Without Name

Bon film !

I could be an artsy filmmaker too i didnt know all it takes is slowly zooming into a tree or moss or grass every 5 minutes. Seemed interesting until about halfway or more in when you realize its not going anywhere and has no purpose or plot. Seemed very obnoxious and snobby with its overly tryhard attempt at artsy scenes and shots, with no plot or anything good that makes a movie. It's ok to have playing in the background while you do other stuff since theres little to no dialog, just slow zoom-ins and slow zoom-outs. If you're paying attention to it, keep your finger on the skip button unless you enjoy staring at unmoving pointless pictures for minutes on end. Plus the movie is so lame they don't even have a climax and instead replace it with flashing strobe lights as a cheap gimmick. TLDR- its only a good film if you forgot what trees look like!

I came across Niamh Algar recently in the excellent The Virtues. I was enamoured with her that I have been checking out her back catalogue. She did some other great shows around that time in Pure, The Bisexual, Calm With Horses and Motherfatherson. Unfortunately, with the exception of the crime series Deceit, her more recent roles have been lacking in Raised By Wolves (how on earth are they doing a second series?), Wrath Of Man and the poor horror film Censor. When i found this horror film from just before her pomp, I had to give it a go but, oh dear; it really is awful. Apart from flashing her legs while sitting in a wall waiting for Eric, this was 89 minutes of nothing. The star of the show is the collie dog (Juro even gets a credit!). The closing music is tense and eerie but the film was far from it. It was nice to see Niamh in a more feminine role but that was it Ok, she was only a support actor but apart from those hypnotic blue eyes, there is nothing else write about. I am off for a laugh with The Last Right and then back to From The Dark as my Niamh binge nears its end. I hope these films won't disappoint as this did.

One of those slow-paced horror films that have zombies pulling their hair out. This is the polar opposite of what the torture-po$n crowd wants from a movie. They don't want mystery, a story, good dialog, proper characterization - and a total lack of gore. No splatter-butchering tore-limbs rivers of blood whatsoever here. This is every torture-po$n fan's worst nightmare: real people in unusual situations. (They prefer absurd people in totally contrived situations.) The only "unusual" situations a torture-po$n dweeb wants and understands is when an innocent tourist family find themselves in the middle of a huge shredder, observing their legs get cut into tiny pieces - while the torture fan finishes in their pants, stuff dripping down on his Coke cans lying around on the floor. A LACK of extreme violence repulses them. They don't want to be forced to use their unusable grey cells, they want pure unadulterated deprivation and sadism. As simple as possible, with a plot that even a lower-tier plankton can comprehend. When other people experience great pain - is their joy. The screams of a murdering hillbilly's victims is like a ballad to their monkey ears. This is no such film. Granted, there are many slow-paced horror films that absolutely stink, but those are the ones with a boring premise, and/or a lack of style, and/or lacking a proper soundtrack and camerawork required for such a film. Building a mood isn't easy, it requires effort and skill. Money, too. A psychological drama is what this is, with strong horror overtones. The build-up is interesting, the score is very good (especially the tunes in the 6th and 86th minutes), the cast is competent, the dialog very solid, and the setting nice. A pretty, charismatic blonde helps a lot too, I admit. Niamh Algar (the brunette lead in "Censor") is the one I'm referring to. Yeah, being called "Niamh" is a bummer for her, but if she plays her cards right (and by that I don't mean weinsteining her way through) she could have a very good career. Of course, that also depends on luck, plus whether there are enough non-morons in the film industry to recognize her potential. Did I understand the ending? No. But that's OK, because the movie never bored me, nor annoyed me, nor did I particularly expect to get answers, because I surmised that this wasn't that kind of film. There is a (small) possibility that Eric had split up into two: the part of him that joined the plant-life, and the physical part of him that ended up in a loony bin, along with his predecessor who had the same fate. This would explain him watching his family, friends and cops lead a searching party in the woods. I don't believe he was literally hiding, but that he was already assimilated into the forest. This is, perhaps, why there are two of them at the same time: one in the forest, "hiding" from the people, the other in the house, a shell of his former self. Does he seem happy? Not really. This isn't some tree-hugging fable of a "man who becomes one with nature", a glorious state of bliss and contentment that hippies have been fantasizing about ever since the first joint was rolled. Eric appears distraught in the final scene, i.e. Perhaps the forest did a number on him, as a way to defend itself from being turned into a tourist resort, a factory, or whatever it was this land surveyor was sent for.

This movie has some amazing shots of the forest and the dark gloomy environment that the cottage is surrounded by. Other than that, this movie was a waste of time. It is extremely slow paced and the dialogue was subpar. I've seen some reviews mention that the slow burn helps intensify horror movies like this, but I disagree because this movie is not a horror. I'm not sure what genre it is exactly but I'd say it's closer to a psychological thriller than horror. That makes the fact that NOTHING HAPPENS/IS EXPLAINED even worse. The plot essentially begins with something mystical going on in these woods and ends without expanding on the thought. The movie ends without explaining what is going, how it's happening or why. The ending is also extremely predictable after 3/4 of it if you pay attention. This was very disappointing

I feel like this lesson in surveying could have been better given in a YouTube video.

This movie is the most pointless and annoyingly dragged out one I've seen! There is no plot whatsoever! The first half hour you are trying to figure out what is actually going on in the story or with the characters and so much wasted time on silent scenes that go nowhere for a crazy long time with no actual content to the story. If you take out the overly exaggerated and overplayed shots of the same exact boring thing for longer than a pause should take, or the ridiculously overdone flashing light scenes, and the times when absolutely nothing is happening, the movie would be done in 5 minutes. I should have turned it off after the first 5 minutes when I originally wanted to.

Okay so this one sorta reminded me of Peter Fonda's , The Trip. A professor doing some sort of Forest research takes some drugs and flips out and starts seeing weird stuff in the woods. Was there ever really anything dangerous out there? Who the hell knows really. But you delivered a WEIRD ride along the way. Overall though, I was not impressed. 4/10

Without Name: Irish Folk Horror. A land surveyor works in eerie woods in a gully on the side of a mountain. He spots a strange silhouette as does the student who arrives to help him. His marriage is strained as is his affair with the student. Things get more complicated when they hang out with a magic mushroom munching crustie. But the mushrooms are not responsible for all the weirdness as people get lost both physically and spiritually in the woods. A true sense of Panic is aroused at times. Top tip: never ask for an IPA in a mountainside pub in rural Ireland. 8/10.

Very slow, perhaps too slow to begin with, this is nevertheless an immersive experience. This is due to a combination of things - the acting, the incredible scenery and the eerie sound design. There is, however, virtually no story. This is an uneventful film with a lacklustre ending, heightened by very good acting and terrific direction and cinematography. Filmed in Ireland, it is bound to look great - and it does - but the overall feeling I had at the end was ... what? My score is 4 out of 10.