Il laboratorio del diavolo

Technically, everything with this movie was fine - the acting, sound, lighting, etc. I had no issues there. In fact, the acting was spot-on.

For me, the BIG problem with this movie is the overall concept - the whole story. It's just not very good. Or, they got the pacing all wrong, jumping around from one scene and character to the next in a way that threw me off.

When you approach the topic of devils and demonology, there needs to be a certain atmosphere of respect for the enormity of the situation & a certain kind of dread or menace involved. While there was some, here it wasn't effective.

It seems like it's going to be a little campy but isn't, a little monstery but isn't, a little interesting but isn't. This is one of the worst movies you will ever see.

The movie starts to build multiple things that never go anywhere: parallels between the main character and rival, a tragic backstory for the main character, are demons real, and then ... nothing happens. I feel bad for the actors who do a good job playing the characters they've been given only to be misused by a meandering script and put in some CGI circa 2001.

This movie is bad, it should feel bad, and you should watch something else. Starry Eyes takes this concept and actually does quite well with it, watch that instead.

"You have a nice cock darling"

I'm not a big fan of films with dark humor and anticlimactic endings. But this film is an exception because the captivating direction, well written script with solid dialogues and outstanding performances really made me impressed and I enjoyed this movie a lot.

One of the main reasons I decided to watch this because of Radha Mitchell and Emile Hirsch. It's always good to see them on screen and doing horror. They both did a wonderful performance, especially Radha. Timothy Granaderos was a surprise addition to this atmospheric horror. I loved that scene between Emile, Sarah Coffey and Brooke Ramirez and it was scary, exciting and at the end surprising.

The official poster for this film is so confusing, misleading and half-assed because they made a random poster that has no connection to the film and approved it without thinking.

This film tries its best to stand out from other films of the horror genre. It is successful in doing that but at the cost of its story.

The lead actor does come across as a genuine character. This film dives into a struggling actor's psyche and life beautifully. Supporting casts live up to their roles. But the story is where it falls short.

The film does have an air of eerieness which it maintains throughout the first half. It doesn't justify the use of preconceived notions of demonology. The director fails to create a good amount of tension between the certain characters. Second half of the film does involve chaos but it's too late to have the desired effect.

Several scenes did have good acting written all over it. Few unwanted scenes could've been edited out. The director does create scenes where tension works beautifully but lets go off it just before it hits the right spot. A half-baked story which had a lot of potential. It just fails to bind together the characters' story together into one story. For a moment, the film seemed to be on the right track, but an adrupt ending spoils the entire mood. Had the character been explored after the twist, it would have formed a perfect circle and justified the character's actions.

I will recommend this film to people who are interested in watching a film just for the sake of it/or for passing time.

The first 2/3 of the movie I was following along and the plot was interesting. The characters were getting fleshed out and we get a backstory for the main actor and the demonologist. This was a great set up as the story kept going and you're trying to figure out where is everything going in the end. The acting, sound, lighting etc was on point and I do like the locations that they used.

However, there was very little mention of devils and demonology. There was some mention here and there but I thought okay the man is trying to get ready for his role what can he gain lore wise from the demonologist. This is why the ending failed for me since it just ends flat and doesn't answer the question on why the main actor was there for. I like closures in my movies and this one didn't really have one.