Temple

This was a film, that, yet again seemed to have the potential to have been much better. There just seemed to be too many things going on that didn't seem to be significant or didn't contribute to any conclusions. Some nice cinematography, some good music, but not the best story-line.

So three friends travel to Japan and go visit a temple that all the locals warn them against going near. Folks never learn do they, if the locals say stay the hell away then *Drumroll* stay the hell away.

Character development was spot on from the outset so I expected something a bit better. Instead the movie plods along up until the half way point and then turns to crap.

It all falls apart to such an extent that it becomes almost unwatchable. Our heroes arrive at the titular temple and well I'm sure you can pretty much work that one out for yourself.

The end has an ambiguous "Twist" but that does nothing to save the movie from its fate as a mediocre mess.

The Good:

Beginning is interesting enough

The Bad:

Loses steam at around the half way mark

Ultimately is just an all round mess

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

If folks listened to the warnings of the locals these movies might actually be better

A better title for this movie would have been Friendzone, scary stuff

Oh wow guys. This represents Western ignorance? Man, that's deep. I know I've sure never seen a horror movie before where young American idiots ignored piles of blatant warning signs and got themselves killed in the woods by supernatural forces of evil. Thank goodness this brought Japan in to teach us this valuable lesson, especially since they're known for being so respectful of other cultures. Hur hur.

Forget about that though. Let's talk about how this movie is only 78 minutes long and is made up of about 63 minutes of build-up (and credits), leaving only around 15 minutes of jumbled, unsatisfying, lukewarm horror.

Let's talk about the fact that this movie has to promote itself by trying to invoke the names of more popular movies like You're Next and Blair Witch, but if you actually look at the credits you'll find that this was only written by the same writer of those, and was actually directed by that guy's brother who has nothing but cinematography credits to his name.

Makes sense though, doesn't it? The one positive thing I can say about this is it was certainly a well-shot film. Other than that though, it's an empty waste of time. Nothing but sightseeing shots and filler.

Stuff I liked about it:

• The awe of being someplace new and different was pretty well felt by the main character. It made me wish to go. That was nice.
• He seemed like a real person for a second (unlike the others).

Stuff I disliked:

• Like every horror film, every character is virtually unlikable. Why though? Don't you want us to care about them?
• Also like every horror film, whenever there's a "twist" (there really isn't), it pauses the action to replay some old scenes because they think we're too slow. I wish they'd quit with that.
• It ends so abruptly and randomly. This movie builds up with interesting details and then seemingly forgets at the last minute. They did nothing with the, uh, topic of the relationship fight, which is kind of a weird thing to write about so casually. A lot of wasted potential there. Perhaps stuff happens, but it's all left up to you to write the ending in your head.

In fact, the movie straight up tells you at the beginning that people go mad and murderous at the temple that makes people go mad and murderous. It does a decent job of making you think there's a story unraveling, but there isn't. there's honestly nothing to spoil here.

The film had beautiful photography direction, but the plot was unacceptable. It is literally a composition of erratic and incoherent plot points. The transition between these points was rather 'normal' in the beginning. However, there was such a lot of time invested in it, that the middle point was extremely rushed. I have never watched a movie that does not have an end. This film had a beginning and a middle - it lacked a denouement.

Natalia Warner's performance was atrocious. All she did was smile exaggeratedly in a tone that was quite reminiscent of a valley girl (without the 'oh my god's). There was a lot of subtlety in the feelings she had to convey, and not once was I convinced that I was seeing her as her character.

Brandon Sklenar, on the other hand, was promising, but he was purely decorative thanks to the predictability of his role. For such a small cast, that had a strong impact.

Character development was nonexistent. A group of three is in Japan and they decide to go a temple. We only know why they are there. That is pretty much it. Next thing we know is a repressed passion surfacing - though it was pretty evident from the first scenes.

Additionally, the sound effects were clumsily put together and did not have any fade-ins and fade-outs.

Finally, the Japanese cast was far superior to the American, but Logan Huffman's performance was acceptable, albeit constantly wearing a face in which he looked lost. I suspect this was a direction issue.

I always tell myself that even a bad movie will have something memorable and will be able to evoke some thoughts or feelings. Now, I do not consider this a bad movie, simply far from being a complete piece. As such, I am not sure what the takeaway is.