was actually just a situation where they were just gonna keep telling each other's stories And it wasn't it didn't have an ultimate goal like it didn't have any place. It was really going But that's not true. There is actually a place it is ultimately going and I did like the ending That said it's about an hour and 45 ish minutes And I feel like that's too long for not just for a horror comedy But for what this the movie itself is people telling stories to each other and Obviously, there's some extra stuff that goes on along the way But people telling stories to each other for the most part being the film I can't see people really wanting that much of that like an hour and 45 minutes worth I really think it should have been cut down for that reason Another thing is the comedy the humor. I think needed to be more There is good humor in this and there's stuff that I laughed at out loud. So There's a lot of good writing to it and dialogue in particular The dialogue feels realistic too. That's the other great thing about it. So the dialogue feels real. It's Witty a lot of the times it's funny an okay amount of time, but for it being as long as it is and being a horror comedy There needed to be more of the humor and that's kind of one of the big problems with horror comedies in general which is People if you're gonna be a horror comedy people are looking for a decent amount of comedy You can't just you know throw out a little bit of comedy here And then have a large chunk of nothing funny happening and then throw in some more and then another chunk of nothing Funny and then throw in some more it has to be kind of very carefully sprinkled throughout it And I think one of the problems for this film in particular is it gives a good amount up front and then it backs off of it Not fully because you still get some but for the pace the amount that you get in the beginning It sets an expectation and then when you're not getting that for the rest of the film It you start to miss it. You you realize what happened like this this I want what we were getting in the beginning So that's one of my big problems with it But not to say that's a bad film because it's definitely not Like I said, there are plenty plenty of things I liked so the first interaction between people in this sets up in a scenario that people are very familiar with if you've ever Made a film before or if you've ever written a script before anything like that And it's kind of that concept of when you meet other people and you tell them Oh, I'm a writer or I'm working on a script or I did a film or something like that It seems like every single person you talk to is basically go. Oh, yeah, I'm writing on I'm working on a script or I have this concept first for a movie and then they want to tell you about it So the fact that it plays off of that in the beginning is Funny I can relate to that and I'm sure a lot of other people can Because it does seem like every single person you meet has either had an idea for a film or started a script or thought about Writing a script. That's the most common one thought about writing a script I can't tell you how many people I know thought about writing a script and never did it or wrote a few pages or whatever so The fact that they play off that I really like so like I said the guys secluded in this the main character goes to become secluded There's really two main characters. They both go to be secluded So there's some very nice scenery outside, but then also on the inside when they're in the cabin when you know the powers out It looks like a very nice cabin. So there's some really nice Indoor scenery in a way and the other thing is they use shadows in a cool way in the film a few cool ways in the film And that speaks to another thing of just the visuals in general the directing is really good The acting is really good and the cinematography is great. There's some really cool camera shots. It looks good It looks very good. It's it's technically very well put together in my opinion It's just my issues of kind of what I was saying about you know The amount of comedy the length of it stuff like that and just the fact that I think there will be a lot of people who don't like The premise of people telling stories and acting it out. I found that quite interesting But like I said it needed to be cut down because it couldn't I Had a hard time focusing at times because it just kept it felt like it kept going on without enough humor injected into it or Having this feeling also of like are we going somewhere like because this is just getting a little repetitive at this point So yeah, but anyway During one scene very early on of it They're kind of these odd cuts and I understand that like I think what was trying what they were trying to do in that is kind of like Fast forward a little bit in time not a lot But like you know some minutes like maybe 10 minutes or somewhere around there Not a huge amount of time but trying to fast forward to be like, oh, here's a chunk of them talking right here Okay, go forward that here's them talking again a little chunk of that, but the cuts were very Weird and they seemed like a mistake like they just seemed like they were bad. So That's another issue I had with it. They didn't look good I think they should have just had like one take of dialogue and that's kind of all they needed They didn't need to keep like going forward It just didn't look good and and it felt odd as an audience member being like is this Intentional or not, but when I thought about it a lot. I'm like, I think it was intentional, but it just looks terrible So that I didn't like that There's a bunch of humor in this that's actually a type of humor I quite enjoy which is People saying things out loud that would normally be inner thoughts for people who are you know socially appropriate So, you know not to say that it's a lot of like crude humor But just to say that there's a lot of stuff that normally people in day-to-day life would have as inner dialogue that they don't say outwardly Because it would you know offend people or make them see we seem weird or anything like that and in this film There's people just say that stuff and that's a good Type of humor. I love that type of humor. So I liked the humor in this but going back to what I said before There's just not enough of the humor in it. I wanted a lot more of that There are a lot of references to horror films in this other horror films and one in particular that If you really pay attention, it's referenced in a few different ways. You can kind of figure out To a degree what's really what the end game is in a way with this film kind of what's gonna happen? But that's all I'll say about that Did you do I'm trying to see what else really good performances in particular by Josh Rubin himself He's the main guy in this and I a cash. Who's the main woman? Who's the other writer? Those two in particular did a great job. Like I said all the acting in it is good but I want to call them out in particular because they have a lot of screen time and They have long takes with with dialogue that It seems challenging to me and they did a really good job with their delivery They did a really good job with not messing up the lines. I mean, obviously, I'm sure they did at points but that's on the cutting room floor, but they just brought really good performances and It played really well and you felt like they were real And that's partially the writing as well of creating realistic feeling people and realistic feeling dialogue So really well done writing wise for those aspects Um Did you already said it was too long? There's a film. I already talked about that one. Sorry Feels like there's no ultimate place that the film is going like I said before but it does get there. Trust me It gets there It gets there. So there is payoff for this for sure for sure I wasn't sure when I was watching it, but just know this watching this the payoff is there This film speaks to the struggle of trying to write especially original stories and how people will always see and Annoyingly point out where ideas have come from Basically the idea that if you're telling someone a concept for a story or if you're saying I'm working on this script or this book or whatever And you give them a synopsis or you start telling them the story They're inevitably gonna be like well, you'll have those people who are just like Oh, so it's like this movie or it's like this book Or oh, I see where you took this from this and it kind of points out some frustrations of not just those people but also the frustrations of kind of Realizing that You have kind of subconsciously pulled from someone or some other work because one of the big things is how are you not going to be Taking from other people like at this point when you're doing a script or a book or whatever Like it's impossible to not take from some other people because as the phrase goes there are no Original ideas anymore basically Although I do think that this film is a kind of original idea and how it's structured and how it plays out So I like that I Could see where people wouldn't like this because there's not a lot of stuff happening visually But it's interesting because it takes horror back to before film and focuses on the art of telling a good scary story So I like that aspect of it. It's very different and and that's one of the things I always feel like I want to give a lot of respect to films that dare to be different in an interesting or daring way and I think that this film, you know has done that, you know and minus the things that I felt kind of were an issue I think it was pretty well pulled off. So out of five stars with half stars possible, I'm gonna go ahead and put it at a Three and that three I was between three and three and a half and I thought I was I was gonna give it a three and a half But then I'm just like it's just not quite there So I'm giving it a three if I did quarters I give it a three point two five, but I'm giving it a very solid three I would say check it out at least once this is one of those films where I don't think I want to watch it again But for one viewing I had a good enough time with it So good deal It does make me interested to see what Josh Rubin will do next and I would definitely check out what he does next So anyway, um, feel free to put some comments down here Spoilers in the comments are fine. Just know that if you're gonna look in the comments There may very well be spoilers down there. So all good and let's nerd out about it. 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