Flora

Really enjoyed the idea behind this film, and found the biological 'warfare' angle very interesting. But for the life of me I don't understand the decision to frame it as a horror film, rather than s science based story. The music often did a great job of building atmospheric nervousness, but the film failed to follow through. The constant shouting was plain odd. Believe a re-edit away from horror would yield a much better film.

Some monsters are big and some monsters are small-very, very small-and those can be the most frightening of all. Movie kept me nicely tense worrying about who was getting it next and how. Good acting! Beautiful scenes and well-done costumes and effects make-up with enough period artifacts scattered about to help me transcend my living room. However, some scenes and scene transitions were confusing, some of the characters were not well defined, and rather detracted from an otherwise worthy effort.

This was much better than expected. Acting from a few of the cast wasn't great. Others were decent. Kind of an Outbreak type survival film. I would watch another film by this director if he makes one.

Killer... fungi? I've seen wilderness survival horror films with vampires, werewolves, various iterations of the Wendigo and the Manitou, menacing Sasquatches, and extraterrestrial killers, and now we have killer pollen? What's next? Homicidal tree bark? Maniacal, bloodthirsty pollen? The actors weren't great, but they weren't terrible, either. The atmosphere and setting were well depicted, and the costumes and equipment were era-authentic. I just could not get excited or worked up about killer pollen. I was sorely tempted to turn this movie off after about 20 minutes, but I watched it through to the end. I should have gone with my first instinct.

During one of the early scenes in Flora, the characters are huddled around a campfire taking turns exchanging banter (as a lazy-writer's way of exposition) and getting drunk. One of the characters holds up a patch that says "Victorin University - 1929" and the camera focuses on the patch for a few seconds as if it were some form of product placement or a home shopping network sales pitch. An so it goes on throughout the movie. it seems like the writers were trying to explain every aspect of the movie to the audience and the actors themselves. However, the actors did not seem to get it either. The patch was a "surprise" design by the character showcasing it, but later in the film we see that everyone is wearing one already... Nothing in this movie works. The acting and writing are so bad that it made the movie entertaining as an unintentional comedy. It was like an SNL parody sketch of Annihilation or The Happening. Whoever was in charge of costume looks like they searched the internet for "1929 fashions" and made enough sets to hold the movie until all the characters were in jumpers. The 1929 period seems to have been chosen as a convenient way to remove technology from the plot as a potential plot hole, yet the little technology in the film was poorly researched. For example, a character holding a record player on his lap while rocking to the music should cause the player to skip; the breathing masks the characters used (and that are still used today) would prevent characters from speaking normally and also use oxygen canisters that only produce oxygen for an hour or less - the Navy uses a version of these masks called OBA (oxygen breathing apparatus) that I have worn too many times to care. The ending is nothing short of pretentious. There was nothing the director or the writers did to support any conclusion, implicit or explicit. There are so many more plot holes and inaccuracies in this movie that they are not even worth mentioning.

The historical premise, music and cinematography were refreshing. But the acting was stale and the film had no real thrills, chills, suspense or even much conflict. I'd rather watch the far superior Annihilation, or The Ruins. Or The Day of the Triffids. Possibly even The Happening.

Ok. Quick story breakfown. 6 people get out of a working CAR, get into 2 working canoes, paddle downriver for half a day, then decide that the fastest way out of the woods is a 7 DAY cross-country hike to meet a train in the middle of the woods. ( Why wouldn't they just canoe back to their Car?) I went back & rewatched it just to be sure.

It would be nice if people rated the film on its own merits in their own view as opposed to looking at an overall score, and deciding it's too high or too low and then overcompensating. I'm sure there must be a whole treatise on how to rate a movie, or how movies are rated by a voluntary self-ordained community. That being said, I think this film is underrated. But instead of giving it a ten, I truly feel I've rated it fairly. The trailer intrigued me. Success in the trailer, though many bad films have great trailers. While the film may not capture the true period in props, or 'expected gender roles/attitudes' it does a great job in its consistency. Some of the acting felt like acting, but then again some of The people I encounter in my daily interactions are just as flat and stilted. There is definitely tension, and an air of mystery, and anticipation. Not every tense moment has an immediate payoff, but that's what adds to the overall atmosphere and surprises when there are payoffs. There is definitely something of quality here, and I'd certainly recommended it over many other films that fall into its varied categories 'independent, horror, thriller, period piece, debut, 'student effort', lovecraftian, low/no budget, passion project'. While I spent a ting bit of time thinking about this film before reviewing it, I fully expect it will continue to haunt me. Why do I like it, what could've been better, how might I have liked to see the story played out differently, what happens at the end? If anyone is still reading, I'll end by saying again... I think my rating is fair and not over or under compensating. It would be nice if people rated films on the film, and not in hopes of countering somebody else's review. I've seen 'films' that shouldn't even receive a zero or a one for simple follow through in pumping it out and distributing it (even if a vanity project). This is a pretty scenic -professional looking- intriguing film that allows one to ponder existing and potential themes.

Trolls may enjoy giving a movie one star and pundits feel really smart for explaining why this film is boring, but nothing has any value out of context. The context of Flora is that it is a student film, with amateur everything trying their best to make a good movie. And it is not great, but it's not that bad either. The premise promises a lot more than the movie delivers, but consider how many big studios tried similar theme movies and failed miserably. That being said: imagine a cross between Lovecraft and The Ruins or maybe The Happening. This film is not it. The premise, though, comes really close. It is set in 1929 and the people caught in an area devoid of all animal life an fighting for their lives are scientists (well, students). When a member of the expedition starts dying in horrible ways, the others don't turn one against another, shout "let me out of here" or run around like headless chickens; they try to solve the problem with science. Unfortunately, being 1929 and the story being written by artsy people, that doesn't do them a lot of good, but the atmosphere was nice, the clothing gave the film an fresh look (even if the girls didn't act like 1929 girls at all) and the plot was original. They even used an old 20s car! I would say that the film failed, but it was so close to something marketable that I can't help feel for its makers.

The first 5 minutes looked promising but the whole movie went to hell after that, nothing but a whining screaming boy throwing a temper tantrum (except he looks to be in in 20s), everyone screaming at each other these people cant even make a proper decision, after about 30 minutes of the same scene and more arguing I started hitting the fast forward button. Avoid at all costs, this movie is a mess with no story, no interesting characters, horrible editing, drawn out scenes that could of been cut (really the first 40 minutes could have been cut). I have a headache now, where do they find these actors cause they have zero talent and should really find another line of work, with the exception of the nurse lady, Chinese guy, and guy with beard they were decent.