Luciferous

source: Luciferous

If you are up for 90 minutes of an irritating child screaming at everything; parents calling each other "baby" in every sentence; and waiting 2/3 of the movie for anything to happen, have at it. Trying to be artsy, but failing miserably.

Alex, Masha, and Mina are a Russian (?) family living comfortably in Toronto. Alex is bothered by the fact he killed Peter in a car accident. Then it is 36 days later. Alex suffered an unknown head trauma, one that doesn't require you to shave your head and you get to wear fake looking head bandages. He is developing a split personality, one that appears to be contagious. He believes he is being haunted by Peter, who is apparently a dentist who looks a bit like Max Headroom. There are nearly an infinite number of low budget bad horror films out there. They make mistakes and many times you ask, "did they mean to do that or did they just goof?" In this film they meant to do it. They are not goofs. Unfortunately that didn't make the film any better to find out in the last few minutes that you might have been really entertained and not bored during the previous 80 minutes. Mina, the little girl was irritating with her constant screams for "mommy, mommy." Masha, the mom constantly comforts her and everyone else, calling her Mishka. Alex is unlikable in his psychotic depressed state. It is hard to make it past 30 minutes, and I can't tell you if it is worth it. Many people thought it was. I am not one of them.

I've watched a LOT of movies in my lifetime, from instant classics to bottom of the barrel trash, so I like to think I know how film is supposed to work. Luciferous is at heart, a pretty good film. However, decent acting and limited, but successful settings cannot save a flawed film. Alex and Mahsa live a very comfortable life in an upscale condo with their young daughter, Mina. Life is great until Alex suffers a head injury and after a slow recovery begins to act more and more strangely, eventually putting his family in danger. The movie flows well, with nice transitions from scene to scene. There are a few bumps in the road where situations occur for no other reason than to move the plot along. The main problem with the movie is one which has become more common now that anyone can make a movie for a few grand, a computer and some electronics. The film attempts to sum everything up in too short a time! This flaw almost always leaves the viewer with more questions than answers and not in a good way. I like films than makes me think. I LOVE movies that force me to think outside my comfort zone. A good example would be "Memento". This movie attempts to sway the viewer into believing that supernatural forces are the cause without actually giving any reason to think that. Alex's head injury plus loads of medication easily explain all the bizarre happenings at the home, yet the supernatural element is pushed numerous times. The final 15 minutes are where the film falls flat on it's face. Like too many other movies, in too short a time, we are given a LOT of information which, ideally, is supposed to make us say "So THAT'S why all that happened"? Certain scenes gain more importance and the actions of certain characters become more relevant. That's not the case with this film. Without giving too much away, everything that has occurred to the family is summed up in the final few minutes without really explaining much at all! Logic went out the window and the sense of cohesion we're supposed to feel simply doesn't occur. What is supposed to be an "Aha!" moment is actually a "What the ....?" moment. instead of making me want to watch the movie over again to look for bits that I thought were insignificant or didn't make sense I wanted to ask for my 90 minutes back. ALl in all, the acting, direction and sets were actually pretty good for a low budget film, but the script fails in ways that make the viewing experience unenjoyable. Oh yeah, and Mina constantly whining, crying and yelling for "Mommy" begins to get on your nerves in about 18 minutes.

Nearly every horror movie about a loving family goes berserk, starts with a way too loving parents and a cute kid who extremely loves his/her parents. But this movie goes beyond and makes it too hard to concentrate on the plot. I have few words for the scriptwriters; using the word "Baby" as a punctuation mark doesn't pump up our sympathy for the family but the exact opposite. Throughout the whole movie the actors said "Baby" nearly 3 billion times! And yes now i hate relationships. I wonder, is it because of the scriptwriters or is it just terrible improvisation. The other thing is about the end. Don't you think that there is so many information for a monologue? Other than that it was an OK movie.

This film is the same as many other horror movies. It really does try to build a story, to give reality to the characters, but it doesn't succeed. It has the feeling of someone making this with borrowed equipment after having written a script within a very short amount of time...While taking lots of liberties from other recent films. The acting is bad and not believable in the least. All the scenes jump around with no connection other than a desperate attempt to show daily life. But it only seems disjointed and haphazardly done. This film is painful and slow, best left un watched. Considering the amount of awards on the front cover from unknown events or festivals, that should have been a clue.

The description of this god-awful film on my cable pay-per-view intrigued me. So I ordered it. I watched it for the first two minutes and was sucked in to watch it more. The significance of the two minute mark is that I could've canceled and got my $4.99 back. Perhaps that is why this move was made; i.e. to lure the viewer into watching beyond the two minute mark and lose their money. There is no cohesive plot. At least 2/3 of the scenes (as there is no coherent and anything even approaching a consistent story-line) are just randomly thrown at us and, apparently, left up to us to figure out what is going on, are simply, well, there. At the approximately 52 minute mark, the mom asks Mina to stop filming. (We find out at the end that Mina is missing so presumed dead. You do not need to waste 90 minutes of your life watching this garbage. You have been warned.) Did 7-year-old Mina edit this too? Alex and/or Masha (his wife) are either independently rich (so they can afford to make cinematic garbage) or they have something on those who would part with money to fund the production of such garbage; in any event, this is not worth viewing except to anyone who would aspire to making good movies and who wants/needs to see an example of what not to do.

A friend suggested this movie. I now realize he was screwing with me. This would be a great effort for a 15yr old with basic editing software. This is put together by a husband and wife team that act in and direct the film. They even bring their own daughter into this train wreck. If you read their real life bios on IMDb this couple sounds like artist working their craft..blah..blah..blah. When this is nothing more than a cheap attempt to make a name for themselves and hope to make some cash. Honestly this movie is so bad that it's the perfect film to get your friends together to watch and have some drinks. I suggest you play a drinking game where you have to drink every time the wife says "baby" or the daughter whines "mommy..daddy" except you would pass out in the first 10 mins. The scariest part of this dumpster fire is that I get the sense these people actually think they are making a great film.

In this short review, I will keep things very general, so as not to give away the story line. I didn't personally read any reviews before watching this film. The fact that it is independent and won 5 awards was good enough for me. I wasn't disappointed. This is a film that engages your mind, with a range of possibilities as to why things are unfolding as they are, any of which could be plausible. So you are left to study the characters for clues as to which answer is more likely. A welcome break from many films that rely too much on action and special effects. Personally, I enjoyed this film on many levels. Highly recommended! " Undoubtedly a little gem lost in the world of cinema." - Rodrigo Garcia Ferreyra May 16, 2016 Cinema

My actual rating would be a 6 but I clicked on 10 because I don't think its a 4 maybe a 5 certainly not a 4. So there are things I liked and also many things I would have changed. Let's start with why I liked this movie. I am a huge horror movie fan especially when it has to do with paranormal events. There were many moments that I was creeped out but the way you want to be creeper out as a horror movie fan. The storyline was unpredictable and I couldn't stop watching and that's rare for a low budget movie to do. BUT I would of changed many things including the actor's. The acting was par at best. There are many former great Hollywood actor's that they could of got instead of using no name people. That's the first change i would of made. The second thing is that the storyline should of been a bit more polished. With that being said this movie could of been at least an 8