Don't Say Its Name

This movie was actually pretty solid. Not really for me, but that doesn't mean others cant enjoy it. The story is decently engaging though the audio mixing is ATROCIOUS. To the point where I almost wanted to turn it off entirely but I managed to stick it through. Subtitles are your friend here. The acting is actually pretty good, the scenery is very beautiful (movie takes place in Alaskan woods on a rez) but the transition between scenes is a bit lackluster and makes things a little hard to follow. There's also not really a clear timeline unless you really pay attention to the day/night cycles in the movie. There's a more than a few scenes that honestly didn't need to be there, or were just written poorly which sadly detracts from the movie but they aren't so egregious that it totally, totally ruins it. I think by far the most angering part of the movie is the cold open as it was a situation that could've been avoided if she just....didn't keep walking in front of a suspicious car but ah well.

From the synopsis, I thought this had some potential, and there are some things that work, but it's really a mixed bag. Some of the characters are a bit two dimensional and, without going into spoilers, I don't think the costumes and special effects worked very well. Given the apparent budget constraints, they probably would have been better advised to go in a different direction with some things. It gets points for having an interesting setting, and some of the non-plot-device characters are realized in an interesting way, but there are a lot of plot elements that seem a little contrived and don't make a lot of sense. Like, say, if you were walking down a road, and a car revved its engine and came charging at you, would you (A) run down the road and try to outrun the car or (B) run to the side of the road away from the charging car? I'm just saying - that happened to me once and my first instinct was to jump to the side. I don't regret seeing Don't Say It's Name, but it's not really one I would recommend other than for the cultural representation aspect. There is something to that, but there are better examples of aboriginal cinema.

Acting not very good. They seem too stiff and not believable. Not enough character building for any of the characters. What do we know about them or why do want to care if they are sliced and diced by the spirit killer. Basically it the same story of the big corporations wanting to take over or say they are doing it to help the locals. In reality it just doesn't what big guys do. Also side story of the person in the truck. Too much dead space with boring conversations. Why would revenge spirit go after a teenager who has nothing to do with nothing except wanting a job. (At the wrong company I guess) If the revenge spirit wanted to stop this company, go after CEO not some menial employees. Once it attacked a non company person, then the avenging of wrongdoer is just a murderer Special affects are just ok, nothing. Just Not worth the time.

When I watch any film, but particularly my favoured genre I ask a few questions. Did they love what they did, did they treat the audience with respect, and how did the do with what they have. I was extremely impressed with Don't Say Its Name. You can tell they had a passion for the story they told, which is both Indigenous, and Universal. The freshness and realness of the people who were real people and not just caricatures comes through for the whole thing. For those of us who are descended from colonizers, this story may very well provoke a reaction. That's another piece of an extremely well crafted puzzle. They respected me and my time as the audience. The scares, while not intense, were earned and not cheap. I am really used to being treated like an idiot by a large section of the horror genre, and it was really nice to be able to watch something that wanted me to pay attention to the people and the ideas in the story. They did a tremendous amount with what they had. They alternated between CGI and practical effects with a deft hand for, despite Telefilm and SuperChannel funding was not a huge budget film. They made the story work for them, and there were large parts of the movie where I actually lost track of the time, and that's really rare in horror films these days, especially when you're watching on TV Streaming services with all your devices around asking for attention. While it's true that at it's heart it's not a blazingly original idea there are few of those left, and they took a classic story and made it their own. I was really impressed - this is well worth your time.

Before renting this movie on pay-per-view, I went to Rotten Tomatoes (as I always do) to see their rating. By 5 critics (the movie just came out so no more reviews yet) they all gave it 100%. So I was thrilled to rent it. Rarely does a movie get a 100% rating...What a disappointment. Halfway through the movie I decided not to turn it off, but instead to see just how bad the movie actually was. And it didn't disappoint. Absolute waste of time. Whoever the critics were on Rotten Tomatoes, they had to have been bribed. This movie stunk.

The main actors are decent, except for Stacey--her delivery is off and her actor doesn't suit the type of character they went for. Her lines were also very unnatural at parts. She was a typical fake "strong female character". Extremely overdone. There was also this very obvious sex offender who could not be any worse at acting. The story is decent but I can't put into words how badly it was executed.

I was hesitant at first to watch it afraid of I was gonna waste my time but it was entertaining I won't lie, I was expecting something totally different reading the plot but the actual plot and story was actually really dumb but it was nice I've watched much worse I suggest it if you have nothing better to do.

After a horrific accident in town, a sheriff's attempt to solve the crime turns up empty when several other similar cases also require her attention, eventually leading to the discovery of a malicious native spirit unleashed by a corrupt environmental group and must put a team of locals together to stop it. This one was pretty enjoyable and had some likable aspects. One of the better features here is the setup involving the various storylines in play throughout here. The initial crime and the resulting aftermath leads to a solid investigation setup involving her attempts to cut through the tribal red-tape involving the environmental company in the area and the lack of evidence at the scene which prevents a full closing of the case. As more accidents start occurring and more clues turn up that point to a supernatural entity that the locals are aware of and have a legendary connection to, the connections made here are quite fun and make for an enjoyable storyline. As well, there's a lot to like about the secondary setup that ties the origins of the creature not just into their folklore but gives a lot to like about the motivation for their rampage. The use of Native building and land rights and being screwed out of unfair deals that have finally brought a curse to their community is an exceptionally interesting take and carries some likable storylines. The manner of bringing it out as the method for the creatures' rampage as well as the final method to stop the creature gives this some incredibly creative aspects that are utilized throughout here which are quite nicely explored here. The last positive here is the films' assortment of stalking scenes. Featuring the ingenious setup of working with other senses beyond sight as the creatures' perceived to be invisible, the inclusion of rotten smells and lack of evidence around a corporeal being at each of the scenes is rather chilling which handles the scenes rather nicely. Featuring some nice gore in the scenes as well with the spirit shown to be ripping people open, scratching up the body viciously, or tearing organs out of the body while they're still alive and there's no visual evidence of anything happening at the scene, this features a lot to like about it and holds up the film overall. There are some issues to be had with this one. Among its few flaws is that setting up its complex and involving storylines can make for some rather sluggish pacing at times. The first half here, running concurrently with the investigation of the strange incidents around town, is a slew of scenes involving the life in the town and the citizens that are enjoyable enough but keep the attacks off-screen so it takes a while before anything really happens. This carries on with several other scenes serving no purpose other than to pad out the running time with their inclusion of the day-to-day lives during the search, hampering this just enough to drag the film down. Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence and Graphic Language.

Poor acting from virtually all the cast denigrates what would otherwise have been an average supernatural "myth" movie. Quite boring with lots of extended conversations about the meaning of life ie padded script fillers which just seemed like the writer did not have much to say. The special effects / gore looks like tomato sauce (and not even of HP quality, more your Lidl cheapo watery variety) and the horror is the usual invisible predator to save cash. It is obviously low budget and to be fair I do judge based on many things including the movie budget but this was just badly made - from the absolutely out of place music which really annoyed me at points in the movie where it jarred badly as it was so out of place. Then we have the rather poor acting from the main female lead - it was as if she was reading off a cue card at times. She was so out of place as a Ripley / Vasquez hard-ass female ex-army vet, it elicited a chuckle on more than one occasion - what was the casting director thinking? Nope as a horror movie this one is a bit of a plonker!

I saw the title and said to myself, "I don't want to see another crapper movie." Then I said "what the hell, I'll watch it." And I'm glad I did... It was a pretty good movie! I had a good story line, a good plot and the acting wasn't to bad. It gave you a little bit of insight on North American Indian culture and a little bit of their religious beliefs. Very interesting... Also the older female police officer and the mother of the daughter who got ran over by this goofball in pickup truck, DAMN good looking women! I would recommend this movie to anybody. It probably didn't have a big budget, but it was done pretty good for what their budget allowed! Not a bad movie at all.