The Sixth Secret

Oh my. My wife turned on this movie, and it first I was happy to see what I expected to be another movie very much like "Clue," of which I am a big fan. Very soon it became clear that this movie was at a different level. A much lower level. If I paid five dollars to see that at my local amateur theater, I would've been satisfied. But watching this, even at home for free, was painful. I'm not sure why anyone thought this collection of actors, dialogue, and plot had any chance at all of being a decent movie. The actors all seem sincere, and tried very hard, but the acting just doesn't come up to a professional level.

Well we all know the answer to the question but here it is anyway. Who would rate this film anywhere north of a 5?

Gratingly awful delivery, jarring fake accents and 1st year drama school acting make watching this film actually the less preferable option to sitting in a room and having someone scrape their nails down a blackboard for 90 minutes.

The plot seems to have been written on a napkin and then padded out every 10 minutes with a subversive twist. You might not know, or care, what the twist is, but you know it's coming because there is nothing else on offer.

This film is neither a homage or parody to classic movies it attempts to mimic. You'll have more fun and mystery putting a bucket of poop in a dark room and walking about until you knock it over.

I really wanted to love this movie. It promised all the Agatha Christie like elements I love. Secrets to be revealed. An eclectic group of very flawed characters in a confined setting. Class differences. A spooky mansion. Dark humor even.

But we quickly lurch into blandness and predictable plotting. It does not help that eight of the 12 characters are sent away at around the 20-minute mark after abruptly revealing their not very creative secrets. I had wanted to know more about each of them. After there abrupt departure some crosses and double crosses. And a series of flashbacks, one with very strange CGI, and a few bedroom scenes, one of which might be a bit of a surprise to some viewers.

The acting is community playhouse level. Madame Orlofsky, the psychic, (Triin Lellep) has an especially silly "Russian" accent and with the overacting reminded me of Natasha in the Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoon. The screenplay is full of plot holes, the directing pedestrian at best. There is not much in the way of visual interest in the sets. The characters are bland, not as villainous or "off" as they should have been.

Any positives? I understand that parts of this film may be a homage to the Hammer films of the 1950s and 1960s. Maybe. I've watched most of them, and this really too much of an inside joke for me to get.

The only mystery is why The Sixth Secret called a horror. I note a number of reviewers here use the term, as do some of the synopses on other sites. Odd. It's hardly horror. More mystery, sort of, and lame dark comedy.

I saw the premiere at the festival in Estonia, where this film took the audience by storm and received the Audience Award. It's surely a fun film, reminiscent of vintage horror-comedies of the 1940s, only the horror is more horrifying and the comedy is more sexy. It's a very complicated story of revenge and inheritance and murders and ghosts, but now as I think of it some days later, it also has a very strong message that what you do, just might come back to haunt you.

Quite a clever comedy with some genuine chills. Keeps you guessing til the end and then wraps up nicely. Love the 1930s decor and the dark low key atmosphere. The flashbacks are hilarious.