Coisa Ruim

A man brings his wife and kids to their ancestral home in a superstitious village…

As soon as the movie began, it was clear writer Rodrigo Guedes de Carvalho was going to exploit all the trappings of his culture. Roman Catholicism, possession, exorcism, village mentality versus city dweller mode of thinking, spiritualism, ghosts, family and superstition versus reality all come into play. The only problem is that we've seen these stories unfold in horrors repeatedly from a slew of other Western, as well as Asian, nations.

He does one thing, however, that is wonderful. The stereotypical villages that tell the city folk they don't belong – or hate them outright – isn't necessarily prevalent. Thankfully, with that hackneyed element not in the picture, I was able to indulge.

The acting was fairly strong, especially by Adriano Luz and Sara Carinhas, though Manuela Couto succumbed to be being far too melodramatic. The story maintained a solid pace with exceptional cinematography by Victor Estevão, capturing the atmosphere of the Monteiro homestead as beautifully as he did the lush countryside. Sadly, suspense and scares were sorely lacking and the end came as no shock.

Tag team directors Tiago Guedes and Frederico Serra have definite talent, and I hope they pick a stronger tale for their next outing.

Coisa Ruim is, indeed, a movie that makes us believe that the Portuguese film industry is finally reaching for the audience, without compromising the quality of their productions.

I think enough was said here about this movie's main theme and plot, so I'll just emphasize (in my opinion) its main positive/negative aspects:

+ acting was well above average + beautiful photography and careful set selection + simple interesting plot understandable by all (not like most Portuguese movies)

• over-articulated dialogs, sometimes people seem to talk like if they all add degrees - too much usage of focus/defocus effects (it becomes a bit boring...) - over-saturation of the image, sometimes you can tell it was really sunny when the scene was shot, but in order to maintain the dark tone in the movie you get over-saturated colors and too much contrast

All in all, a good movie. A promising debut for this two directors, and a new breath for Portuguese movies.

It is indeed an amazing film! Saying that the film photography is 'perfect' is not enough! The story is very interesting and we can experience a very good acting from all the actors and actresses throughout the film. The fear provoked by the film is based on simple things, which in my opinion is the best, not like extravagant special affects like American or English films. This is a fine example of the power of the Portuguese film industry and very good professionalism! This is another example among many others of good cinema made in Portugal, it deserves to be seen all around the world!

About many other comments about this film...I don't agree with them obviously! Many of them were wrote for Portuguese people with small minds with the ridiculous idea of "what is Portuguese is bad", It is just sad...

Still a great film! Hope you watch it!

Ruben

Plot is about biology professor Xavier Oliveira Monteiro (played by Adriano Luz think a Portuguese Kevin Spacey) who takes his family back to the village and home his ancestors are from. Only its not the lovely picturesque area it seems on the surface, there's a lot of old folk tales the locals are only more than happy to share with the Monteiro family. To prove himself right and the locals wrong Xavier and wife Helena agree to take part in a séance that ends in terror when a part of his childhood is brought up no one alive could possibly have known. This all happens at a point the oldest son returns home from studying, who as some kind of incestious hold on his sister who's got a baby child of her own to an unknown father. The films true beauty is that it lets the viewer fill in the gaps themself something which may be off putting to people who can't accept ambiguity in what they view.

First horror/supernatural/psychological/spiritual (call it what you want hehe even its genre is ambiguous) film I've seen in ages I've been totally captivated in. Everything works well, the music mostly light almost indie guitar based rolls along perfectly with the beautiful yet washed out look of the locations, just the way it blends with the fog rolling along a field or dust blowing during one of the period funerals.

A much deserved 9/10 from me, if I had to give a flaw it would be it was a little slow to get going but so hope Frederico Serra & Tiago Guedes choose to do more creepy films and not switch genres. Also if Portuguese cinema is this good, please distributors start subbing and releasing it so the rest of the world can see it.

COISA RUIM is a supernatural film about a family which lives in the city and moves to a house (a heritance) in a little village in the rural Portugal. It crosses many topics, from the paranormal and the superstitious believes to the philosophical discussion about religion vs science. It's about ghosts, faith, superstition, rural traditions and religion, but it is most of all an interesting film that focus all these topics in a good and entertaining story. I don't consider this movie fits in the horror or suspenseful genre (even because it's too slow paced for that) but I think it's a good supernatural and mysterious story that could fit in the "haunted house" genre. The production is good and the cinematography either (one more time the director Tiago Guedes did a nice job; I already did enjoy his other movie ALTA FIDELIDADE), but the acting could have been better and the musical score too. In fact I think a movie with this thematic should have had a different and more suspenseful soundtrack.