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29 reviews in total

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52 out of 64 people found the following review useful:
Solstice (2008) has that professional quality in a mid range budget movie. But, its rated PG., 18 December 2007
Author: fogfrogblog from United States

The plot is almost like that of What Lies Beneath, but played amongst teenagers. Very well made, the acting is authentic, characters are diverse and the plot doesn't give in till the end. The camera work and editing is very smooth, and not overdone, the sound effects as well. All in all you would enjoy this movie and worth your money.

The down side for those thrill seekers and horror fans, is there is zero suspense, and no jolts, not even with the sound effects. It's more on the drama side. The Sixth Sense is far more scarier than this.

And for those who likes skins, well, although all of the actors and actress are very good looking there is no part in the movie that could turn you on, RATED PG!

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34 out of 41 people found the following review useful:
Not a bad teen chiller, 29 December 2007
Author: onosideboard from United States

I don't really understand why this is a direct-to-video flick, as it had high production quality, familiar faces from TV, and a plot straight out of a Christopher Pike or R.L. Stein book. (Do those guys still put out books? I'm dating myself, but I used to read that junk 15 years ago.) Anyway, it was fairly predictable and certainly not very scary, but benefited from the always-fantastic atmosphere of back-woods Louisiana. Seriously, I think all horror movies should be set in the swamps of Louisiana. Much like Skeleton Key and Venom, Solstice probably gets a whole extra star for location alone.

The "teens" were all easy on the eyes (most of the actors are in their late twenties, but whatever) and performances were adequate at worst.

I'd give Solstice a 6 out of 10, considering it a teen chiller as opposed to a real horror movie.

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20 out of 22 people found the following review useful:
Surprisingly Good, 30 September 2008

Author: Claudio Carvalho from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Six months after the suicide of her twin sister Sofie (Elisabeth Harnois), Megan (Elisabeth Harnois) still grieves her death and misses her beloved sister. In the Saint John's Eve, Megan travels with her friends Christian (Shawn Ashmore), Zoe (Amanda Seyfried), Mark (Matt O'Leary) and Alicia (Hilarie Burton) to her family's house in Nowell Lake, Louisiana, to celebrate the summer solstice. While shopping supplies in a local store, Megan befriends the seller Nick (Tyler Hoechlin) and buys a magazine with an article about communication with the dead in the summer solstice, the time of year when there is the greatest length of daylight. While in her house, Megan is haunted by a spirit that she believes is Sofie trying to communicate with her. In her investigation, she suspects of the weird hick Leonard (R. Lee Ermey) and while snooping in his house, she finds the picture of the missing girl Malin (Jenna Hildebrand) and unravels a dark secret about the suicide of her sister.

The low-budget "Solstice" was a great surprise with a consistent story, solid screenplay and good acting. The original story startles in many moments without gore, and the young team of gorgeous actresses and handsome actors has great performances. I was expecting to see another slasher teen horror movie and found a pleasant surprise. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): Not Available

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37 out of 57 people found the following review useful:
Whilst it's a good film, it's one of the tamest "horror" movies I have seen in a long, long time..., 8 December 2007

Author: slasherguyy

I've just finished watching an early release of Solstice, and I have mixed feelings towards the film overall. I have been awaiting the movie for a while, and whilst I am thankful the overall movie is actually good - I can't help but feel disappointed at the same time. Perhaps I went in expecting a horror film? Because that is not what I got while watching Solstice. Solstice is one of the tamest horror films I have seen in a long, long time as a huge horror fan, and even "The Messengers" has more violence than this. That's saying something.

The movie tells the story about Megan (Elisabeth Harnois) who heads away with her friends for the weekend after the suicide of her twin sister. However, Megan begins to receive disturbances which she believes to be caused by her deceased twin and sets out to uncover the truth. I like the plot, it's interesting and one of the reasons I watched the film.

I'll start with the positives here, as this is a good film. The movie has a great range of actors who all deliver great performances. I was particularly impressed with Hilarie Burton, as she had a great, bitchy character to work with. R. Lee Ermey also has a cameo role, and while it could have been expanded - he is good, as expected. The movie also starts off pretty strong and the characters are likable, and the plot is interesting to watch. The only other movie released recently about female twins was "I Know Who Killed Me", so I had to see what Solstice had to offer.

However, Solstice advertises itself as a horror movie, but quite frankly - it really isn't. Just because it has a plot involving a ghost doesn't mean it is a horror film, as this movie does not feel like a horror film apart from very few drops of blood and a few shots of a ghost. There is minimal violence in the film and minimal blood and gore, but I expected this because of the films rating. If you thought The Messengers, The Fog remake and many others were tame...wait until you see this! I mean, there was hardly any suspense or tension either. I hardly call a cars headlights going on and off suspenseful, do you? Maybe once - yes, but when they use these kind of things dozens of times in a row in this movie...it's like a "wtf" moment. This is probably when you'll realize that this is the most "horror" this movie has to offer...yet again, headlights turning on and off isn't exactly scary is it?!

I just think Solstice ultimately suffered in the horror department. This is still supposed to be a horror movie, and it still needed the suspense, violence and more. It had literally nothing apart from a few ghostly images and a bit of violence near the end...and thats what disappointed me the most. I wouldn't classify this as a horror movie because it just doesn't feel like one. Even when the supposed "horror" comes, it takes a while and it's just really the lead female character being creeped out over and over again by cars, cuddly toys and nightmares. It more-or-less feels like a teen drama like "The OC" with some kind of "Halloween Special", or maybe even a Goosebumps episode. It's a good movie, but it needed more horror! a lot more actually!

6/10

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9 out of 9 people found the following review useful:
Out in the marshlands, where the ghosts are restless, 9 June 2009

Author: (Vomitron_G) from the Doomed Megalopolis of Blasphemous Technoids

In these recent years we've seen so many horror films with one crazy plot twist after another and presenting us convoluted story lines and deranged denouements. So how surprised I was to discover that SOLSTICE manages to tell a ghostly mystery plot that is so basic and simple, it actually turned into a solid and engaging film. The mystery develops slow but steady. There's practically no shocks or gore, but the film didn't need all that. And there's only one twist featured within the film, but it's a good one. The mood and atmosphere are tense. The cinematography looks great. The swamp and woods settings are wonderful and creepy at the same time.

Veteran actor R. Lee Ermey has a small role, but his character actually has weight. Young actress Elisabeth Harnois plays a double role (Megan has a twin sister Sophie who's suicide becomes the core of the mystery) and I'd really love to see more of her. Aside from being beautiful, she's also perfectly capable of carrying this film with her lead performance.

I thoroughly enjoyed SOLSTICE because it's very effective without over-doing things. I even liked the ending, which for once does not include the whole cast being slaughtered at the end of the film or a crazy twist still killing off the protagonist unexpectedly. That would have been too easy and predictable. The way things come to a conclusion now, makes it a better film, separating itself from the obvious ones. To give you an idea, I thought SOLSTICE was better than recent films like THE MARSH (2006) and BENEATH (2007).

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9 out of 11 people found the following review useful:
Pretty entertaining, 6 December 2008

Author: collipal-1 from Argentina

In 1999,The Blair Witch Project provoked a worldwide commotion because of its original (by that time) concept and for its minimalistic style.I liked that movie very much for being so innovative and for scaring me pretty much.After that,directors Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez seemed to have a brilliant future in the horror genre.But,it was not like that : they separated as a creative team and their following movies had a low-profile because they were made to the straight-to-DVD market and not many people know of their existence.By my point of view,their movies overcome the average of horror films made straight-to-DVD and,in spite of not being at the same level of The Blair Witch Project,I liked them pretty much.Now,we have Solstice,Myrick's most recent film and I also liked it pretty much.Solstice combines common clichés of different generations of ghosts movies pretty well,from the dark and Gothic atmosphere of Don't Look Now,to the ambiguous ghosts of the modern Asian horror cinema; fortunately,the movie uses that clichés with moderation and they are not used in an arbitrary way,but they are used as tools for telling an interesting and logic story,whose solid development and realistic characters lead to an unexpected ending which works very well.I also appreciated Myrick's restrained direction and the attractive cinematography.One of the few fails I found on this movie are the special effects because they do not produce too much impact.The cast is another good point from this movie,because everybody brings credible performances; I think the ones who mostly stand out are Elisabeth Harnois,Amanda Seyfried and the great R. Lee Ermey.Solstice is not a great movie and it's far away from it.But it brought me an interesting and very entertaining experience which concludes on a very satisfactory ending because it closes the story very well and it does not leave any plot holes or things without an explanation.In summary,Solstice is a very good horror film and I recommend it.

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16 out of 25 people found the following review useful:
Good, but Not Perfect, 4 January 2008

Author: my_anywhere from United States

Okay, so this movie went straight to DVD, which would have many people assuming that it can't be all that great, and while it wasn't the best horror movie I've ever seen it wasn't bad at all. Despite what I've read, it had really good pacing with a number of creepy scenes spread out in the movie enough to keep one interested and slightly creeped out. The acting really helps too and you can see all the inner conflicts of the two main characters as they struggle to come to terms with what they're dealing with. The only thing I didn't like was the way the climax of the movie ended. The rest of the climax is great, but the resolution...not what I would have done. All in all, this movie was worth watching and I'm glad I saw it.

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4 out of 4 people found the following review useful:
Good mystery, not a good horror film., 18 August 2010

Author: kevin_crighton (kevincrighton@btinternet.com) from Scotland

After the death of her twin sister Sophie, Megan heads of for a few days with her friends. However, on arrival at the family cottage, Megan begins to experience visions and dreams. Is her sister trying to reach out to her from the dead, or is it something else....?

Directed by Daniel Myrick, who co-directed The Blair Witch Project, Solstice has many things going for it. The cast are pretty good, with special mention to Elisabeth Harnois, as Sophie/Megan. On screen pretty much the whole film, meaning the film stands or falls on her being convincing, and she is very good indeed.

The setting does give the film a nice atmosphere, and the story has enough of a mystery about it to keep you interested until the end.

But as a film that is supposed to be a horror film, Solstice fails. Yes the setting is atmospheric, but none of the so-called scare scenes work at all. Myrick, who has made scarier films, doesn't pull of the scares here at all. In fact, I think the film would have been better as a mystery-type film, dropping the horror elements completely.

Despite this though, I did enjoy it, and while it will never be remembered as a classic or highly regarded, I was never bored at any point and found it to be an enjoyable film.

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16 out of 29 people found the following review useful:
One of the best B - movies I've ever seen!, 21 December 2007

Author: mia_babe5 from Sweden

I must say I really enjoyed this movie,I thought the acting was really good and the story was good. But I wouldn't say that its a Horror movie you may jump a couple of times because you weren't ready for something to happen but its nothing "scary" in the sense that its a lot of gore or things that are often in horror movies I'd say its the music and the sound affects that does most of the so called "scare" but I would say its a really good thriller! I also like it because the movie didn't die of in part of the movie like it does in many movies. its really consistent all through the movie, witch is important so you don't get bored or sit and wait for something to happen. An overall good thriller well worth watching! Its a 7/10 for me.

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3 out of 4 people found the following review useful:
Insipid, tepid and anemic, 1 August 2009

Author: trans_mauro from Brazil

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Well, those are the words that come to my mind when I think of Solstice.

How many times before a story following that same sort of plot has been told ? Zillions! Why ghost stories only know how to tell one type of story: Mysterious things happen. A particular person start to see and feel odd things. Is it a message from the "other side"? Nobody believes anything this particular person says. Then in the end of the movie the whole thing becomes clear after one or two plot twists. The body of the wandering ghost is found and then she/he can rest in peace, and justice is made finally.

Solstice has a nice production, but that is it. The story sucks. It is weak, deja-vu all over again.

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