A man wakes up deep inside a cave. Suffering amnesia, he has no recollection of how he came to be here or of what happened to the man whose body he finds beside him. Tailed by a mysterious ... See full summary »
Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends.
If your account is linked with Facebook and you have turned on sharing, this will show up in your activity feed. If not, you can turn on sharing
here
.
At an Antarctica research site, the discovery of an alien craft leads to a confrontation between graduate student Kate Lloyd and scientist Dr. Sander Halvorson.
Director:
Matthijs van Heijningen Jr.
Stars:
Mary Elizabeth Winstead,
Joel Edgerton,
Ulrich Thomsen
After a mysterious malfunction sends their small plane climbing out of control, a rookie pilot and her four teenage friends find themselves trapped in a deadly showdown with a supernatural force.
Director:
Kaare Andrews
Stars:
Jessica Lowndes,
Julianna Guill,
Ryan Donowho
A plane is taken over by a mysterious virus. When the plane lands it is placed under quarantine. Now a group of survivors must band together to survive the quarantine.
In 2270, Earth is completely depleted and no one lives there anymore. Those that have money move to Rhea; but most of the population lives in orbit in space stations. Dr. Laura Portmann ... See full summary »
Directors:
Ivan Engler,
Ralph Etter
Stars:
Anna Katharina Schwabroh,
Martin Rapold,
Regula Grauwiller
An unsuspecting, disenchanted man finds himself working as a spy in the dangerous, high-stakes world of corporate espionage. Quickly getting way over-his-head, he teams up with a mysterious femme fatale.
A man wakes up deep inside a cave. Suffering amnesia, he has no recollection of how he came to be here or of what happened to the man whose body he finds beside him. Tailed by a mysterious creature, he must continue through this strange and fantastic world. Enclosed, Tolbiac has no other option to reach the surface than to use REZO ZERO, secret observing cells in this cemetery-like abandoned mine. He embarks upon this journey guided by the roots of a plant, leading the way and the main subject of attention of the REZO. Written by
Magent Releasing
(at around 30 mins) As Tolbiac is walking through the corridor, the hand of a following crew member can be clearly seen in the lower right corner of the shot. See more »
Quotes
Man on wall:
I don't know how you survived 'til now but please: get away!
See more »
19 October 2008 | by Onderhond
(http://www.onderhond.com/archive/onderhond/category/movies)
– See all my reviews
Eden Log is one of those films. First-time director, low budget, extreme genre elements and a crew that wants to prove itself. All the right ingredients for a superb genre film. From here on it will probably only get worse for director Franck Vestiel (cfr Aronofsky, Nolan, Kitamura and many others), all the more reason to enjoy Eden Log for what it is.
After only five or ten minutes into the films you will probably be able to name several of its influences. There are flashes of Tsukamoto's work in there, a couple of very obvious nods to Alien (and Giger), a fair share of Cube-like deja vus, but most of all the film reminded me of Blame! (the manga). Something in the overall design, chaos and lack of context that is very close to the pinnacle of cyberpunk.
The premise behind Eden Log is extremely simple. A man wakes up in a pool of mud, not knowing who he is or where he is. There's only one single pulsating, bright light illuminating the room at given intervals as he struggles to get up and climbs over a corpse. The opening five minutes consist mainly of grunting and growling as our main character tries to take in his surrounding. From there on, his journey begins as he tries to find out where he landed and what his purpose might be.
Telling more about the plot would be spoiling some of the fun, so I'll just say that the film follows a very typical, almost game-like, course, with clues scattered around and levels to be conquered. The story does pack some nice surprises though, and the level of mystery is kept positively high so you'll probably keep guessing and wondering until the very end. By then, Vestiel has a pretty cool ending waiting to finish off the film in style. One of these rare cases where the clue of the film isn't a disappointment reflecting on all that was good before it.
All nice and well, but the selling point of the film lies elsewhere. From the first strobe-lit frames until the bombastic finale, the film looks absolutely stunning. Not black and white, but extremely desaturated, the image is constantly dark and menacing, contrasting with very bright lights creating a perfect play between light and shadow. Add the superb set and prop designs, great creature effects and very smart of use surroundings, and what you get is 98 minutes of pure visual bliss.
Apparently this was all done on a shoe-string budget. Even though it never shows, there are clues, like the lack of overly bombastic explosions or effect-laden scenes. It all remains pretty basic and low-key, apart from the ending which is the first big scene (and which cost the most, I presume). But like many of these low-budget films, creativity and craft prove more than enough to overcome any budget problems.
Another strong point of the film is the haunting soundtrack. Lots of grunting, atmospheric and dark ambient overtones and quite some distorted bits make for a lot of tension. The score for the film does a tremendous job of keeping the tension locked and even enhances the atmosphere coming from the images. The screams of the creatures and thumping from his surroundings are also pretty effective, creating a really tight-knit experience for the viewer.
Vestiel might be a first-timer, he's had quite some experiences working on other genre masterpieces like Ils, Dante 01 and Saint Ange. It's a good thing he decided to make his own, as Eden Log outclasses everything he has worked on before. Eden Log is genre film heaven, with superb audio and insanely pretty visuals and a good, mysterious outline to keep the tension going. Film making at its best, deserving a warm and all-to rare 5.0*/5.0*
22 of 37 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
Eden Log is one of those films. First-time director, low budget, extreme genre elements and a crew that wants to prove itself. All the right ingredients for a superb genre film. From here on it will probably only get worse for director Franck Vestiel (cfr Aronofsky, Nolan, Kitamura and many others), all the more reason to enjoy Eden Log for what it is.
After only five or ten minutes into the films you will probably be able to name several of its influences. There are flashes of Tsukamoto's work in there, a couple of very obvious nods to Alien (and Giger), a fair share of Cube-like deja vus, but most of all the film reminded me of Blame! (the manga). Something in the overall design, chaos and lack of context that is very close to the pinnacle of cyberpunk.
The premise behind Eden Log is extremely simple. A man wakes up in a pool of mud, not knowing who he is or where he is. There's only one single pulsating, bright light illuminating the room at given intervals as he struggles to get up and climbs over a corpse. The opening five minutes consist mainly of grunting and growling as our main character tries to take in his surrounding. From there on, his journey begins as he tries to find out where he landed and what his purpose might be.
Telling more about the plot would be spoiling some of the fun, so I'll just say that the film follows a very typical, almost game-like, course, with clues scattered around and levels to be conquered. The story does pack some nice surprises though, and the level of mystery is kept positively high so you'll probably keep guessing and wondering until the very end. By then, Vestiel has a pretty cool ending waiting to finish off the film in style. One of these rare cases where the clue of the film isn't a disappointment reflecting on all that was good before it.
All nice and well, but the selling point of the film lies elsewhere. From the first strobe-lit frames until the bombastic finale, the film looks absolutely stunning. Not black and white, but extremely desaturated, the image is constantly dark and menacing, contrasting with very bright lights creating a perfect play between light and shadow. Add the superb set and prop designs, great creature effects and very smart of use surroundings, and what you get is 98 minutes of pure visual bliss.
Apparently this was all done on a shoe-string budget. Even though it never shows, there are clues, like the lack of overly bombastic explosions or effect-laden scenes. It all remains pretty basic and low-key, apart from the ending which is the first big scene (and which cost the most, I presume). But like many of these low-budget films, creativity and craft prove more than enough to overcome any budget problems.
Another strong point of the film is the haunting soundtrack. Lots of grunting, atmospheric and dark ambient overtones and quite some distorted bits make for a lot of tension. The score for the film does a tremendous job of keeping the tension locked and even enhances the atmosphere coming from the images. The screams of the creatures and thumping from his surroundings are also pretty effective, creating a really tight-knit experience for the viewer.
Vestiel might be a first-timer, he's had quite some experiences working on other genre masterpieces like Ils, Dante 01 and Saint Ange. It's a good thing he decided to make his own, as Eden Log outclasses everything he has worked on before. Eden Log is genre film heaven, with superb audio and insanely pretty visuals and a good, mysterious outline to keep the tension going. Film making at its best, deserving a warm and all-to rare 5.0*/5.0*