The Pool

What other reviewers seem to have missed is that this seems to be an attempt to relocate The Shining to the woods. As such it has a lot to live up to and it starts exceptionally well. There's a real and pervading sense of natural horror. It does go off rather quickly, just like the food supplies, sadly, but it showed a great deal of promise which just loses its way. Just like the characters in the story, ironically.

A nice try for a horror movie. There has never been a dutch scary movie that actually was scary. Compared to the rest of them, this movie is a masterpiece. It almost gives you a scare and its first 35 minutes are entertaining minutes. Then it unfolds to be a'the shining' wannabe. All the characters become unlikable. The motives are weird and unprovoked. The movie becomes predictive. And after an hour of watching you start to lose interest to see the end. It's just follow-up of nice shot scenes, but no overall story. The acting isn't that bad. I wouldn't recommend this movie for anybody looking for a entertaining evening. Because there wasn't any nude in the movie, something that we dutch always find functional, I can't give this more then a solid 4. Not really bad, but still far from good.

A bad camping trip. A group is headed out for a perhaps week long camping trip. Rather then stopping in a meadow, Lennaert says they wanted to camp near water, so he goes to explore. He comes back, and tell them there is water, and it is inside a nature preserve. Seems nice enough, and the first night one of them regales them of a ghost story about strange happenings at the pond. But no real details. But things start to get strange. Is some of what is seen hallucinations or spirits? Good purchased food suddenly rots. Maggots get into food. Canned food is found broken open. Not a pleasant time, and Lenneart seems to fancy himself as a survivalist, able to overcome anything. Things just keep getting worse, and trying to walk out back to the cars only gets them back at the pond. It is more mystery than real horror, although things that happen are horrible. One can stay to the end (the movie is short) to see how it unfolds, or get bored and stop without missing much.

As a genuine horror fan and a Dutch native, I did not have high expectations of this horror movie. Even without the expectations this movie was dissapointing. The story does not come to life, the acting was mediocre and there was no suspense. Things hppening for no reason and a terrible end that makes no sense. After watching the movie there was just a feeling of regret. I could have watched something even remotely interesting. This comes from somebody who has watched so many pulp and B movies.

Having watched this the word Fine is about the only thing that I can choose to describe it. There is nothing exceedingly bad about this movie, with fairly competent actors, nice scenery, and some moody shots thrown in. Yet at the same time, none of it is remarkable. No actor really stands out from the rest, there isn't any memorable gore effects, and the unexplained plot all drain what creativity is in this film until it reaches an equilibrium. If you watch it, you won't be wasting your time as it is a decent way to kill about 80 minutes. It is however something you may walk away from unsatisfied and eventually forget it exists.