Don't Look Up
Don't Look Up
R | 20 April 2010 (USA)
Don't Look Up Trailers

While filming in Transylvania, a crew unearths celluloid images of a woman’s murder and unleashes the wrath of evil spirits.

Reviews
gloshpit

(Insert obligatory joke about "Don't look it up")With that out of the way... yes. This looked interesting from the blurb: folk tales and urban legends impinging on modern day filmmakers. Remakes of Asian horror have always been variable quality, from the big budget blockbusters, to the bloodless knockoffs - and ever since the glory days of Ju-on and Ringu, any eastern horror seems to have been considered fair game.There's nothing wrong with the premise, per se: a doomed film shoot has residual psychic leaks and curses that are inflicted on someone wanting to take up the project decades later. Weird things are seen, accidents happen, fair enough. But the execution is lacking more than a firing squad with blank cartridges. The production in general feels like it would be cheap for a TV movie, with some terrible special effects and props. The acting is almost uniformly taken from the "dull surprise" handbook. And the actual storyline?I'm sure it made sense when it was being written. Maybe parts were cut out that were integral to the plot, or to try to make it more mysterious and arty. It didn't work, it just made the entire film a confusing slog. Viewers can get the general ideas, but so many things just come right out of nowhere - demon cancers on people's necks, glowing angel girlfriends who have secretly been dead for months - that more time is spent thinking you missed something than actually watching the movie. Hinting at something in a movie without outright telling, in order to let the viewer draw their own conclusions is admirable, but to just throw in seemingly random scenes or twists just for the sake of it means the conclusions drawn are that the scriptwriter and editor need to be replaced.It's not a total waste of celluloid - some people may enjoy it, by the other reviews some people have. I found it a painful, confusing experience with some parts that could have really played up the creepy aspect (the missing, undeveloped frames for instance) but instead chose to try for bizarre imagery and ridiculously contrived plot devices over substance.

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Rabh17

A lot of the other reviews are kinda harsh and seem to come from the Uber-Film High-Brow Horror Critic's row of the theatre. Whereas I just wanted to see something. . .different.What grabbed me was the notion of a ghost story set current day, in Transylvania, that didn't involve Vampires. Period.I'm sick of Vampires: Old, Young, Teenagers, the black leather thing, suburban dark sex. . .whatever. Just sick of it all. And here was a story about a modern day haunting in Transylvania on a movie set.Now I'll be honest, the plot is confusing. I'm not quite sure on exactly WHAT was haunted: The Movie Set, the Film, or the 'Set Specialist' himself, But I like the fact that you're not quite sure whether the 'Set Specialist' Marcus is hallucinating or really seeing things. The build-up of havoc on the filming set and the deaths here and there followed by the final send-up of the ghost/apparition at least did not follow the usual formula, so I was entertained. And to the Nay-Saying Aficionados who were expecting more linear, explainable plot, I say that the lack of an explainable plot was excusable because the action still drove towards a weird conclusion. And what held me was the fact that it wasn't a PREDICTABLE Plot. I STILL wanted to see what the End would be. And on that score, I say the movie scored a point.The FX were nicely done and the flies were a nice touch. There's gore, but it's more Ick than Splatter. Warning: Girlfriends with weak stomachs or sensibilities may need you to cover their eyes a bit. Oh, and refrain from a genuine male desire to get some pizza out of the Microwave. . .the GF will NOT understand and will give you troublesome disgusted looks.Nah, it's not Horror Movie Gold-- but it has it's own Honorable Mention Category and definitely a good passable Saturday Nite Horror Flick. And when you watch, don't Siskel & Ebert it. This is Elvira material! Enjoy!

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raoulcortereal

Normally I don't write reviews... although after watching this movie, it marked my life in such ways I had to leave a comment and warn others. Just spare yourself the misery. This movie shows promise at the start, thinking of such urban legends as the filming of The Exorcist... yet sadly it fails to deliver. The plot is very poor to say the least, and the main character inspires as much empathy in his role as a mad director, that by the end of the movie you are actually rooting for something to happen to him. The movie ends, and ends again, then ends strangely... and I now have to find a way to wash my brain of this dreg...

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Voridor

I had high hopes for this movie when it said from the people that made The Ring but this movie failed in nearly every way possible, The story makes little to no sense and at the end your wondering what the hell did I just watch and what the heck is happening. The ending is confusing and like the rest of the movie makes no sense, The ghost only appears for about 5 minutes in the film the rest of the attempted scares are just flies, yes you read right lots of flies and a woman can be heard screaming before somebody dies, There are literally no scares in the movie, ONly worthy part of the movie is The close up of the Girls eye and the end when Marcus falls into the curtain and when he uncovers himself the ghost's head is coming out of the floor I like imagery like that. Overall I give the movie a 2/10 because it made no sense, The ghost is only in it for a brief amount of time, It never explains how she became the next Kayako or Samara, I can only assume the devil gave her her powers avoid this movie at all cost.

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