11-11-11

The film has a great look, but the emphasis on numerology just wasn't substantial enough for my taste; it felt somewhat rushed, and the scares didn't get to me, but overall it was disturbing. I'd like to see his next film be a bit more focused and a slow-burn, as opposed to feeling jumbled at points. This movie could have easily been close to 2 hours, and could have really delved into the atmosphere. Again, I enjoyed the look and the acting was there, and I'm a big fan of his work, and the killer twist at the end makes up for other elements which were underwhelming in the film. Overall, it's a highly satisfying movie, and very different from any of Bousman's previous work.

11:11 seems to be a real phenomenon, but this movie has no correlation to those beliefs or possibilities. In that sense, it was poorly researched. I Think the idea is good, but here it was almost thrown together and poorly thought-out. The movie seems jumpy and quite random, the characters have no depth,and scenes lack flow. With bad make-up/costume design, low budget special effects, and sometimes pointless dialogue, I was almost distracted from the story. There was enough monotone content, with a few attempts to startle the audience, to keep me until the fairly predictable end. I really wouldn't recommend this to anybody... maybe a study on "How we could have made this movie better" for film students.

Personally, being obsessed to the whole repetitive numbers made me very excited about this movie. I was really waiting for it to be released! And that's probably why it was a big disappointment for me. The idea of the repetitive numbers was a new unexplored theme and unfortunately it got spoiled with this movie. Very weak acting with obvious predictable flow of the story, combined with cheap visual effects and make up, all built for the failure of this movie. Not to mansion the off topic ending which was a hopeless trial to give a lasting final impression. Seriously the whole religion thing in those movies is a pathetic try from their writers to utilize people's passions towards their beliefs to make free advertisement for the movies! P.S. the only reason I gave the movie 2 stars out of 10 is for it's title nothing more nothing less.

American writer and atheist, Joseph Crone, receives word from his estranged brother, that his father is dying. He travels to Spain to see his father on his death bed, where he discovers that his younger brother has followed his fathers calling and become a catholic Pastor. Together they have established their own chapel on the grounds of their family home. Joseph's life has been plagued with strange happenings and tragedies, which seem to be connected to the number 11. His intrigue soon uncovers deeper mythological and religious significance to the number and possibly his family.

11-11-11 is written and directed by Darren Lynn Bousman, who previously brought us Saw 2 – 4 and the superb 2010 remake of Mothers Day. Bousman has made skillful use of popular synchronicity around the number 11, where numerologists and string theorists believe that events linked to the time 11:11 appear more often than can be put down to mere chance or accident and has great symbolism in the universe.

The basic idea for the movie is engaging with lots of potential, unfortunately, this is where the films merits end. The plot becomes tedious and bland fast, holding this pace for the majority of the film. The scares consist of frightening faces appearing in the shadows or windows, but they fail to show any snap or shock value, becoming repetitive and tiresome early on. The special effects, especially the costumes and make up, feel amateurish and almost laughable a times. The acting and dialogue is decidedly mediocre, the characters are difficult to like or relate to in many ways. The twist ending of the movie was better than expected, however, it does not make up for its unexciting story and production short comings. Overall a great idea, wasted.

The successful American writer and atheist Joseph Crone (Timothy Gibbs) participates in a support group to accept the death of his beloved wife Sarah (Salomé Jiménez) and their son Diogo. Joe befriends Sadie (Wendy Glenn) in one of the meetings and she helps him when he has a car accident.

When Joe's estranged religious brother Samuel Crone (Michael Landes) tells him that their father is terminal, he travels to Barcelona to stay near the death bed of his father. Joe has visions of demons and with the number 11 and he finds that something evil will happen with Samuel and him on 11 November 2011.

"11-11-11" is a film with a promising premise, but with a messy and disappointing execution. The screenplay is boring and confused; the scary atmosphere with demons repeats several times along the film and becomes irritating; and the predicable plot point is hard to believe, disclosed in very fast pace and annoying. My vote is three.

Title (Brazil): "11-11-11"