Since I believe that no film can be properly reviewed using a "star" or "thumbs" scale, I have broken film-making down into its base components. Not everyone watches a film for the same reasons so it can be nice to review the segments for what they are.
There are no spoilers in this review that are immediately visible. If you see this {[SPOILERS]} then select the invisible/white text under it to reveal the information. This will allow everyone to safely read the page without fear of ruining the film for anyone!
Film: PenumbraYear: 2011
Country: Argentina
Premise: A woman rents an apartment to an eerie man who she soon realizes has a strange link to the solar eclipse that is about to take place.
IMDB Site
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Year: 2011
Country: France
Premise: It is Lucy's first day as a trainee in-house caregiver. She visits Mrs Jessel, an old woman who lies in cerebral coma. Mrs Jessel supposedly possesses a treasure somewhere in the house.
IMDB Site
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Story Evolution
The story evolves at a slow methodical pace. The first act does an excellent job of setting up the characters and situation and the second works effectively at ratcheting up the tension without jumping the shark. Act three comes and goes in a matter of minutes, leaving this viewer bewildered and disappointed. There is a lot of great set-up in this film, but no real payoff.
Livide:
Act one is essential and gives all the needed information to connect the dots in act three. Act two is short, sweet, and raises the stakes significantly, yet still refuses to show off the big twist. The third and final portion of this film hits hard and lasts long. Expect your heart rate to raise and stay raised during the entire last half of this film! Every question will be answered and the ending is utterly satisfying.
Livide
IntellectPenumbra:
Aside from gaping plot holes and frustration, this film left me with very little to think about. Characters, especially near the end, begin acting out of character and start to do things that make no sense given the context of the situation. At very best, the only intelligent thought I can extract from this film would be to respect the homeless...but that is a huge stretch.
Penumbra
Livide:
For the most part, everything in this film makes sense. Aside from tying into mythology, there is not much to take away from this dark fairy tale other than a well-crafted sense of terror, horror, and satisfaction.
Character
Penumbra:
As a film, Penumbra falls flat, but as a character study it mostly succeeds. The lead character, Marga, is well developed (in several ways) and entirely dispicable. She is a strong, independent, and rude woman who scorns those around her. As Marga is the only character in the entire film who is given any depth and she is a horrible human being, it is hard to connect or even care about anything that happens in the film. The audience is put into an uncomfortable position as the villains are only sinister until the plot twist (then they become very boring, very quickly), so there is really nothing to look forward to for the duration of the film. Any dread that may build up dissipates every time Marga does something like {[SPOILER]} offer to sleep with co-workers to get ahead in her job or taser homeless men {[END SPOILER]} for example.
Livide
Livide:
None of the characters are extremely well developed, but all are given realistic and understandable motivations. The movie holds much back about four of its six central characters and much is learned about them during the turmoil near the end. My sympathy and connectivity to each character fluctuated as I learned more about each of them...this film plays the audience well.
Visual Tone
Penumbra:
Not much apparent post-processing was done to affect the final feel of this movie. The look of the image is as straight forward as the plot (at least until it jumps the shark hard).
Livide:
The look and feel of the film at the beginning is quite different than the look of the images on screen at the end. {[SPOILER]} During the first act the tone is very neutral, realistic, and straight-forward. When we enter the second act, exploring the mansion, things get very dark and blue...still within movie realism but subtle pushing toward the abstract. Act three has a bright, vivid fantasy look that is intercut with the dark, gritty blue from act two. {[END SPOILER]}
Penumbra
VSFX
Penumbra:
A single, poorly done, physical effect at the end. Supposedly the shock moment, there is nothing terribly shocking about it.
Livide:
Clever blends of low budget physical and make-up effects with digital artistry. From the sharp scares provided by {[SPOILER]} the physically moving tea-party dead animals to the perfectly integrated digital soul-moths {[END SPOILER]}, the effects in Livide are not particularly flashy, but that is why they work so well.
Livide
Audio
Penumbra:
A delightfully jazzy soundtrack struggles for attention over the drama. At times it was so out of touch with what was going on that I literally paused the film to make sure my computer was not playing music. Would have been a great soundtrack for a romantic drama/crime movie from the 1920's.
Livide:
I have no recollection of this soundtrack. An excellent score often only exists to heighten the events taking place rather than to be remembered, so this might be a positive thing.
Livide
Scare Level
Penumbra:
Low to nonexistent. There is some nice tension in the end of act one and during most of act two, but this is undercut constantly by poor performances, a lead character that deserves every bad thing that happens to her, and a silly soundtrack. {[SPOILER]} There is a beheading and people shoot themselves in the face...although the effects for this are mostly just blood spatter. {[END SPOILER]} Minor gore at the end.
Livide:
Medium to high levels of tension in the entire back two-thirds of the movie.
{[SPOILER]} A moth flies from a hole in a girl's cheek, a girl's eyes are sewn shut on screen and a cocoon is implanted into her stomach. Throats are slit using knives, fingernails, and a throat is ripped out with a character's bare hands. A head is ripped from the lower jaw somewhat slowly as two characters pry with their bare hands. Flesh is eaten and blood drunk. {[END SPOILER]} There are many very sharp scares, punctuated by occasional, yet fierce, gore-moment. Parts were near the peak of my threshold, and I had to look away several times.
Morality
Penumbra:
Female exploitation. Marga wears a very revealing outfit, which would be fine given her character traits, yet at one point oil is rubbed onto her for literally no reason whatsoever. The film never bothers to explain why, it only takes advantage of the fact that now she is quite oily. {[SPOILER]} A female character is naked for a ceremony in which she is beheaded. As the ceremony is never explained and there are a ton of plot holes, this detail feel quite unnessisary as well. {[END SPOILER]} Everyone in the film is rude to one another and it appears as though everyone, except two characters, get exactly what they deserve. The movie is written as though it is meant to mean something morally, yet never makes any statements.
Livide:
A character is rewarded for having good intentions despite not always acting on them. Revenge is taken and we are meant to agree with it.
Final Thoughts
Penumbra:
Cleavage and attitude. A single well-written character does not justify sitting through an entire film without any interesting ideas or concepts. Everything here is trite and, for a horror film, the "horror" sure is rushed, unscary and unexplained. It is not necessary to have everything in a movie be explained (I'm a huge anti-fan of narrative handholding), but it sure is nice to feel as though the events taking place have had at least some clues hinted at in the film preceding the big "twist".
Livide:
I cannot recommend this film enough. The composition of the frames is beautiful and the pacing is spot-on. Nothing is over-explained and there are many clues and tidbits scattered throughout the film, thus justifying a second or third viewing. The scares are mostly genuine and the gore borders on being slightly too much (in other words, perfect). I'm a fan of classic-style horror, fairy-tales (a la The Orphanage or A Tale of Two Sisters) so this movie was a treat for me.
Happy Viewing!
Josh Evans
