mhiggott

First of all, this is a (presumably very) low-budget horror/thriller, and I presume that none of the cast are established full-time professional actors. It would therefore be unfair to compare it will multi-million pound Hollywood blockbusters, but...

there are several aspects that combine to make a good film - good ideas, a good script, a coherent, well though-out plot, good acting, good direction, good cinematography, good sets, good sound, a good score, etc. Honestly, I couldn't say that any of these aspects of this film are good. There are one or two actors who did a decent job, particularly (the rather gorgeous) Alice Sharpe and writer/director Adam Starks. The rest are generally a bit am-dram. The plot and the script are a bit shaky, as is the cinematography (literally). The score is also a bit grating. I did watch to the end though, and overall I have to give all involved credit for making a feature-length film that has its moments. Overall, though, not a great watch.

Julia (Maika Monroe) relocates with her Romanian-heritage husband to Bucharest after he gets promoted. Here she becomes uncomfortable, feeling that a neighbour is following her and watching her from the block of flats opposite. At the same time, a series of grisly murders takes place.

A psychological thriller somewhere between Olivier Assayas and Alfred Hitchcock, the setting of Bucharest helps (unless you're Romanian I guess) to identify with the sense of isolation and alienation felt by Julia.

Some of the cinematography is excellent, but there's also some annoying hand-held shaky-cam that loses marks in my book. The acting is good (particularly Monroe), although Burn Gorman's take on the weird neighbour is somewhat hammy.

Definitely worth watching, although the ending could have been more convincing.

6.5/10.

For the most part this is a really well-filmed and well-acted tale of a working class northern boy among the over-privileged. Barry Keoghan is very good as an Oxbridge fresher, but a strange choice given his age (the US trend of casting 30-somethings as high school kids notwithstanding). It builds well for 90 minutes, but descends into farce in the last 30.

The upper-class characters barely seem like real human beings. Perhaps that's the point, although the supporting cast is excellent, particularly Richard E. Grant.

It goes in a dark but intriguing, and often funny direction until the final 30 minutes, but then it gets increasingly less plausible, and with a twist (I guess it's meant to be a twist) at the end that would only surprise the least intelligent viewer.

Overall, worth watching, but could have been so much better.