quietearth [Celluloid 09.15.08] movie review horror



Year: 2007
Release date: Unknown
Director: Adam Wingard
Writers: Adam Wingard & E.L. Katz & Lane Hughes
IMDB: link
Trailer: link
Review by: quietearth
Rating: 8.5 out of 10

When a film starts out with "WARNING: The following film contains sequences that many not be suitable for individuals diagnosed with epilepsy", you know the bar is being set very high. While seemingly an oversimplified mixture of storyline and PSYCHOTRONICS, Pop Skull pushes the boundaries of immersion to the point of falling into the avant garde category, and I would call it nothing short of groundbreaking and brilliant. Furthermore, I would recommend watching this very late at night, sans any type of psychadelics. I'm going to continue on and attempt to explain some of this beauty, but for those already intrigued, just skip it and wait for the film to drop.






The story is simple, Daniel is a pill addict in Alabama (replete with accents and all) who's girlfriend broke up with him. He takes dramamine and other over the counter highs in an attempt to escape the loss, and at times he is unable to distinguish dreams from reality. These dreams more often take the tone of the sinister, if not down-right nightmares which leads us into the visual sequences. The film is well shot with a dark overlay, with the overall feel of masterpieces like Phantasm or Phase IV, but the majority of time is spent in that land of make believe where the whole film could be nothing but a bad trip. And this is where it's hard to explain.

While chatting with a woman, he explains his specious reality problem and talks of ghosts and the viewer is hit with a scream and a vague human face for a split second. While this idea may be nothing new, it's the way it's done which makes it important. Daniel's face will contort, the boundaries pulsing which shifts into some dream sequences flashing vibrantly dull pictures of him and his Ex, only to end in a vortex of confusion and optical illusion. The colors flash on the screen, is it green, red, pink? What corner is it in? In the end it doesn't really matter, it's mesmerizing and should be watched in the dark.





While we get a window into Daniel's past, there are glimpses into some painful moments of other characters which remain unexplained but implies some shared personal torture. There's also a spirit in the house, imagined or real it provides some of the scarier moments and made me wonder if there wasn't something even more evil that lie within our main character.

You're probably wondering, was this a horror film? Simply put, yes, but in the end the terror is only a large aspect of a story akin to a descent into madness, and not the cheap obvious kind, but one so delicately built it it takes you along for the ride. I'd highly recommend this to any film fan, it's breathtaking visuals and realistic, drug induced hell will undoubtedly see many a filmmaker attempt to reproduce it.

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Jay Jay (14 years ago) Reply

where can i get this movie?!?!
xx

haha (14 years ago) Reply

hey this is adams cousin homo phobic.... WHATCH THE STUPID MOVIE!!! its yummy i promise

=)

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