Brooklyn 45

Brooklyn 45 (2023) is a recent addition to Shudder that I watched yesterday. The storyline follows a group of friends who were in the military and partook in various sins during their time in the World War. Now that they are together and initiate a seance, the sins from their past will be brought to the light for either judgement or their demise. Will any of the friends survive?

This movie is written and directed by Ted Geoghegan (We are Still Here) and stars Anne Ramsay (A League of their Own), Ron E. Rains (Teachers), Jeremy Holm (The Ranger), Larry Fessenden (The House of the Devil) and Kristina Klebe (Halloween).

This had a unique storyline and premise and somehow felt like the movie "Clue" in some ways to me. The characters were interesting as was the depiction of the era. The horror elements were hit or miss and relied more on CGI than I would have liked. The seance scene was just okay but the dead guy on the floor was fantastic. The last 13-15 minutes were great due to that character alone. Some of the monologue and conversations dragged and were boring. This film needed more scenes like the last 15 minutes and less back and forth/finger pointing between friends.

Overall, this had some unique concepts and worthwhile elements, but falls short of what it could have been. I would score this a 5-5.5/10 and recommend seeing it once.

One room play created for film, and an ode to WWI through supernatural ethics. A group of people who were friends in WWII gather to support one whose wife has died. But these friends were on the higher echelon in the war, and they often took extreme measures in sake of the war regardless of the costs.

As any good play does, characters have secrets, whether of action or character, that are uncovered and discovered through the fright and terror imposed by the supernatural element. A morality play so to speak and questioning the ethics of war and personal action.

Acting is of good quality, and the plotting is simple as expected of this type of drama. The supernatural element adds to the tension and breaks some of the characters. Slightly trite and a bit characteristic, overall this was a worthy film to watch, just small in actual scope.

Brooklyn 45 evokes contradictory feelings. Well, it's impossible to take this movie seriously. The movie is a download, then they try to give you a chamber thriller, then they go to a teenage pseudo-horror with mysticism. Everything looks so bad and is filmed that it's even good. And when the level of absurdity reaches the highest degree, mysticism appears. But it looks so bad that it only causes cringe. Brooklyn 45 is a rare example when you wanted to shoot everything at once, but there is no money, and the cast is not surprising. Of course, this is a passing film, but it's not as bad as critics talk about it. This film is worth watching for those who are tired of films shot strictly within their genre, from Brooklyn 45 you do not know what to expect in 5-10 minutes of timing.

I appreciated this for its originality most of all. This felt creative and fresh which is few and far between these days. This was primarily character driven and had almost a stage play adaption vibe to it. The acting was a bit spotty and stilted at times but the woman who played the interrogator did an excellent job. I wish there was more to the spooky elements but what was there was enjoyable.

As a whole I think it squandered some of its potential by not spicing it up a bit. The action became a bit belabored and repetitive along with the slow pacing effected my engagement at times. Despite this it was still entertaining and felt like a unique experience. Would recommend.

I had not heard about this 2023 movie titled "Brooklyn 45" prior to sitting down to watch it. I was initially intrigued by the movie's synopsis and also by its cover/poster. And with it being a horror movie that I hadn't already seen, of course I had to give the movie a chance.

Writer and director Ted Geoghegan delivered a script and storyline that proved somewhat slow paced and rather uneventful actually. Throughout the 92 minutes that the movie ran for, I was expecting a tad more than what he delivered, so I have to say that I was somewhat disappointed with this movie in general.

It should be noted that the acting performances in "Brooklyn 45" were good, and there was some very talented actors and actresses on the cast list. I actually think I was only familiar with Larry Fessenden here, but I have to say that the entire cast put on good performances, despite of a subpar script.

I was expecting more in terms of horror, whereas writer and director Ted Geoghegan delivered somewhat more in the likes of a drama thriller laced with supernatural elements. I am sure that there is an audience out there for a movie such as "Brooklyn 45", I just wasn't particularly impressed or overly entertained.

While I managed to sit through all 92 minutes, I can honestly say that this is not a movie that I will ever sit down to watch a second time.

My rating of "Brooklyn 45" lands on a four out of ten stars.