The Sublet

A very well-acted psychological horror/thriller following a couple and their little baby.

The atmosphere throughout the movie is haunting and chilling, and early on gets you in the right mood.

So the story was ok, there were some issues but mostly it was fine. Budget clearly wasn't huge but it was used ok - the movie looks decent. Overall the movie was a bit too slow.

The problems then: First we get the bad acting. The female lead was not as bad but with no chemistry with her husband it just doesn't work. And the husband was just horrible - very amateurish. And that's basicly all the actors if you don't count the newborn baby.

Second big problem was the sound. Too much loud banging on walls and doors. And because of that you can't hear anything else because you can't have any volume without having your neigbours calling cops on you.

Saw 'Tonight She Comes', being fond of horror regardless of budget (even if not my favourite genre) and being intrigued somewhat by the idea. Being behind on my film watching and reviewing, with a long to watch and review list that keeps getting longer, it took me a while to get round to watching and reviewing it.

Giving 'The Sublet' a fair chance with being interest and apprehension, it turned out to be a little better than expected, having seen a lot of bad films recently. Won't say that 'The Sublet' is a great film (mediocre actually) because it isn't and the potential, while not wasted, is not fully lived up to. Considering the large number of films seen recently being mediocre and less and wasting potential, was expecting worse and was relieved that while wanting in a fair few areas it was actually one of my better recent low-budget viewings.

'The Sublet' started off quite well, the first part starting the film off on a promising, unsettling and atmospheric note that really does intrigue.

Production values did have some eeriness and nowhere near as cheap as expected.

The setting is effectively spooky. Initially, there are spooky and suspenseful moments, it isn't dull, and the storytelling initially does intrigue. The acting generally was not bad, Tianna Nori carries the film very well.

However, the story was severely wanting in the second half after starting off promisingly. It is very disjointed and after the promising start the final third especially loses atmosphere, one loses interest and things start to not make sense. Too much of the film is vague and doesn't explore some elements enough, some of which go nowhere or serve much point. It also is uneventful too much of the time and the pace drags.

Ending is unsatisfying, on top of feeling hasty there are too many loose ends hanging in the air and it all felt abrupt. Got the sense that the writers didn't know how to end the film. Would have liked much more tension and suspense (where there is barely any of either in the latter stages), scares could have been more consistent (again nowhere near enough) and some weren't surprising enough and had no atmosphere, the over-obvious sound not helping. The psychological parts of the story were more odd and undercooked rather than creepy and intriguing

Found too the script to lack natural flow and with a fair bit of cheese and blandness going on, and the characters bland with some adopting some annoying and not always logical decision making. There is very little menace or urgency to the conflict and the direction is phoned in.

Overall, mediocre. 4/10 Bethany Cox

I have to say I was not expecting much from this film. After watching it, however, I was really surprised at how well done it was. The low 5.9 rating hardly does this film justice. It's much much better then that.

Sticking to my "no spoiler" rule, I will only lend my opinions of why I thought this was a terrific sleeper Psyche/Thriller.

The film is a bit slow moving but don't let that lull you into a sense of nothing happening. This film makes you think and question yourself at many points throughout, as though you missed something important about the plot. Each act gets more and more creepy regarding who is sane and who is not.

The acting was very good and the score was spot on during the most important and disturbing scenes, illustrating how the timing of editing and Direction was excellent. There seems like a lot is going on but at the end the film comes full circle, thereby leaving you fulfilled and quite alarmed.

If you are a fan of Psychological Thrillers but are sick of the typical Drek that seems to be constantly regurgitated so often, you are in for a treat And will thoroughly enjoy "The Sublet"....

I would say this could have been a film Hitchcock might have directed had he read the script. As Hitch once said...."there are only three things that matter in making a great film, Script, Script, Script"....! Hats off to the writer, Director, sound and cast.

I give this film a Big Thumbs Up!

This movie tries to recall, in some weird, ugly and boring way, Rosemary's Baby by Polanski. It doesn't succeed, it's just a very bad imitation with a twist in the plot, a twist you can easily expect since the very beginning. It tells the story of a couple and their child moving to a subleased flat where, of course, strange things start to happen. However, these "typical horror movie things" happen way too slowly and they are easily foreseeable. I don't even want to spoil my time further, but I feel the need to remark the ugliness of this movie by warning the future audience that they are going to witness one of the worst acting they have ever seen.