The Righteous

This is a very good, intelligently scripted film. The cast comprises of three people mainly, and contains many long conversations. For such unrelenting dialogue, most of it one-note, nearly 100 minutes is far too long. Shorn of twenty minutes, things would be so much more effective.

Having said that, the acting on display is excellent, with the intruder suggesting a number of possibilities that remain largely unexplored, leaving the implications to the audience. The ending, for example, is largely open to question.

Filmed in cold black and white, and featuring some memorable haunted-house imagery, often beautifully lit, 'The Righteous' is unquestionably a fine film, and although the attention wandered a little once or twice, I ended up enjoying it a lot.

1) I believe that this movie is more like a religious experience than a story about loss and guilt. I don't think it is ambiguous, there is only one explanation. In any case, regardless if i am right or wrong, there are many layers here, Existentialism, Metaphysics, God and, simultaneously, the absence of God. Pick your poison.

2) This is a psychological/dialogue driven drama with mystery and horror elements. If you are looking for mindless fun/gore/people killing each other, you will not like it. You will probably don't like it either if you are under 25 years old or if you don't like movies with religious tone. Filmed in black and white, there are many intense and thrilling moments if you are into this kind of movies. Actors and actresses are excellent, cinematography too.

3) I can understand why the ending is polarizing. I found it great, it's a great and appropriate ending for this movie.

It's not a flawless movie, i would prefer it longer, 90 plus minutes aren't enough for this story to be told and unfold. Some scenes ended abruptly while it was getting interesting. But, overall, it was very interesting and most importantly, somewhat original. I wish other directors can be so bold and courageous in this genre, down the road.

Black & white was a great choice for the look of it. From the acting to the writing to the direction everything worked in this production that had an Alfred Hitchcock vibe to it. The story gets muddled a little bit here & there, but everything else worked so well that I didn't care.

I have mixed feelings about this one. First, the pros. It looks incredible, cinematography is stunning through the entire picture. I also really enjoyed the tension building throughout. Plot and tone-wise it reminded me a lot of Brimstone and Treacle, or the more obvious Night of the Hunter. The music was well crafted and helps immensely in building the tone of the film. And for the most part I thought all of the performances were great. But...

I wasn't a fan of Mark O'Brien's performance overall. It felt a little forced at times and his glossy eyed bad boy just didn't work for me. There were also issues with the plot, mostly small stuff but I also found the final act to be a little too short on information. Obviously that's intentional but I feel too much was left unsaid about what exactly is happening.

Overall, definitely worth a watch if you're into slow-burn tension filled occult/folk horror. But you may be disappointed with where it all ends up.

Highly recommended masterpiece. Perfect acting, direction, camera work, editing, soundtrack... Just enough character depth is revealed to turn out believable characters and to move the plot forward.

The script is really good and the director makes a great job of unfolding it on screen, although this is certainly easier when writer and director are the same person.

Camera work and editing support direction perfectly, and although this is a slow-paced movie, you can feel the tension mounting and you are never bored. The soundtrack is a major in that.

This is an intense drama-mistery-thriller that challenges your mind and expectations.

Even the ending leaves you wondering, although this isn't one of those open-ended movies. Some directors get to the end of a movie and just don't know how to wrap things up: that is NOT the case here. What you are shown here is a man's spiritual and emotional world unravelling around him and the ending is the culmination of this unravelling.