Labirinto do Terror

Lisa (Gaia Weiss) is alone in the middle of nowhere. A vehicle stops. She reluctantly gets a ride from the creepy stranger. She gets knocked out and wakes up in a futuristic tunnel maze.

This really does meander. The basic premise is very Cube-esque with less people. Quite frankly, she's alone most of the time. The maze does not engender any mystery like the room numbers in Cube. It becomes a series of limited thrills as she crawl around and around. There are a few interesting ideas but the main story has no juice. It's really just watching this lady crawl around in the tunnels for an hour. Fast forward is very useful in this one.

Crawl and crawl and crawl

A new French sci-fi mystery where a woman is caught in a series of tunnel with multiple traps.

The movie started out slow, and this really requires some patience before things started to pick up. Honestly, the traps were not too scary like in similar movies. Then, when the twist started, it wasn't too surprising because this was done countless times before. The development of the main character was again, pretty typical, and was supposed to tie to the story. However, it really didn't make a lot of sense and felt cheesy.

There were still things that worked in the movie. Even though the progression was slow, there were still intense scenes that kept me on the edge. The clean camera work and some gores elevated the horror aspect and helped with the scenes.

Overall, it's a mystery that is done better before. 5.5/10.

This movie wants to be several things at once but sadly fails at all of them. It starts as thriller but it's not. Continues as Cube-type horror, but it's not. Finishes as metaphysical allegory with a sprinkles of sci fi, but it's not that either.

The visual at the end was nice. Other than that, I'm not sure what I actually watched.

Sometimes a film is confusing and you absolutely have to find out what is was about, while other times a film is confusing and you just find it annoying. 'Meander' was unfortunately the latter. I think I understand for the most part what it was intended to mean, but I certainly don't care enough to go seeking out confirmation. More than anything I just wanted it to be over by the end.

Which is a shame because it started out so promisingly. A decent opening scene setting things up and then a little mini-twist. Then we are introduced to the tunnels and get a real 'Cube' (one of my favourite sci-fi films) feel. But then the next 30 minutes are very disappointing. There is no character interaction in sight - which doesn't have to be a bad thing - but on this occasion made everything very dull and monotonous.

I was also disappointed by how simple the premise ultimately was. I won't describe what she needed to do, but it was so basic it created no intrigue whatsoever. Sadly I didn't enjoy 'Meander' much after being excited to see it for a while now. Not one I'd recommend.

Though I reckon one should not waste too much time on crawling. Sorry I mean on praying - crawling is the thing one has to do ... and quite fast too. For those who have seen something like Cube: try not to compare these movies against each other. Yes similarities are there and it will be tough not to hold this under the microscope.

Having said that, this works as a tense and claustrophobic one woman show almost all the way through. Motives and motivations may be lost on you - you may hate certain decisions that are being made ... but overall there is not time to think about what is happening. Forward is the way to go. But there is also some philosophical note to it. So while this is quite short on dialog and spoken words, when something is being said, it may carry more weight. Depending if you are up to hear and absorb them.

Very well staged and shot and quite the tour de force (no pun intended) for our main character ... obviously the ending may elevate or break the whole thing for you ... I can't tell you which way it will swing for you ...