Lets start with the positives... the camerawork and setting was great. The acting was good... well, as it can be. Any actor would struggle with the second half of this script that at times made it hard to say if this movie wants to be dramatic, artsy or border on comedy. I also liked the grainy look with dirtspecks. They definitly managed to reel you in with a solid start and some hints thrown in getting you interested in the killers back story.
What "A wounded fawn" basically is, is a modern version of the "demented serial killer finds victim and gets her to his hideout in the woods" trope. The setup in the first half, or as the movie tries to name it "Act 1", was good. Basically Act 1 is the movie you'd expect with the man controlling the situation, although supernatural hints are dropped all over the first half. Its those hints that made the movie interesting and building suspense... but that reveal or rather those reveals were a real bummer.
It all steers into greek drama and theatre like costumes to some weird arthouse "sin - punishment - redemption" plot that comes down to the first scenes about a piece of art the main actor steals. Its all a bombardment with random scenes, weird costumes, flashy pictures and tinted colours going absolutely overboard from there.
The greatest problem is the complete turnaround in Act 2 that completely drops the woman and not even manages to tell any backstory on the man although its all about his confessions of guilt. It makes no sense and I can't tell if the whole thing was supposed to be in his head, struggling with his own demons or the woman is some final victim to complete the jury of masked snake, dog, tree and owl weirdos in some kind of judgement day for the killer with the unexplained twitchy hand.
The characters are totally irrelevant... no backstorys, development or depth and the final scene dramatically (or ironically?) drawn out behind the running credits was a "couldn't care less" in how things led up to it. The practical FX were so bad I can only think the movie tried to be funny with the weird unmasking of the owl figure or fighting an oven snake monster.
Its really a shame because the atmosphere was great and slowly demolished by a non-existing plot leading nowhere and those silly effects, costumes and ideas. There is far better movies with the role reversal of killer and victim. The recent "Fresh" comes to mind... but this is nothing new, even for the horror genre that is suffocating in reproducing the same old ideas over and over.
Stay away, especially if you are not a fan of arthouse movies.
What "A wounded fawn" basically is, is a modern version of the "demented serial killer finds victim and gets her to his hideout in the woods" trope. The setup in the first half, or as the movie tries to name it "Act 1", was good. Basically Act 1 is the movie you'd expect with the man controlling the situation, although supernatural hints are dropped all over the first half. Its those hints that made the movie interesting and building suspense... but that reveal or rather those reveals were a real bummer.
It all steers into greek drama and theatre like costumes to some weird arthouse "sin - punishment - redemption" plot that comes down to the first scenes about a piece of art the main actor steals. Its all a bombardment with random scenes, weird costumes, flashy pictures and tinted colours going absolutely overboard from there.
The greatest problem is the complete turnaround in Act 2 that completely drops the woman and not even manages to tell any backstory on the man although its all about his confessions of guilt. It makes no sense and I can't tell if the whole thing was supposed to be in his head, struggling with his own demons or the woman is some final victim to complete the jury of masked snake, dog, tree and owl weirdos in some kind of judgement day for the killer with the unexplained twitchy hand.
The characters are totally irrelevant... no backstorys, development or depth and the final scene dramatically (or ironically?) drawn out behind the running credits was a "couldn't care less" in how things led up to it. The practical FX were so bad I can only think the movie tried to be funny with the weird unmasking of the owl figure or fighting an oven snake monster.
Its really a shame because the atmosphere was great and slowly demolished by a non-existing plot leading nowhere and those silly effects, costumes and ideas. There is far better movies with the role reversal of killer and victim. The recent "Fresh" comes to mind... but this is nothing new, even for the horror genre that is suffocating in reproducing the same old ideas over and over.
Stay away, especially if you are not a fan of arthouse movies.