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silver_earthwax
Reviews
The Unbinding (2023)
As somebody who knew nothing about this movie before watching it...
Like I said in the title, I knew nothing about this film before watching it. It popped up on some random Amazon Prime list when I was in the mood for a horror movie, I googled the name and saw the RT and IMDB scores were decent, and I watched it.
Looking at the reviews here, I have learned that the cast are actual real-life paranormal investigators, with a sizable fandom and a smattering of detractors (who seem to be duking it out in the reviews).
And I am very confused. I keep trying to write a review, deleting it all, and starting over.
I 100% thought it was a mockumentary. I'm still not sure that it isn't. I mean, I think it's certainly fiction, because I think paranormal stuff isn't real (sincerely sorry, not attempting to bash people's beliefs).
But, I don't know if the cast also think it's not real. I mean, obviously they think paranormal stuff is real. But did these events happen? Or are they just a story they're telling? Or are they dramatizing something that kind of happened, and they're fancying it up with little creepy vignettes?
And is this a deceptive thing? Like, are they positing that this is a 100% true story, and we're supposed to believe it's 100% true?
Or, is it a real story that's been kind of dramatized for the film, and we're supposed to know that it is?
Or, are these ghost hunters who are telling us a creepy fictional story, and we're supposed to know that it's just a fictional story?
What level am I supposed to be watching this on?!
When I thought this was a mockumentary, I thought it was pretty good. Naturalistic dialogue, great restraint with the scary parts, really believable relationships. I even thought some of the bit characters, like the Russian Studies professor, were fantastic actors.
Of course, now that I know it's real, it's really thrown me for a loop. I think that, if I were to watch it again through that lens, I might have an entirely different take on the film. When I thought these people were actors, I thought they were doing a fantastic job. Now that I know they're actual paranormal investigators, I think it's kind of embarrassing, and more than a little self-aggrandizing.
When I was still ignorant to the nature of the film, I thought all the goddess/folklore talk at the end of the movie was kind of smarmy and boring. I'm not a big fan of Horror movies that have a moralistic, happy ending. Basically, if the evil spirit gets put to rest, and the heroes live to fight another day, and we all learned something valuable, I'm not usually a big fan.
But the rest of the film was fine, so I gave it a pass.
But now, knowing that these people aren't actors, isn't that kind of....self-aggrandizing? They really believe they helped an ancient Slavic goddess? It's one thing to have a character say all this saccharine dialogue about beliefs and stuff, it's another thing entirely to just...say it.