The Sublet

A young couple with a child try to settle in after moving in their new apartment, but after some time the wife (Joanna) is haunted by paranormal activities. Her husband (Jeff) doesn't believe her and at some point she finds an old journal from a woman that lived in the same apartment before. The journal reveals that the woman's husband was abusive and that she wanted to escape. The movie is really slow and the general premise was really generic. You have Joanna that sees an hears things and you have the overworked Jeff that is annoyed and won't believe her. While reading the journal Joanna starts seeing the same things that the other woman depicted in her writings. In the final act the movie has its climax as expected and picks up some pace but in general there is nothing redeeming about this movie that makes it stand out. It's slow and forgettable and similar things have been done before. [4,1/10]

This movie tries to recall, in some weird, ugly and boring way, Rosemary's Baby by Polanski. It doesn't succeed, it's just a very bad imitation with a twist in the plot, a twist you can easily expect since the very beginning. It tells the story of a couple and their child moving to a subleased flat where, of course, strange things start to happen. However, these "typical horror movie things" happen way too slowly and they are easily foreseeable. I don't even want to spoil my time further, but I feel the need to remark the ugliness of this movie by warning the future audience that they are going to witness one of the worst acting they have ever seen.

I didn't know anything about this movie prior to sitting down to watch it. I didn't even read the synopsis. All that I needed was knowing that it was a horror movie.

However, it turned out that "The Sublet" was somewhat of an ordeal to sit through. It was a rather slow paced storyline with very little happening throughout the course of the story actually. Director John Ainslie actually did manage to construct a movie that built up a suspense in a good way, but despite the build up of suspense it didn't climax into anything worthwhile.

The acting in the movie was adequate, and people were doing good enough jobs with their roles and characters, despite the limitations imposed by the script and storyline.

"The Sublet" was not a horror movie that was big on special effects or practical effects for that matter. Nah, this type of movie is the kind that makes good with mood and atmosphere. Was that a good thing? Well, yeah sort of, as the build up of suspense and keeping the audience in the dark was good.

This was a less than mediocre foray into the horror genre, and "The Sublet" doesn't really offer anything to the genre that hasn't already been seen before in other horror movies. So don't expect anything overly innovative here.

I must admit that I found my interest and attention span ebbing as the movie progressed and I was actually tempted to just give up and eject the DVD with only 15 minutes left of the movie. I did, however, decide to finish the movie. Which wasn't a particular improvement to the rest of the movie.

There are far better horror movies available. And the few scenes and ideas throughout the movie that actually were nicely constructed was hardly enough to make it up for the rest of the movie. "The Sublet" scores a meager 4 out of 10 stars from me.

You've probably seen film like this before; I know I have. However, if you're in the mood for a haunted house-type horror, we could both do a lot worse!

The acting is excellent, the scares are carefully piled up, the characters are flawed but appealing - even the caterwauling child is a genuine cutie. When the relationship deteriorates between the couple, it's actually effective because as the audience, we are made to care about them both. Tianna Nori and Mark Matechuk are believable as Joanna and Jeff, both imperfect, but both likeable. There's not a bad performance on show, but this story certainly belongs to the couple.

Possibly as the end credits roll, you'll be struck how this fails to break any new ground, but events are unravelled so expertly, you'll have enjoyed the ride anyway. My score is 8 out of 10.

I have to say I was not expecting much from this film. After watching it, however, I was really surprised at how well done it was. The low 5.9 rating hardly does this film justice. It's much much better then that.

Sticking to my "no spoiler" rule, I will only lend my opinions of why I thought this was a terrific sleeper Psyche/Thriller.

The film is a bit slow moving but don't let that lull you into a sense of nothing happening. This film makes you think and question yourself at many points throughout, as though you missed something important about the plot. Each act gets more and more creepy regarding who is sane and who is not.

The acting was very good and the score was spot on during the most important and disturbing scenes, illustrating how the timing of editing and Direction was excellent. There seems like a lot is going on but at the end the film comes full circle, thereby leaving you fulfilled and quite alarmed.

If you are a fan of Psychological Thrillers but are sick of the typical Drek that seems to be constantly regurgitated so often, you are in for a treat And will thoroughly enjoy "The Sublet"....

I would say this could have been a film Hitchcock might have directed had he read the script. As Hitch once said...."there are only three things that matter in making a great film, Script, Script, Script"....! Hats off to the writer, Director, sound and cast.

I give this film a Big Thumbs Up!