Archons

This movie just made me realise that evangelicals, scientologists, and dominionists are all gnostics, even the cult I grew up in and people who believe in the illuminati and aliens. What a permeating thread throughout history. Demons suppressing human and testing them in life and death. What a superstitious world we live in. Carl Sagan was right. Science is a candle in the demon haunted world.

A simple story of dead rockstars in a horrid limbo. I liked it.

The ending makes this movie somewhat clear, "Where are your friends?" "I'm waiting for them to catch up.", in the sense of what the writer/director was going for, but the script itself does not work, or is not as clear as they thought or think it is. It's tough for writers to imagine what they see as symbolic or metaphorical is actually perceived by their audience. Sometimes they are "too close" to the work to evaluate it properly. That is why authors let friends/family/editors read or view their works before they publish/release them. If these reviewers are sychophants, then we end up with this kind of work because no one tells the author the truth, that the symbols/ideas need some retooling. There are good ideas here, and I wish the creators had taken more time to get good feedback. It won a best movie award. Why? Because all too often when people don't understand something, they think it must be great because the creator is intelligent. There are serious problems with this film that could be fixed. Maybe those clarifying elements are lying on the cutting room floor. They certainly are not in the final product.

If your into isolated location/horror strange creature films and accept these types of films for what they are, then this is defiantly worth a watch, i quite enjoyed it.

If you expect oscar winning acting from every film and are the sort of person to pick at small things, probaly not for you.

If you standard of quality for monster movies worth watching is nothing less than that of Aliens, then Archons will disappoint. If you are more laid back about such matters, this movie is fine entertainment. The four principle characters are interesting, each in a unique way, and chemistry between them is quickly established. All this helps a viewer care what happens to them, which is important for maintaining interest during the first 40 minutes, when the story is developing a bit slow as they canoe down a Canadian river.

Special mention should also be made of Cameron Tremblay's work with lighting and colors. His efforts really helped establish an ominous ambience right from the start.

I had high hopes for this film - Nick Szostakiwskyj's previous offering, *Black Mountain Side*, is a criminally underrated folk horror. But there's no story here, no continuity or coherence, no attempt to explore the mythology. I'm still not entirely sure what I just watched.

Edit: It is better on a second watch, but only slightly. Yes, it's beautifully shot. Yes, the audio is great. Yes, the actors are on point. I guess I either wanted to know more about the nature of the threat or see less of it.