This is over of those movies would have looked awesome if it were shot on film instead of digital. I was really put off by the digital look and sound. Made it look like some TV show instead of a movie. But Perkins feels like someone who will be able to make wonders in the future. This one wasnt it though.

Well that was something!There's so much to enjoy about this, and so much that left me scratching my head. Scratching it in puzzlement rather than irritation I hasten to add.The tension is allowed to build, with a barren score to emphasise rather than create a mood. From the start we see Kat speaking staccato - like she's an alien in a human shell, barely aware of how to conduct a conversation. I know teenagers are meant to be weird but this is pushing it. I try not to predict the ending when watching films, preferring to allow the director's vision to just wash over me so my reaction will be one of acceptance and understanding. It's a darned good job I didn't try to change my approach on this one - I honestly had no idea where this was going or quite why. Clearly this will reveal me as dim witted by those who could "see the twist coming from miles off"... but if that's how you get your kicks, by being right, whereas I get mine from being surprised by a director, I know which I'd prefer. There are clues there if you want to poke around and tie them together, but it was the clanking of clues that didn't quite sit right that left me trying to figure out who did what to whom and why.That's not to say I didn't enjoy it, I very much did, but I'm going to have to read Wikipedia and a few reviews from others on here as I'm still a little bemused.On a side note, this is the 22nd film I've tagged with 'decapitation'

The only reason someone would rate this fantastic film so low is because they have an incredibly low attention-span. Set in a bleak winter at an all-girls Catholic boarding school where two girls parents don't show up on time to pick the up for winter break, leaving the girls stranded at the school. What ensues is an immensely dark and moody story supplemented with another second story that intertwines with the main story perfectly, with a gut punching ending when the two stories reveal their similarities. Again, the film uses a slow increase in tension throughout most of the film, leading to one heck of an ending.While the films pacing is slow, it is incredibly creepy, well put-together, and increasingly tense. It uses a long build up to brutal ending and does so beautifully, the films ending was well worth the wait in my opinion, and the tense and long build up only made the ending more effective. Everything from the sound design, cinematography, color scheme, and direction are all superb and create and amazingly creepy story of innocence being defiled by evil itself, a wonderful second film for newbie director Oz Perkins, who's first film was an average at best horror film that was a Netflix exclusive.Over all a superb film that is only for the patient viewer.

"The Blackcoat's Daughter" (US title, the better one in my opinion) or "February" (UK title) is a Canadian 90-minute movie from 2015, in the English language of course, so still a relatively new movie that soon gets a DVD release here in Germany I think. The director and writer is Oz Perkins, son of Anthony Perkins, and this is his first directorial effort as he was a prolific actor until now mostly. With Remar, Holly, Roberts and Shipka, he got a pretty decent cast together, the 3 ladies are for example very famous for their small screen acting (Mad Men, NCIS, American Horror Story). But back to this one here. The film includes two core story lines who seem to have basically no connection almost and also seem to take place during very different times, there is a huge gap between these, so it is not a chronological story at all. The one thing I want to say here is that I am a huge Kiernan Shipka fan and everybody who has seen her on Mad Men will have a hard time making a case against her being the most talented actress under 20 right now that Moretz and Steinfeld have passed that mark. And she also did not let me down here. Luckily, the longer the film goes the more she moves into the center of it all and definitely elevates the material on several occasions. There is one phone scene in particular where she really shines with her face expressions. I think she really combines dedication and vulnerability so well that I am positive we will see a lot of greatness from her in the coming years, probably decades.The rest of the cast was okay too. The acting really wasn't the problem here and I even liked Emma Roberts and I am usually not too big on her. The problem is the execution though. It is all quantity over quality. Almost every scene is supposed to be scary and creepy and it quickly becomes annoying. There is zero build-up and as a consequence also almost zero good moments. The few jump scares did not really add anything either. I am sure Perkins sees a lot more in this film than audiences do. But he just did not get his vision through, mostly with his writing, but also with the direction. In my viewing, I even heard people laughing at how bad it was at times and that's the only explanation as there are 0% comedy in here unless you c(o)unt the unexpected and random inclusions of the c-word. The exorcism scene near the end is the best example. It is a really crucial moment, but it feels rushed in for the sake of it as Perkins is puzzling together snippets that have worked in horror films over the last years, decades even, but it's never more than snippets. They are not really fitting together. The music, score, soundtrack (call it whatever you like) is not helping either as it added a great deal of negativity to the showy over-the-top way in which basically every scene should be memorable, but the opposite was achieved, namely that the memorable moments became forgettable. Not even the atmospheric take was successful with the (almost) empty school. Or the reference about the burned hair of the two women, which was there, but never picked up on again. It was truly shoddy to watch at times. There was such a good opportunity for a quality film here given the cast, but they definitely missed out on it and the outcome is a great example of how script is key and even strong actors cannot make a weak story work. I give these 1.5 hours a thumbs-down and suggest you watch something else instead.