The Luring

The Luring takes it time on screen, not rushing, so I did check it out closely, see if I'm not missing anything. Some scenes felt random, the colour changes a lot, of course I thought about symbolism, but I failed to capture it...perhaps because it was not really there. Just a shadow, a whisper, but nothing really concrete, that would come back and hit you in the head with a brick after reconsidering those particularly, weird moments.

For a horror or a psychological one, it never seems to up its game, it genuinely becomes more and more easy to anticipate what's going to happen, so you will find no spark there. Towards the end it did have a scene, so out of the blue, so bold, it really managed to make quite the impression, and it even got me thinking how much more room there was for it, or in how many other movies, such scenes could appear and just shake you from the core. But then it continued towards its conclusion, one that I saw coming for the last 30 minutes, so it was a steady, easy ride from there till the very end.

Overall, sadly, I don't feel like recommending The Luring, because it has a weak plot, slow but not in a good way development, and the ending itself falls flat. If you do decide to watch it, lower your expectations and just try to see what those out of touch moments are all about. Because even if they represent something, the ending itself is so explicit..made little sense to make the movie stuffier for such a bland finish.

Cheers!

The level of suspense in The Luring makes this clever psychological thriller a lot scarier than I was expecting. Written and directed by Christopher Wells, the film plays tricks on its audience by disguising itself as a midnight movie, making us think we can put our guard down.

From the first scene to the last, we're guided on a wild ride that's elevated by strong performances across the cast, coupled with a very well-done original score. But it's the nice little touches that make The Luring a worthwhile watch: from the way the characters become transfixed by the serene paintings (a metaphor that things aren't always as they seem), to the way poetry ties characters together and foreshadows their demise, to how the toy truck is used as bait.

We follow Garrett, played by Rick Irwin, and the hopeful romantic Claire, played by Michaela Sprague, whose characters have very different ideas about where their relationship is heading. The film digs into the power dynamics of dominance and submission and how we change our persona depending on who we're confronted with. A beautifully executed oner at the lake reveals a lot about their relationship; as the camera creeps closer, the tension builds, making us feel like an evil force is manipulating them.

The small vacation house somehow magnifies insecurities in some and amplifies self-indulgence in others, which leads to a heart-racing sequence involving a ten-year-old boy, all under the watchful eye of a sinister figure, chillingly played by Dan Berkey.

The way Wells reintroduces the devil in the bowling alley scene is brilliant. We almost forget his earlier involvement, so when he reemerges, the framing cuts off his head, creating unsettling foreshadowing that plays out in an underbelly of suspense.

Throughout the film, the characters are plagued by nightmares, and the blending of reality and dreams makes us wonder if they're trapped in purgatory or caught in a web of pure evil.

The Luring grabbed my attention because it quickly earned it.

The movie is exceptionally poor in pretty much all aspects.

The acting pretty much gives away what kind of movie it will be from the start. The performance is akin to a high school play with nervous kids that force their lines and overact. The cinematography is not too bad, although that alone amounts to nothing in the end considering the convoluted and disconnected plot. You know how in a dream you are convinced certain things make sense but when you wake up you wonder how come you didn't see the glaring contradictions with reality? That's how this movie plays out. There is a multitude of cliche horror elements - an eerie red balloon, a psycho kid killer, children hurting children, mysterious plot device shadowy man, a toy of unknown significance which the camera zooms in on regularly, etc. etc. Events do unfold, but saying they are in any way coherently connected is like answering a math problem with "green". I wouldn't even call this one pretentious as to me this is simply a bad movie due to bad writing and directing.

This is the type of movie that will have a few people pretend to understand its "profound" meaning and will insist that it is so deep that nobody gets it but do not be fooled. Deep applies to this movie like "dry" applies to "ocean".

Bad acting, a story line all over the place, characters you root for being killed off so you don't have to see/listen to them anymore. Completely disjointed ending. Rip-off of other horror elements.

Christopher Wells' "The Luring" is an indie psychological horror film that blends atmospheric tension with emotional depth. The story is about Garrett (Rick Irwin), who returns to his childhood vacation home in Vermont to confront a traumatic birthday from his childhood that he cannot remember. Wells crafts a moody and suspenseful narrative that relies on character development more than blood and gore. If people like suspense more than the traditional blood and guts horror usually offers, I would give this film a shot. The complex story with dark visuals will leave viewers thinking about this film after the credits roll.