Elsewhere

source: Elsewhere

I always enjoy going back and watching actor/actresses work they did before they were household names. 2009 was very early in Anna Kendrick's career, although it should be noted she was nominated for an Academy Award for 'Up in the Air' which was released the same year. 'Elsewhere' came out first though and although it was likely very few recognised her at the time, they would've noticed she was a class about the rest of the cast. She's given some reasonably clunky dialogue in a lot of scenes in this movie and almost always finds a way to make it work. The tone of the movie is a little off. It's dealing with some pretty serious subject matter, and yet at times it feels more like a romantic-comedy than anything else. I understand you have to build your characters up and keep them likeable, however don't do it at the expense of the tone of the film. This film was at its best when it was treating itself seriously and dealing with the dark subject matter at hand. 'Elsewhere' could've done with a lot of polishing, however it is certainly not unwatchable. Kendrick's performance and a decent whodunnit story-line are enough to keep it afloat. A generous 6/10.

A young Anna Kendrick Shines in this underrated Indie Thriller/Drama. When people online talk about Anna Kendrick's films, this one is always listed towards the bottom. And while it isn't a perfect film, and it's no Pitch Perfect, I thought it was pretty good, all things considered. First, it's worth knowing going in that Elsewhere is more of a thriller than a horror film. In fact, the film's premise is similar to one of Anna's other film's A Simple Favor. Like A Simple Favor, Anna Kendrick's all of a sudden goes missing, and it is up to her to figure out what happened. However, unlike A Simple Favor, Elsewhere has a more serious tone, which isn't a bad thing. In this film, Sarah (Anna Kendrick) finds herself searching for her best friend Jillian, who has made a lot of poor decisions talking to potential male predators online. The characters are a little more one-dimensional in this film, which for the most part is okay as it is a crime thriller where everyone is a suspect. However, it would have been nice to see Sarah have a little more character development. She is not completely one-dimensional, but I would have like to have seen a little more. The second thing people should remember while watching this is that this is an indie film, and it was made very early on in Anna's career. Other than Anna Kenrick, none of the other actors are amazing, but they are decent for the most part. For example. Jillian's awkward interactions with her mother felt genuine, and I really related to Sarah not knowing what to do or say in those moments. Also, Sarah should get a friend of the year award for all she does to try and find Jillian. I won't give anything away, but I would definitely recommend it for Anna Kendrick alone.

Rubbish plot, awful acting, predictable ending. I wish I hadn't wasted my time on this. I'm really disappointed in Anna Kendrick's acting too. It's like she just couldn't be bothered to put any effort in. It was also so dark at times that I couldn't see what was happening and that was with my phone brightness at the highest level.

This really brought me back to the days of cheesy teen thrillers and horrors I grew up with. This film was a surprise in such a great way! I was not expecting much and got a pretty decent film. I will be honest though it suffers a lot from being really cheesy at first and some pretty poor acting from some actors but overall a fun watch and truly creepy film well worth the watch as of July 2019 this film is available on Amazon Prime UK am I do suggest checking it out

The film is watchable but nothing more. It actually could've been a good low budget horror film with a bit of eroticism but failed on both counts. Anna Kendrick was fine as was get library partner but the guy who played the local cop was as bad an actor as I've seen for decades!

The movie was okay, the mystery behind everything kept me watching, but I didn't feel bad for the missing girl. She was obnoxious and rude, but I did like how they showed not all missing people are innocent, but they still don't deserve what happened to them. The movie does a good job at keeping you guessing, although if you watch enough movies, you know the obvious suspects aren't going to be the culprit.

Elsewhere is a middling little concoction that's one or two ingredients away from being really good. It's like a Nancy Drew Mystery without a mystery but with a serial killer. Writer/director Nathan Hope came up with a lot of nice ancillary pieces and then assembled them around an empty core. The result is a promising beginning, an anticipatory middle and a disappointing ending. Jillian and Sarah (Tania Raymonde and Anna Kendrick) are teenaged best friends. Jillian is a rocker chick whose edginess hides a desperate desire to get far away from a life she hates. Sarah is a good girl and that's pretty much it. The character has the disposition of a coat rack and while Anna Kendrick makes a very cute coat rack, Sarah being such a non-entity becomes the biggest problem in the entire movie. After a stretch of time where Jillian and Sarah lounge around doing terribly typical teenage stuff, Jillian disappears. Sarah investigates and with no help from her absentee mother, she turns to computer geek Jasper (Chuck Carter) for assistance. The only clue is a video sent from Jillian's cell phone that shows the inside of a school bus and then Jillian screams. Sarah eventually discovers that Jillian is only one of several missing girls, but who is responsible? Is it Officer Berg (Jeff Daniel Phillips), the creepy local cop? Billy (Paul Wesley), the high school dickhead? Is it the unstable Patty (Shannon Holt), mother of a girl who vanished 5 years ago? Well, there's honestly not much of a puzzle to figure out here. There really is no series of clues in this story that eventually lead to the identity of the killer. There are only a couple of pathetic, obviously constructed red herrings inserted into the script long after a reasonably astute viewer has deduced everything for him or herself. I mean, the average episode of Speed Buggy or Jabberjaw had a more elaborate mystery to solve than this film. That narrative weakness isn't that aggravating because writer/director Hope emphasizes the characters and their interrelationships over plot developments. The roles are all fairly clichéd - "girl acting out", "jock jackass", "super strict father" - but they're well constructed clichés and the cast perfectly provides the formulaic performances for which they were asked. Except for Jeff Daniel Phillips, who appears to be doing a bad Jack Nicholson impersonation all the time he's on screen. And the connections/confrontations between the characters achieve a certain believability. For example, you can feel the layered friendship between Jillian and Sarah and the long standing animosity between Billy and Jasper. Unfortunately, the blankest and least developed character in Elsewhere is also the main character in the story. Sarah has the most lines and is in almost every scene, but has the least amount of personality in the whole cast. That's not Kendrick's fault. She doesn't do a bad acting job. There's simply nothing distinctive, individualistic or interesting about Sarah. Having such a void as the leading role undermines every dramatic aspect of the movie. It's not a fatal flaw but, geez, this thing would have been soooooo much better if Sarah has disappeared and Jillian had been the one to look for her. Elsewhere does look good, moves at a satisfactory clip and has several effective though quite illogical scares. Combined with more than adequate acting in all but one case, that's usually enough for a film like this. But the emptiness of its plot and main character prevents Elsewhere from being fully entertaining. It's certainly better than most of the crap out there, yet there's no need to go out of your way to see it.

I'm really surprised people are giving more that three stars here. The movie just started out really good, but just ended awful. I'll admit i watched it because Paul wesly was in it, but it made it seem like he was a main character, and he was rarely in the movie, plus his character made no sense. and I figured out who the killer was right away they made it so obvious. The main actress at least acted well considering this awful film. But there was this stupid scene where the father came into the daughters room and the main character was hiding behind the door (clearly could be seen) and the father missed her? there is no way, she wasn't really even hiding behind the door. another was when they show the mother of the daughter who was killed not caring then all of a sudden is crying in another scene, then that's it we never hear from her. I was hoping they would save the story and the mother would get involved but nope. so ya there it is..awful

I thought this was a pretty good movie overall. It is not a horror but it contains a thrill or two. Its very real and it has a smidgen of mystery to it as well. I thought it was a good twist and I love movies that allow enough time for you to work out the ending or who it was! So some might say it was a 'slow' film. But it kept me interested long enough. It has pretty much no romance in it though. But I have grown to love the main character in lots of her movies overtime. So if your running low on movies to watch or a little bored you could enjoy this one. I enjoyed it. Corny, Mystery and humour all in the one. so i have rated it 7/10 because it doesn't really tickle my sensitive nerve which i love when movies do.

Movie has okay acting, but the plot line is dull and clichéd, much like every other aspect of the movie. Cinematography is pretty artsy and tasteful, although much of it is blue-toned (reminiscent of Harry Potter 7 Part 1) for added mysterious and negative effect. No surprises with character development (there is hardly any) or plot twists (again, none) and while you might like it to watch Anna or Tania, you'd be better off watching the actors and actresses in better-formulated movies. You'll spend a better use of your time. Also, I have a BIG BEEF with the setting!!! This is SO not Goshen, IN. None of the picture or sets they used are actual places or even close to it. And Goshen has never had mysteries like women disappearing because of internet creeps....Ugh, this irritates me when they try to cliché real towns. Goshen's not even that small! And in fact, it's very much into the modern age - bigger and better than Elkhart, the neighbor city I grew up in, that's for sure. School systems are excellent, the County seat and Fairgrounds are there (2nd largest Fair in the country, and no that doesn't mean it's hicksville, we had Lady Antebellum two years ago), some of the best craftsmen in the country, and even a college. Geez, it's not some "small-town Indiana where bad things happen and kids feel trapped" like this movie wants to make it into. As a writer myself, I firmly believe that unless you are very familiar with with the city or town you are setting something in, you just need to make up your own town. Otherwise you make an entire audience view it in whatever light you want it to be for your story, and that's not fair to the city or the people that live there.