Kinderfänger

I have to admit that initially I wasn't harboring much of any hopes for this 2023 horror movie titled "Kinderfanger" (aka "Kinderfänger", which is the correct German spelling). A German title for an American movie? Odd.

Yet, I opted to sit down to watch "Kinderfänger", even without never having heard about it prior to stumbling upon it. After all, it was a horror movie that I hadn't already seen.

However, I must admit that writers Aaron Burgess and Matthew Golad actually managed to put together an enjoyable script for director Bridger Nielson to bring to the screen. I was genuinely entertained throughout the course of the 94 minutes that the movie ran for.

There was some old school type of horror vibe and atmosphere to the storyline and the narrative, and that definitely resonated very well with me. Plus, it was an interesting tale on the classic piper tale, and that certainly worked well in favor of the movie.

The casting in the movie was good, and it was nice to see Angel Theory in a leading role, and she did carry herself and the movie quite well. And it was certainly also nice to see Andi Chapman in the movie, despite her despicable character in the movie, but she performed quite well.

Visually then "Kinderfänger" was quite good. The piper creature was nicely rendered and looked rather interesting. Lots of nice details to the character, and it looked real, which was something I thoroughly enjoyed. Having a poorly rendered CGI creature in a movie just ruins the movie experience, luckily that wasn't the case with "Kinderfänger".

If you enjoy horror movies, then "Kinderfänger" is quite worth taking 94 minutes to sit down and watch. I was genuinely entertained by it.

My rating of "Kinderfänger" lands on a six out of ten stars.

I thought it was a decent B-Movie with an interesting take on an old fairytale. The female lead, and the boy have an emotional story to them, and you really root for them. Which is nice to do in a horror.

Although the emotional pain of the female lead is quite intense, and might be triggering for some as the subject is child abuse. I think it's an important story to tell, and it makes her very real. I actually really loved the ending as well even though I saw it coming a little.

It wasn't really tense, or scary though, but I did like the creature design. The special effects weren't the best, but I found it easy to look through that with the story. The male lead was meh, and just felt like a tag on though. I felt he could have been developed more.

I thought overall it was worth a watch.

I was pleasantly surprised, granted the acting could be better but you get what you get with B-movies.

Doesn't rely on jumpscares and I really like the idea behind it. Granted the special effects are not like a high-budget movie, but it was better than expected. It's not the greatest movie out there, but for once I actually cared about the characters.

If you can look past the acting and the effects, it's a decent watch. Not another horror with the same plot, it added more thriller moments as well. The female lead is great in her role, loved the idea behind it. Could the execution be better? Yes, but that can be said about any movie.

At the beginning of the film, it is already said what kind of movie it is. The director of this film does not understand how the script and staging work; how the methods of camerawork work and for what purpose; how and why motivated conflicts arise and how they affect the plot. Therefore, all this creative enthusiasm is perceived as a school theater production, which, moreover, is completely uninteresting, a banal, cliched attempt to pass off primitive fantasies as a film form, without content, without at least some dramaturgy.

Talented creators can do without special education, based on their inner world and unique intuition, but here it's the opposite.

OMG! This movie will put you to sleep. It is so slowly and incompetently directed that it will have you running for the hils.

It's not so much that the acting is bad, it's the writing and directing. I swear, I watched 25 boring minutes and still had no idea what was going on.

The movie is all over the place and not in a good way. At the 25 minute mark I started nodding off. It's THAT boring.

And none of it makes sense. If some weirdo keeps surprising you by showing up unanounced in your house would you keep entertaining him?

I wouldnt.

It's a dismal movie that is not worth your time or effort.