What. The. Hell?
The oddest film I've seen this year. There were bits I really enjoyed, but they were like the chocolate in a fish pie.
We start with an interesting scene of two lovers killing each other alternately - watch it to see what I mean. Then the credits show there's real talent in the music and cinematography. Then it's a social drama that develops into a grotesque slice of London's lower class as we're taken inside a tower block inhabited by an unlikely selection of misfits.
The acting is very uneven. I liked the lead actress, but several people are given extended lines they aren't fit to deliver. About halfway through the dialogue becomes soap-opera - it's like the actors are trying to explain the film to themselves. The character best written was the bubbly blond, who surfed along as comic relief.
At the centre of the chaos is an evil spirit on an abandoned floor of the tower. To get to the secret we have to struggle past gratuitous sex, a parachuted-in love interest, a zombie apocalypse (the literal shambles), a few very funny lines and reactions along with a lame meta commentary where the film takes the P out of how C it is ("Time for a rewrite"), plus a day out for every extra in the London film biz. When we get to the secret the film throws in more social commentary.
Overall there are far too many characters, the pace is all over the place, and the tone and themes are confused. I could go on - the Brits have the talent to do good horror but not the conviction to do it consistently.
Try two films with a similar feel but much more structure and competence: Scribbler, which has eccentric misfits in an evil tower block + Dead Set, which is the Brits doing satire properly back in 2008.
The oddest film I've seen this year. There were bits I really enjoyed, but they were like the chocolate in a fish pie.
We start with an interesting scene of two lovers killing each other alternately - watch it to see what I mean. Then the credits show there's real talent in the music and cinematography. Then it's a social drama that develops into a grotesque slice of London's lower class as we're taken inside a tower block inhabited by an unlikely selection of misfits.
The acting is very uneven. I liked the lead actress, but several people are given extended lines they aren't fit to deliver. About halfway through the dialogue becomes soap-opera - it's like the actors are trying to explain the film to themselves. The character best written was the bubbly blond, who surfed along as comic relief.
At the centre of the chaos is an evil spirit on an abandoned floor of the tower. To get to the secret we have to struggle past gratuitous sex, a parachuted-in love interest, a zombie apocalypse (the literal shambles), a few very funny lines and reactions along with a lame meta commentary where the film takes the P out of how C it is ("Time for a rewrite"), plus a day out for every extra in the London film biz. When we get to the secret the film throws in more social commentary.
Overall there are far too many characters, the pace is all over the place, and the tone and themes are confused. I could go on - the Brits have the talent to do good horror but not the conviction to do it consistently.
Try two films with a similar feel but much more structure and competence: Scribbler, which has eccentric misfits in an evil tower block + Dead Set, which is the Brits doing satire properly back in 2008.