Totem
- 1h 29m
IMDb RATING
4.5/10
2.6K
YOUR RATING
A teen must resort to extreme measures to protect her family from a supernatural entity.A teen must resort to extreme measures to protect her family from a supernatural entity.A teen must resort to extreme measures to protect her family from a supernatural entity.
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4.52.5K
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Featured reviews
There is little to like here.
Really generic and stupid horror that thinks it appeals to hip teens.
Cheap scares, visions of figures in halloween makeup that then disappear and a slow and bland plot make this one of those write-off movies.
I sort of like how it ends though but I'm not sure it's worth the wait.
Cheap scares, visions of figures in halloween makeup that then disappear and a slow and bland plot make this one of those write-off movies.
I sort of like how it ends though but I'm not sure it's worth the wait.
Stupid, stupid film.
Slow,poorly written and tiring.
And that's just the first few scenes.
It gets worse from there...
Father moves his emotionally needy girlfriend in with his two daughters and things go to hell from there. This was like a bad episode of a Lifetime drama series, except for it lacking drama or cohesion. It just gets worse as the minutes drag by.
Not going to spoil the "twist"...but let's just when you get there you wonder what took so long. It's a surprise; however, it's like winning the lottery when you are 90. It could have happened earlier and you'd have been more pleased if it had.
Dull film. Silly premise. Not worth the 96 minute run time.
Father moves his emotionally needy girlfriend in with his two daughters and things go to hell from there. This was like a bad episode of a Lifetime drama series, except for it lacking drama or cohesion. It just gets worse as the minutes drag by.
Not going to spoil the "twist"...but let's just when you get there you wonder what took so long. It's a surprise; however, it's like winning the lottery when you are 90. It could have happened earlier and you'd have been more pleased if it had.
Dull film. Silly premise. Not worth the 96 minute run time.
Somewhat decent effort when it matters
After he moves his new girlfriend in, a family finds a series of strange events occurring around them that convinces everyone something supernatural is plaguing the house and forces them to confront a deadly truth from their past in order to escape from the menace.
This here turned out to be quite the decent enough offering. One of the more enjoyable features here is the fact that there's an incredibly strong and engaging central storyline at the heart of the film. The concept of the family unit, struggling after the weight of their mother's death and now having the new girlfriend moving in while they're clearly still adjusting to the loss is quite a fine starting point here, which is built upon here with the way this one slowly moves into the supernatural from this original setup. Basing the exploits around the house on the mother seeking revenge and not on the new woman coming into their lives which all manages to give this one a rather fun start here with the start of the supernatural coming into focus in the second half. These hauntings, ranging from the simple scenes of the ghostly figure wandering around in the background to the expected scenes of ghostly visions and flashes coming across which really gives this one quite a fun finale that comes across with all the rather enjoyable supernatural antics possible here with the with the arrival of the ghost and the full-on twist featured here that really inverts the whole rest of the film in a fine manner. That picks up the pace considerably with some absolutely fun confrontations that pack in the final half which really ends this on a high note. These here manage to hold this one up over it's few issues. The biggest problem with the film is the overall pacing, which is just rather harsh on this one. The opening drama here does take so long to get going with the drama- like feel of the material involving the adjustment to the new mother that interrupts the family dynamic to a large degree so this one has such a dour pace to start off with. That keeps the supernatural antics to a distressingly small portion of time overall here due to this buildup that it at times can feel like not even being a horror film for most of this section. Most of these are crammed into such a small section of the film that it really doesn't maintain that tone for a large portion of time and that really does hold this one down for the most part. That goes along with the last flaw here in that the film's attempts at jump-scares aren't all that impressive here as it dwells on a series of predictable scenes here, from cats jumping out of the darkness and the flash visions of the ghosts popping out of nowhere which really makes what happens quite redundant. Overall, though, it still has some decent moments though.
Rated Unrated/R: Violence and Language.
This here turned out to be quite the decent enough offering. One of the more enjoyable features here is the fact that there's an incredibly strong and engaging central storyline at the heart of the film. The concept of the family unit, struggling after the weight of their mother's death and now having the new girlfriend moving in while they're clearly still adjusting to the loss is quite a fine starting point here, which is built upon here with the way this one slowly moves into the supernatural from this original setup. Basing the exploits around the house on the mother seeking revenge and not on the new woman coming into their lives which all manages to give this one a rather fun start here with the start of the supernatural coming into focus in the second half. These hauntings, ranging from the simple scenes of the ghostly figure wandering around in the background to the expected scenes of ghostly visions and flashes coming across which really gives this one quite a fun finale that comes across with all the rather enjoyable supernatural antics possible here with the with the arrival of the ghost and the full-on twist featured here that really inverts the whole rest of the film in a fine manner. That picks up the pace considerably with some absolutely fun confrontations that pack in the final half which really ends this on a high note. These here manage to hold this one up over it's few issues. The biggest problem with the film is the overall pacing, which is just rather harsh on this one. The opening drama here does take so long to get going with the drama- like feel of the material involving the adjustment to the new mother that interrupts the family dynamic to a large degree so this one has such a dour pace to start off with. That keeps the supernatural antics to a distressingly small portion of time overall here due to this buildup that it at times can feel like not even being a horror film for most of this section. Most of these are crammed into such a small section of the film that it really doesn't maintain that tone for a large portion of time and that really does hold this one down for the most part. That goes along with the last flaw here in that the film's attempts at jump-scares aren't all that impressive here as it dwells on a series of predictable scenes here, from cats jumping out of the darkness and the flash visions of the ghosts popping out of nowhere which really makes what happens quite redundant. Overall, though, it still has some decent moments though.
Rated Unrated/R: Violence and Language.
Worth a watch
I don't normally write reviews, but felt that Totem was getting way to many bad comments.
Totem ain't a great 'must see' movie, but it's not a bad movie.
A solid scary flick with a few jumpy moments and a nice twist in the tales tail.
Give it a watch👍
Starts off holding your attention but ends up a missed opportunity
The actors did a great job from what I could tell. The director, Marcel Sarmiento, is well known for Deadgirl, which I have not seen but many where hopeful he would top. Although Marcel is credited for writing the story, the story and screenplay was written by Evan Dickson, of which it is Evan's first feature film.
The movie starts off with an interesting premise and held my attention the first half. The cinematography is fine but later it becomes obvious they were working with a limited budget.
Two-thirds into the movie things start to go awry and although the pace picks up I felt the story gets more unbelievable not just in decisions that are made but with distractions that make it obvious there might have been editing issues.
The saving grace is there is a twist at the end that most people would not have seen coming but it was not enough for me to say it is a must see unless you are a fan of the actors or the director.
The movie starts off with an interesting premise and held my attention the first half. The cinematography is fine but later it becomes obvious they were working with a limited budget.
Two-thirds into the movie things start to go awry and although the pace picks up I felt the story gets more unbelievable not just in decisions that are made but with distractions that make it obvious there might have been editing issues.
The saving grace is there is a twist at the end that most people would not have seen coming but it was not enough for me to say it is a must see unless you are a fan of the actors or the director.
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Did you know
- GoofsKellie is shown in her bed with visible bloody bruises on her knees, but is without injuries for the next few scenes, because it's a later scene where she falls on her knees during a running race.
- ConnectionsReferences Game of Thrones (2011)
- How long is Totem?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
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- Language
- Also known as
- 圖騰黑屋
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Gross worldwide
- $51,247
- Runtime
- 1h 29m(89 min)
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.78 : 1
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