The Painted - Abbild der Dunkelheit

I had never heard about this 2024 horror movie titled "The Painted" from writer and director Sasha Sibley prior to stumbling upon it by sheer chance here in 2025. And given my love of all things horror, and with this being a horror movie that I had never seen, of course I opted to check it out.

And I will say that the movie's synopsis certainly sounded interesting enough. Writer Sasha Sibley put together an entertaining and enjoyable enough script and storyline. I have to say that I really did like the concept idea with the paintings.

While I was not familiar with the majority of the actors and actresses on the cast list, then I will say that the acting performances were good. I do enjoy watching unfamiliar and new talents on the screen whenever I watch a movie. I do believe that the only familiar face on the screen for me was actor Sean Bridgers.

The special effects in the movie were good and helped further the movie's narrative nicely.

"The Painted" is a watchable horror movie, no doubt about that. But it was hardly an outstanding foray into the horror genre, and the movie just doesn't warrants more than a single viewing. But maybe newcomers to the horror genre will enjoy the movie way more than I did, as a seasoned horror veteran.

My rating of writer and director Sasha Sibley's 2024 movie "The Painted" lands on a five out of ten stars.

The introduction of the film was well done,I was fooled into thinking it'd be the early couple at the start of the movie. The core of the story is a nice break from jump scares,CGI shortcuts,and actual lighting effects to establish a spooky atmosphere. The acting was fine,I'd say it was "TV movie" accurate. But they all delivered,even with the briefest of screentime. While there is nudity,it's tastefully done,not a distraction at all from the scenes. This could develop into a series,even if it's pushed to streaming. Im hoping for an eventual sequel set in present day,I think with maybe a graffiti twist to the story lore. I'd gladly rewatch this movie and recommend it to friends!

I wasn't expecting much from The Painted and was surprised at how many points it got right. Well shot, with some excellent special effects, some good suspense and genuinely creepy at times, it showed real effort if at times not exactly succeeding. The acting was kind of all over the place, but it was the casting that really failed. It seems the 5 leads, all playing a family, did not seem related in any way at all. The actor playing the son looked way too old and the actress playing his teenage sister was excellent but neither she or the young girl seemed related to him at all. It was almost as if they chose 5 random actors with no thought that this was suppose to be a believable family. The effort to recreate the 1960s also was a big fail. Still I enjoyed this and it even had one scene, bordering on funny but extremely realistic that I loved. Worth a one time watch.

I was keen to watch it this movie because i saw a video on facebook. But the movie is low budget which makes the watching experience a bit naaah! The story is fine... but the movie being low budget make it a bit boring watch... predictable.

Normal horror movie. If it had a bit more finances may be it would be a box office success The story is pretty good considering the movie today but they have pretty low focus on the main story of the haunting....it looks rushed up... If they had got more prominent actors it could have been nice. Also it doesn't explain the orgin story that well... so it seems like abrupt...

Basically that...

What I did like about it was it's very old fashioned style. None of the OTT flourishes that permeate Horror films these days. No extreme sadism or violence. No annoying overacting.

And, like others here have said, it is a good concept, rather imaginative, and I thought the visuals were done well, especially in the way they blended the 'Real' with the Unreal (I don't want to give too much away...)

Also, with many films like this where a family is going through this kind of stuff, usually the acting is not so hot with a lot of the Drama overdone, etc. In this case, I really did like the way the characters were developed (primarily the parents, the children really didn't have much to do) and their reactions and the way they dealt with each other, particularly in dramatic or uncomfortable scenes, were very well done, realistic, and believable.

Also, like some others have said here too, the ending is probably not as effective as it could be, finishing with a bit of a whimper...

But, if you are not expecting a super modern Horror movie with all kinds of extreme violence and effects and such and can appreciate an older fashioned yet imaginative style, then you might find this one fairly entertaining. I gave it a decent '6'~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~MY PARTICULAR WAY OF RATING:

5 - Flawed enough probably to give it a pass.

6. A decently passable story maybe worth a watch.

7. A solid film, well made, effective, and entertaining.

And, obviously, you can probably figure out what above and below these would mean... : )