It's The Blair Witch Project, but with lovelier cinematography. It's The Descent, but with more testosterone and open spaces. It's The Wicker Man, except the revelation at the end isn't wicker, and it sure as hell isn't a man.
This movie is a wonderfully cast, taut supernatural thriller that is so effortlessly effective that viewers might not realize how tricky the tone and balance of the film really is. Monster movies can fall over the line into bad very easily, and director Bruckner strikes the perfect tone, allowing the characters to have humor but never the story itself.
The effects are beautiful and haunting, the lead performances give us everything we need to know about the struggles of a certain kind of masculinity in crisis, and the cross-cutting in the final act smartly reminds us what is actually at stake here. An excellent piece of work.
This movie is a wonderfully cast, taut supernatural thriller that is so effortlessly effective that viewers might not realize how tricky the tone and balance of the film really is. Monster movies can fall over the line into bad very easily, and director Bruckner strikes the perfect tone, allowing the characters to have humor but never the story itself.
The effects are beautiful and haunting, the lead performances give us everything we need to know about the struggles of a certain kind of masculinity in crisis, and the cross-cutting in the final act smartly reminds us what is actually at stake here. An excellent piece of work.