alangsco

Like lots of people, I started Bly Manor because I really like Hill House. It was a terrible decision.

From episode 1 the accents were all over the place and really distracting. The storyline was predictable and uninteresting. When there's a narrator that has to explain so much along the way it's never a good sign. Nothing scary about it and it was drawn out for far too long. Could have been better as a four parter, which would have helped to cut out the increasingly self-indulgent monologues.

Firstly, apologies for the review title. I've seen too many tabloid headlines.

Red Lights was reasonably original, well-written and well-acted. Any movie that can tick these three boxes is worth a look. Although the build up to the introduction of De Niro's character (Simon Silver) represented a slightly excessive portion of the movie it was, nevertheless, interesting. I gather the ending has divided opinion quite a lot, and I admit that it could have been done much better. I've said before when reviewing movies that it's never a good sign when you have to have a character explicitly explain just what has happened in the film. It might have been a better idea to leave it without the explanation and let the audience decide. That might have stoked up debate in a good way and generated some more interest in the film.

Acting-wise i'm sorry to say i'm always skeptical when Robert De Niro appears in a movie nowadays. The man was a terrific actor in his day, but he's been in a lot of recent turkeys. He doesn't have a lot of screen-time here but his performance was fine. If he keeps choosing credible films like this one his reputation will start to repair itself. Sigourney Weaver performs with credit as usual and I always rate Cillian Murphy highly.

Definitely worth going to see this. It's above average, if only slightly.

Now it is possible I missed exactly what the said pact of the title was as I drifted in an out of sleep during this movie, but I don't think so.

Once again, i've been conned by the contents of a trailer. The movie trailer made 'The Pact' look edgy, interesting, and scary. For the most part it was none of these. The tension was built up quite well in the beginning without anything really happening. Initially I was thinking the director was doing a clever thing by not using any big scares early in the picture, and thus not numbing the audience to the later frights that were in store for them. It turned out there just weren't any real scares in the whole film. I will give credit for an interesting twist in the story, even if it wasn't used to good enough effect.

Acting-wise I was surprised to see Caspar Van Dien. I hadn't seen him since the original Starship Troopers movie. From the look of things he's banking on Viggo Mortensen retiring soon with him to fill in the gap. He performed the moody, unshaven, gruff, kind-hearted role adequately. Other than that the rest of the cast were pretty much horror-by-numbers. Not bad and nothing special.

Overall, 'The Pact' is just another average horror movie. If you particularly like this genre then give it a go. If you only like above- average horrors then stay clear.