Observance (2015)

In the grip of grief following the death of his young son, his marriage on the rocks and nearing bankruptcy, Parker reluctantly returns to work as a private investigator. Embarking on an ... See full summary »

Director:

Joseph Sims-Dennett

Writers:

Joseph Sims-Dennett, Josh Zammit

Stars:

Stephanie King, Lindsay Farris, Brendan Cowell

1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Stephanie King	...	Tenneal / Subject 1
Lindsay Farris	...	Parker Woodhouse
Brendan Cowell	...	Employer
Christian Willis	...	Robert
Ash Ricardo	...	Receptionist
Benedict Hardie	...	Charlie
Tom O'Sullivan	...	Bret Buchanan
Gabriel Dunn	...	William Woodhouse
Abi Rose	...	Caroline
John Jarratt	...	Snitch
Joseph Sims-Dennett	...	Walter S. Moore
Louisa Mignone	...	Rachel Woodhouse
Roger Ward	...	Conspirator
Baxter	...	Rat

Storyline

In the grip of grief following the death of his young son, his marriage on the rocks and nearing bankruptcy, Parker reluctantly returns to work as a private investigator. Embarking on an unusual assignment to observe a woman from an abandoned apartment, Parker witnesses bizarre happenings surrounding her, unaware that the derelict building that he surveys her from has birthed a dark presence which slowly threatens to consume him.

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Plot Keywords:

australian supernatural | australian horror | sex scene | sexy | big ass | 

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Taglines:

They Are Watching

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Genres:

Drama | Horror | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

Not Rated

User Reviews

Excellent stylish start with strong Lynchian undertones, ruined by an abrupt change in tone...

I was REALLY into this film. I could totally feel the David Lynch vibe with the great atmospheric B&W shots, the excellent, moody soundscape, and the compelling and, to me anyway, very involving mystery of what the hell was going on.

BUT... although the movie makers had carefully paced the movie to create an increasing sense of tension and unease, very artfully immersing the audience in an effective ambient mood, and then... abruptly about 40 minutes into the story, for some inexplicable reason the director seems to throw all that hard-earned subtlety to the wind and we have like a 5-10 minute disgustingly gross scene of this guy in the bathroom heaving all this horrible stuff up, etc., etc...

Now, if I had wanted a GROSS fest, I would have chosen a film that highlighted that. I cannot understand WHY this abrupt and to me extremely disappointing change in tone was suddenly thrust upon us. I tried to weather the scene figuring it might be over in a minute or so. But, astonishingly the director just keeps us focused on this completely jarring grossness that has absolutely NOTHING to do with the lovely textured mood that had been created up to that point. To me, the whole bloody thrust (and appeal) of the film was the great sense of mystery and the SUBTLETY of the mood, clearly leading to some powerful reveal later on. What I was NOT frigg'n expecting was for that to be yanked out from under us and then to be forced to view this meaningless, VERY extended, mood-breaking grossness. I tried to put up with it as long as I could, but after about 5 friggin, constant minutes of our this mindless audience abuse, I had to shut it off.

A real shame too... The movie up to that point I felt was very well done and very cleverly crafted. Whatever the hell got into the director to completely ruin it by doing this is almost a greater mystery than he had taken all that time and effort to create in the first place...

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

Australia

Language:

English

Release Date:

7 April 2016 (Kuwait)

Also Known As:

Соблюдение

Company Credits

Production Co:

Sterling Cinema

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1