Uninhabited

I watched 'Uninhabited' as part of a MIFF double-horror special at Nova, Melbourne. This was second on the bill after 'The Clinic', which itself was a slightly-below average movie.

The film is entirely set on a gorgeous entirely secluded remote island on the Great Barrier Reef. A couple are on a ten-day romantic escape to this island, and early on in their getaway mysterious and unexplained happenings commence.

I actually enjoyed the first portion of the movie, the building of mystery was handled reasonably well and I held some genuine curiosity towards what was happening on the island (being set on an island I was half expecting some kind of black smoke monster to appear at some stage!).

However this intrigue dissipated pretty quickly. The acting, particular of the male lead was noticeable pretty poor and the film struggled to create any meaningful suspense or horror. The only part of the film which managed to create any kinds of feeling of suspense was the remoteness of the setting, but this is fairly stock standard for the horror genre. The plot was very clichéd and very predictable.

Overall an uninspiring film which unfortunately didn't build on mystery created early on in the film.

Uninhabited (2010)

I thought this was going to full on full found footage movies but again was so-what disappointed that it wasn't.

Like I said in my last post, i not fan of Mixed of hand held and normal filming, it dose not work for me.

I thought this movie sounded great, the idea was really good and the locations was great.

There could have done so much more with this movies, it's mind boggling, it kinds slow in places and really predicable in some places.

The acting was decent from short cast and for once I actually liked the last scenes of the movie, I thought it was decent end to a worth watching movie.

4 out of 10

I am not surprised that there isn't a lot of loving for this movie. Sold as a horror movie, but lacking any real substance, and yet it actually does a lot of things pretty well.

The two leads are both very amiable, and do a decent job, admittedly neither is working from a wonderful script. I liked the pacing of the film, the beginning so bright, so beautiful, so full of expectation and bliss, a contrast to the end, which was dark and chaotic.

The suspense was good, and well built up. I kept expecting someone to jump out of the trees, or for it to have a moment or two similar to Lost.

The ending let it down, it deserved better, and the obvious scene, where we knew the fish was going to get one of them.

A decent watch. 6/10

Some people seem to have really, really hated this movie, and I'm surprised that it managed to elicit such a strong reaction from them. I found this to be perfectly watchable, even though it's a bit routine -- even clichéd. I don't see how it could cause either strongly positive or negative feelings.

Instead of a haunted house, the setting is a haunted island, but the effect is the same. Like your stereotypical haunted house movie, mysterious happenings start spooking our young lovers, ratcheting up the creepiness factor as time goes on. Footprints in the sand that start and stop suddenly. Oooh, mysterious. Whispering and sobbing that might just be the wind. Oooh, spooky. A run-down shack that they somehow never noticed before and a grave nearby. Oooh, creepy. A book that helpfully explains the origins of the ghost and its M.O. Oooh, cheap narrative device... I mean, oooh, scary.

It's nothing you haven't seen before, but it's competently shot. The acting has been highly criticized by others, but it didn't really bother me. The soundtrack was more annoying, I thought. It's basically some woman channeling the pain of the world in soulful, non-lyrical vocalizations. You know the kind. I hate it, and I wish people would stop scoring their movies with it. However, even this failed to give me a strong emotional response. Whereas some other reviewers have judged this movie quite harshly, with the requisite "worst movie ever" assertions, I just can't work up the strong emotional response necessary to hate it. It was OK. I'd recommend it to people who love supernatural suspense stories, as long as they don't have very high standards. It's a generic ghost story about generic people on a generic island, haunted by a generic ghost. If you're looking for more than that, then skip it.

This isn't a terrible movie, considering the budget there is a lot worse out there.

I can't put my finger on why it took me half the film to warm to the protagonists, but they do eventually grow on you.

The deserted island is creepy and there are moments of deep tensions but no actual scares.

A large portion of the film is dedicated to building up suspense but the director waits too long before bringing things to a head and by then the pay-off is just too light.

Good enough production, acting, no shaky cameras and this movie is totally watchable but it lacks the budget and the originality to make it anything more.