Dark Windows - Fenster zur Finsternis

... but as it turns out, I found it quite enjoyable. This showed up in my Prime recommendations, and I thought the synopsis sounded good enough to give it a watch. After all, how can you go wrong with a movie about teenagers being stalked by a mad man (though I doubt any of the actors were anywhere near teens).

The acting was quite good, but what surprised me the most was that the actions of the characters was quite logical compared to other movies in this genre. I did think it might have some good gore, but if you're looking for that, you'll be disappointed.

This is one of the rare times I didn't look at the rating of a film before watching it, and I'm glad I didn't because the low rating might have made me pass it up. I have no idea why it would receive anything less than a 6. Perhaps it simply wasn't what people expected, but in my case, it was much better.

In a seemingly endless sea of absolutely unwatchable garbage which never should have been made, this decent film seems excellent, relatively speaking.

The acting is mostly good, the casting is mostly good, the music is pretty good, the editing and shaky cam are not ridiculously overdone and a few of the lines in the script are actually great, which I don't think I've been able to say for the last 100 movies I've tried to watch. For example, When Monica (Annie Hamilton) says, "This is a really good closet for hide and seek... if we decide to play." That is a great piece of dialogue which offered insight into the character's personality, the house itself, and the character's personal connection with the house. It was unexpected, funny and seemed realistic in spite of it being out of place, given the circumstance.

I love that they didn't overdo the makeup and let Tilly's (Anna Bullard's) freckles shine. That is so rare.

I don't know if they had a bowl of ice cubes on set or what, but the braless diamond cutters throughout really give you a sense of a chill in the air.

The plot and twists are actually pretty plausible as far as horror movies go.

If you're watching movies on your computer at home alone, this is about as good as your going to find these days. Hopefully it signals the beginning of the end of the crapfest the film industry has been for the last decade or so.

"Dark Windows" tells the story of four friends -- Tilly, Monica, Peter, and Ali. They are out for a ride one night and there is an accident and Ali is killed. The other three friends feel awful, especially Tilly, who was driving the car. After an uncomfortable situation at Ali's wake, Tilly, Monica, and Peter go out to Monica's grandparents' old house to spend a few days and blow off some steam. But strange things seems to be happening once they get there ...

"Dark Windows" was a one of the great low-budget surprises that show up once in a while if you're a genre fan. Given the familiar storyline, I was just sort of hoping it would be serviceable but it was so much more that that. It lets its secrets unfold slowly and organically, and plays very cleverly on our expectations. It knows what we are expecting and then delivers something different.

Technically, it's great -- well lit and clear sound. We spend most of the film with just our main three characters and the acting is uniformly excellent among all of them. And it nailed the ending, playing out in a way that was totally unexpected to me and was far nastier and harsher than I anticipated.

Recommended without reservation.

I actually think this is a great movie, I hesitated when I saw the low ratings here but there was something with it anyway that made me rent it , I like this kind of movies and I just had a good feeling, and I am so happy I followed that instinct, this was great

Sure you have earlier references to I know what you did last summer, but this was better and way out better story, creepy level is high and it start just as I like it, slow and small things in the background that telling you something is wrong

I really dont understand why people didnt like it , perhaps its the stoneage cave people that thought this was a slasher with violence and blood, not sure , cause this is a great movie and I am very sensitive with movies , not easy to satisfy.

I may be in the horror lover minority here but I love an extremely slow burn. I would rather it be the slowest of burns than a bloodbath from the get go for no reason. It's a rainy night here and this was precisely the movie I wanted to watch. Emotional, suspenseful, eery, very well acted, beautiful cinematography, and some very creepy touches. Also one kill in particular that I'll remember for a long time. Quite frankly I don't even know how they filmed it. That right there was worth the whole damn movie. But yeah this was way better than I thought it would be, if you're a fan of You're Next, Watcher, The Strangers I think you'll dig this. Spoiler-free (mostly horror) reviews regularly on my podcast What's Up Weirdo, see ya there :)