Marcus Reed (Reshad Strik), a film-maker troubled by strange visions, travels to Romania to try and make a movie based on a long lost film by legendary '20s director Béla Olt (Eli Roth). Reed's film is hampered by strange accidents on-set: is Marcus losing his mind or is an ancient gypsy curse causing his problems?Don't Look Up is a remake of the 1996 Japanese film Joyû-rei; it is an American/Japanese/South African co-production starring an international cast and directed by Asian film-maker Fruit Chan. No wonder it's a bloody mess. The first half of the film is extremely boring, while the second half makes no sense whatsoever.A couple of gruesome death scenes and frequent clouds of CGI flies do nothing to make this garbage any more bearable. Boring dialogue, terrible acting, horrible editing effects, a set that looks like an old derelict junkyard, an irritating Romanian character who says 'Mr. Marcus' every few seconds: this sorry excuse for a horror film is a total dud from dull start to utterly incomprehensible finish.

Marcus (Reshad Strik), an aspiring director, sets out to remake an unfinished Romanian horror movie (how he got a production still from a movie no one saw isn't really explained). Mysterious and tragic events plagued the first attempt - the question is: Will this time be any different?We open with a little exposition & look at the last day of the original filming. Hungarian director, Bela Olt, is making a film about a gypsy curse legend. A young Romanian woman makes a deal with the devil, promising her unborn child in return for marriage to a powerful man. The child is born with a mark of the devil, and is eventually tortured to death. The devil will not lift the curse until the crime is brought to light, and another woman carries his demon seed.During filming, it becomes obvious that the set is haunted and cursed - allegedly by the ghost of the gypsy girl herself. The film grinds to a halt as Olt searches out the spirit, and ultimately disappears.Except it isn't exactly told as a flashback. It seems Marcus has some sort of psychic/physical connection to some things haunted/traumatic. We flash between Marcus' seeing seizures & the actual series of events that caused the original film to go unfinished. He sees freaky things.... all the time.Before flying to Europe to make this masterpiece, Marcus visits his dying girlfriend, chased out by her bitter brother.We cut to the winding road to the movie set. Marcus and his producer, Josh (played by Henry Thomas) are being driven by their guide/Guy Friday, Grigore (Lothaire Bluteau). It's not coincidence they make an Igor reference - he is the schlepping, nervous assistant. And, for some reason, in his first scenes, he is dressed like a 70s pimp. He is the first to notice odd characters and happenings on their set - the exact location of the original studio.The cast & crew arrive, including the lovely Romy, who was especially keen to work with Marcus. Almost immediately, problems start on the set. There are horrible smells, power drains, ghosting images, and, of course, gory deaths. And, flies - lots of flies.The fly special effects have been done before - and better (Case 39, for example). Here, they mostly swarm, sometimes leading to death.The film goes back and forth between current happenings and Marcus' seizures. The weird occurrences escalate, strange characters are introduced, and the crew clearly becomes scared, then violently mad.The action culminates in two very convoluted and confusing scenes that first involves Marcus meeting the gypsy devil and becoming part of the story; then, he confronts the effected women in this story - the two actresses playing the original gypsy woman, the real gypsy woman, and Marcus' own girlfriend.Somehow, without knowing what the heck has to be done.... he makes SOMETHING happen.Yeah, very unclear.And, in an outro, there is a scene meant to explain a bit of the story, but is totally unnecessary.Overall, the acting is pretty good, and there are some clever devices used in the movie. However, the plot holes are definitely a major drawback, and the ending was definitely lacking. It was watchable, and middle-of-the-road quality-wise.

I originally picked this movie to watch after reading the plot. It seemed different from most movies so I thought I was seeing something new that would grab my attention. When getting the movie home, I read the reviews on here and saw it was a "bad" horror film. Still, I took my chances.I can see why many do not like this film. There is no definite beginning or end, leaving you to question the purpose of the entire movie. The plot seems to change focus from the movie production to the mental state of the producer.Let it be known, this is NOT a horror movie. There are "intense" images placed in scenes without much thought (i.e. the flashbacks the main character gets). The idea is probably to shock the viewer when they least expect it. The "gore" in the movie is less frightening than taking a stroll through the butcher's shop to pick up dinner. I do not understand how this movie is rated R. It lacks the core elements which would make a movie "R" - gore, language, and nudity. This movie is all about the deteriorating mental state of the "producer" inside the movie, which is fun to watch if you're into that kind of thing. The acting was subpar; I think a high school play crew could act the scenes better than the actors hired for this movie. Overall this movie gets a 3/10. They tried and came up short.

There was a time that Japanese or Asian flicks were the next big thing. Gore galore and brutality used was a common thing. Sadly, Hollywood saw the dollars coming in and started to remake most of those flicks, many of them flopped. Even worser, those eastern directors were asked to make Hollywood movies. Bad idea, they are really crap. Here, Fruit Chan, the director couldn't deliver the stuff. And even as the granddaughter of actor, Charles Chaplin, plays in it it really is a dreg. The idea is okay, but done before a year ago in two other films. The movie in the movie, remember The Hills Run Red and Midnight Movie. Here a director would like to remake a movie that was never finished due to, as legends go, evil spirits. Those evil spirits are killing all crew members or anyone involved in the making of the movie. The supernatural is a main thing in this flick but appears too much via CGI. No gore, no nudity, no suspense, no nothing. I would recommend it for teenagers seeking for a good time with a beer and some crisps.