Claustrofobia

What to expect from a movie from the Netherlands? Well despite the lower budget they have to make movies this one is for sure an enjoyable thriller. I wasn't expecting much of it but was surprised. Well written with good actors. Certainly much better then all the garbage movies they try to push down our throat. I could think about thousand lousier thrillers with a much higher budget so credits to this dutch director. All in all from the three movies my wife and I watched that day this one was for sure the best one. There were twists and turns and it wasn't so predictable like so many horror movies are. If you want a nice thriller on a cozy rainy day then this movie is for you.

This is what happens when nobody involved in a movie seems to care or try very hard. The script seems to be a collaboration from a middle school project that received a failing grade. Canned dialogue delivered unconvincingly. The mad doctor. The cell phone with no signal. All the absurd cliches are present, and never have they been more grating. Carolien Spoor does a lot of what's supposed to be meaningful glares which end up just being silly. She's gorgeous, yes. Very easy to look at her and her body but the script is so bad even her lovely presense is not enough to hold a hint of interest. It's nowhere near the horror genre, and fails at every turn on a thriller level. What little action there is couldn't have been more poorly written and choreographed. In a word, it's just dumb. Two words? Pointless and dumb. That sums it up. The detective was the worst miscast here. Too young fashion model looking bearded hipster. Very unconvincing, yet no dumber than anyone else in the film. Landlord? Um.....he may have been the most decent guy in the film. Thing is the creators gave everybody equlally stupid things to say and do. He was not spared this unfortunately. Carolien's friend, the ditzy drunk, could have imporved her scenes immensely by jumping out any window and falling to the pavement. Cringingly untalented actress. You need to see this for one reason. Everything that constitutes a successful movie is missing here, yet it got made. It takes a special kind of ineptitude to take a wonderful talent such as Carolien Spoor and make her end up looking like a 2nd year acting student. Rotting Garbage. Enjoy.

Now and then out of the Netherlands comes a horror. They are called Netherhorror and I surely would add this one on that list. The story is easy to follow and even as it doesn't have gore or messy situations it still delivers.

It starts with a young boy following a teenage girl. The girl promises that he may kiss her if he dares to be locked in a mortuary. He agrees, once locked up the girls ran away. We move further a few years with nothing explained. It's up to the viewer to solve the case. If you are a bit cleaver it is easy to follow. Even as we don't go too deep into the characters still you want to know what is going on.

The acting was okay, only Dragan Bakema as Alex Purvis wasn't convincing all the time. All the thespians are known for people living in the Netherlands, but aren't big names. Somehow it reminded me of Caged (2011), another Netherhorror.

Gore 1/5 Nudity 1/5 Effects 2/5 Story 3/5 Comedy 0/5

This movie has been made to be shown only online and is free to watch. The director (Bobby Boermans) had decided to do this, because he felt he could produce his film quicker without all the distribution channels making demands about, for example, the cast. Therefore he decided only to have an online release. A lot of people thought him crazy to do this, as they thought he would miss out the opportunity to show his feature-length debut on the big screen. But it seems his strategy is starting to pay out, as he receives a lot of press because of it, making this a bold but interesting way to promote his movie.

The movie, which runs about 90 minutes, is about a girl named Eva who moves into a new apartment. After a night out she falls asleep on her couch and wakes up in a strange room, bound to the bed. This is the start of a suspense filled movie with an excellent cast.

As the plot unfolds you have no idea why Eva is held captive, making the movie really worthwhile to watch. The soundtrack is great which adds to the quality as well.

The only thing missing, in my point of view, is the fact that you really don't know much about the characters. But as it is a thriller this is just a minor nuisance.

I enjoyed it very much and hope to see much more of this director.

Carolien Spoor is quite a good actress (such as in Black Tulip), but the script is truly terrible and thus does not give her room for good acting. After 40 minutes we all know who the bad guy is, but even after 5 minutes the plot can be predicted, which is full of plotholes.