Altar

I sat down to watch the 2014 movie here in 2019 solely because it was a horror movie and because I hadn't seen it before. I can't claim to have ever heard about the movie, nor did I know who starred in it prior to finding it by sheer random chance.

The storyline in "Altar" was fairly adequately. It was, however, suffering from being sort of generic and also from having way too little happening throughout the course of the entire movie. This made the movie feel rather prolonged and tedious, to be honest. And I must admit that my interest in the movie dwindled as the story trotted on and on with director and writer Nick Willing at the helm.

For a horror mystery "Altar" was lacking horror elements, so the mystery labeling of the genre would be more accurate. There simply was nothing scary anywhere in the movie, despite the fact that director Nick Willing was eagerly trying with some jump scares and stereotypical scenes to spook the audience. The only problem with this was, that it simply didn't work.

The atmosphere in the movie was adequate, and definitely had potential to add a lot of flavor to the movie. But this wasn't really properly utilized, and it just sort of fizzled without any greater effect.

As for the acting in the movie, well Olivia Williams and Matthew Modine definitely carried the movie quite well.

All in all, then "Altar" was a less than mediocre movie in terms of entertainment value and enjoyment. It was watchable, for sure. But it was hardly a particularly memorable or outstanding movie. For me, this 2014 movie will fade into oblivion without leaving a lasting impression on me. There are far better horror movies readily available if you enjoy a proper horror movie.

A young family move to an isolated house which the mother has been hired to restore only to discover that presences still linger casting a hold over her artist sculpturing husband.

Taking a leaf from a James Herbert novel and channelling countless haunted films Altar is an effective ghost story chiller, however, what sets director/writer Nick Willing's offering apart are the practical and some special effects which have an optical natural feel as opposed to the usual ineffective blatant CGI.

Willing delivers some genuinely eerie visuals and creepy moments, this coupled with a great score and on location shoot help give some credence and atmosphere to the proceedings. Matthew Modine's Hamilton sports a Shining Jack Torrence like woollen jumper (the writer character is replaced here by an artist) and mimics Torrence's transformation (although quite speedy) still Modine gives an intense performance. Both the younger actors are effective, actress Antonia Clarke is notable as Penny. Olivia Williams gives convincing performance which complements the naturalistic writing and setting.

While it breaks no new ground in terms of ghost stories or twist endings it's a solid old school British horror.

This is a bad movie. When I knew the cast, I thought it had to be good. Experienced actors with a great curriculum of good movies. Well, it started out very bad and it gets worse till the end. A lot of clichés. The same and old ones that everybody saw in thousand of other horror type movies. Bad acting, which surprised me. It seemed that Mathew was not there at all....he was around the movie scene and stopped a while to make some filming. Didn't feel him at all. The plot, it's old and the same one, ever and ever again. The effects are bad and didn't scare one bit. Not even the slamming doors, or the sounds...nothing is capable of scare in this picture. My question is: why someone bothers to do a movie like thousands of other? and why did the actors accept being part of this? I really don't understand. There are a lot of stupid scenes also. It's really not good enough to spend time watching.

No, this is not great filmmaking.

(Must be a lot of cast and crew having rated this on here.)

Just going to ramble about this in no special order.

Some places it seems like they have used, I don't know, Adobe Premiere effects, or worse yet, effects that are in the camera itself.. Thats a little wtf, right?

As far as I can remember, one or two short scenes are almost creepy, actually. But they are way outweighed by what is wrong, and bad, and not creepy.

Olivia Williams is annoying as crap! She has the worst looking hair, and it is even a point in the movie! I got mad just looking at her stupid hair. That's not good.

There is nothing new here, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but what is here, is not done very good, and that's a bad thing.

The plot with the wife and the husband and the story of the house and the this and the that, could have been cool, but it is just not good enough.

One scene with a sculpture and some smashing is kind of cool. Best part of the movie.

If you've seen a fair share of horror films, you can tick off not only the mash up of plot points but the composition of shots, camera tricks, and the musical flourishes.

The Legend of Hell House, The Amityville Horror, The Shining, The Haunting, Rose Red, Dead Again, Darkness, Burnt Offerings, Poltergeist, The Ninth Gate, etc. It's strange and weird enough, but the plot doesn't cohere and devolves into the straight to video mess it is.

By the time things turn a corner and the elder daughter starts to get rolled into the mix, it's like you're watching a new movie, as if they're trying to restart in the third reel. But that's the film in a nutshell, constantly restarting with a new conflict that sort of connects but not really.