Similar to the last horror-commentary I've seen. I loved the horror parts of it, and I loved the faux-documentary/commentary part of it. But together, there's a miscommunication. I think as a lean horror movie, this is pretty great. A small cast/crew, a decent script, some harrowing kills, and a sense of dread. I think it has a lot of that, and it was interestingly told, as well. As a commentary? Also good. Fantastic acting, the stakes were minimized but well crafted so it felt small but real, fairly realistic modern interpretation of a 1970s catastrophe.
Where I felt this underperformed was in its combination of the two genres. I wish this deviated more from the real tragedy, because I felt it was more true to the actual horror than it should have been. I didn't want to both worry about the fates of our protagonists, when I was actually mourning the victims of Jonestown. Maybe it's just the proximity to the real thing that made me weary, but I wish it was more in either direction, as explained below.
If it was closer to a drama, the horror elements seemed out of place. I feel like the movie spent a decent amount of time focusing on our protagonists instead of the commonwealth, which was odd.
If it was closer to a horror, there was too much time spent on focusing on the horror of an already-existing nightmare. I would have prefered a more detached view on the populous of the village. It's not that I didn't want to get to know them, but by the end it felt like more of a statistical horrifying event than a personal one, and I feel like the movie was trying to have it both ways.
It's worth saying that Gene Jones was absolutely fantastic. Get him in more stuff.
Similar to the last horror-commentary I've seen. I loved the horror parts of it, and I loved the faux-documentary/commentary part of it. But together, there's a miscommunication. I think as a lean horror movie, this is pretty great. A small cast/crew, a decent script, some harrowing kills, and a sense of dread. I think it has a lot of that, and it was interestingly told, as well. As a commentary? Also good. Fantastic acting, the stakes were minimized but well crafted so it felt small but real, fairly realistic modern interpretation of a 1970s catastrophe.
Where I felt this underperformed was in its combination of the two genres. I wish this deviated more from the real tragedy, because I felt it was more true to the actual horror than it should have been. I didn't want to both worry about the fates of our protagonists, when I was actually mourning the victims of Jonestown. Maybe it's just the proximity to the real thing that made me weary, but I wish it was more in either direction, as explained below.
If it was closer to a drama, the horror elements seemed out of place. I feel like the movie spent a decent amount of time focusing on our protagonists instead of the commonwealth, which was odd.
If it was closer to a horror, there was too much time spent on focusing on the horror of an already-existing nightmare. I would have prefered a more detached view on the populous of the village. It's not that I didn't want to get to know them, but by the end it felt like more of a statistical horrifying event than a personal one, and I feel like the movie was trying to have it both ways.
It's worth saying that Gene Jones was absolutely fantastic. Get him in more stuff.
