The Secret Village

Moviecut—The Secret Village

source: The Secret Village

I was shocked to see those actors working in "this" movie! This movie proved to be a total disaster. Story itself was alright and could be turned into a good movie by professional director. Only 3 actors were actually justifying their jobs and i think only because they were professionals, no thanks to director! Working in these kind of movies, actors lose their credibility & to be honest, i watched it only because 'Jonathan Bennett', 'Ali Faulkner' & 'Richard Riehle' are in this movie. Now i wish i hadn't seen it!! In my opinion, even if you don't have budget to make a classy movie, you can still make it really good by dedicating time and see what really needs to be done and what is waste of effort. Like, many scenes were out of sync & sudden pop-up of random people who had nothing to do with movie actually was kinda lame. 'Possibly a good story, gone to waste'..

This is an incoherent mess. The music is stupid. The feel is low budget, it isn't scary. The parts that should be are just laughably bad. It skips like a damaged record, it makes as much sense as a dream does when you are awake. The 2.7 rating is probably generous. It isn't unwatchable, but is rather unenjoyable even if you have really low standards. The movie is inconsistent within it's internal logic, the viewer would have to be psychically linked to the main character and suffering from ergot poisoning for what is shown to make any sense. Find another movie to watch.

OK, where to begin? I will begin by saying that the overall premise of this movie, The Secret Village, may have had some promise but all in all really failed to deliver any positive impact. Rather, it only succeeded in leaving me with a frustratingly disappointed taste in my mouth. In short, I have found myself longing for a refund - not financially, but for the 90 odd minutes I spent in a catatonic coma as a result of watching this 'movie'. Put it this way, this movie made me really want to submit my first ever review, in a bid to save others. I'm no stranger to horror/suspense flicks, and I'm often not even bothered by the BAD ones. But this bad movie really bothered me. It was hard to tell if the acting was bad, or if it was a reflection of the poor editing. It seemed like there were long and unnecessary pauses between every exchange in dialogue, which automatically created a sense of awkward uneasiness. The breaks in conversation and the scene changes were so long and drawn out - which essentially describes the entire movie. Ali Faulkner was OK, I wouldn't say bad. I have never seen her before, but she kind of reminded me of a young Brooke Shields. Jonathan Bennett was OK too. They weren't the worst actors in the movie, but far from stand-outs. As I mentioned earlier, the premise of the movie was interesting, but poorly executed. This could have been a good movie - if it was directed differently. I don't know about this whole 'non-linear' nonsense. It wasn't artistic, nor was it successful in adding anything other than confusion and convolution. There were chops and changes that were absolutely unnecessary, and the film even started with a scene that literally had NOTHING to do with the movie. That in itself should serve as a red flag for anyone reading this who is considering watching it. The audio editing was atrocious, with some parts out of sync and the soundtrack and sound effects were too loud and comical at best. I have to say, I literally laughed at some of the sudden 'horror' sequences. The make-up and costuming made me feel like I was watching a period comedy. Honestly, I found myself wondering if the costume department only had enough of a budget to hire from a fancy dress company. The movie had a handful of essential characters, and about 5 times as many absolutely unnecessary and often laughable ones. Spoiler alert: the people in cloaks walking and creeping around in ABSOLUTE SLOW MOTION have nothing to do with anything. Why are they hiding behind trees, and walking around so slowly? Are they crippled? Oh and there's the green faced absolutely hilarious witch with a hilarious Einstein wig who appears twice. Who is that? Why are the two sinister guys chasing the main character so inept at catching her? Why are they so weak every time they almost catch her? Why does a significantly smaller woman keep slipping out of their macho grasp. FYI none of these questions are answered. I'm not even going to venture into discussing the ending, which I spotted a mile away, as early as the main character started discussing the epidemic in the village. Talk about wrapping up a movie in a nice little bow! Now, I know that there are some positive reviews here on IMDb, but judging from the fact that the handful of these positive reviews make the same statements - 'non-linear', 'good to watch in October', 'great acting (yeaaaaaah...ok)' - it really makes one wonder WHO is writing these positive reviews and whose interests they are representing or defending. The tag-line for this movie mentions 'mass hysteria'. Don't be fooled. There is zero hysteria to be found. This movie honestly made me wonder who on God's green Earth finances these box office duds. Someone should pay these guys to stop making movies. I want 90 minutes of my life back.

I watched the movie last Friday (Oct 18'th) and found it very interesting. What i liked is the different screenplay and the Nonlinear Narrative Style. The Director carried the suspense throughout the movie and the climax is really interesting which i did not expected.I expected more action scenes, but the director Swamy compensated with his sound effects and few chasing scenes. There are more chances that the director can come with a sequel to the movie and create a brand with the title. I would suggest to watch the movie both in screens and also in DVD.I am surprised to see how people can comment about the movie from different places where the movie was not screened. The audience needs to judge the movie with their own instinct rather going with the comments posted by others.

Maybe I've been watching too many bad Hollywood movies but I thought this was rather good. Very tense horror, really well filmed. Hard to not say anything about it without spoiling the plot for you. Well acted too. I thought the weird soundtrack made it all very creepy as well. There's something weird going on the with phones in it as well, I'd have to watch it again to work that out Its good to see such wildly mixed reviews - I'm glad no-one has slipped the twist in the story-line by mistake but I wonder if that's because they didn't actually get it? Defo worth a watch.

I guess this was released in October under the idea that ANY horror movie will do well on the Halloween weekend. By the time word of mouth gets out about how truly bad this movie is, the Halloween rush will be over. The movie moves e x t r e m l y s l o w l y. And I fully expected the "twist". There are only two positive reviews, both of those reviewer just joined IMDb in October 2013 and have only reviewed one movie. Coincidence? I think not. I saw this movie for free and STILL feel like I overpaid. I'll never get that hour and a half of my life back. Yes, it's THAT BAD. Getting back to those two "positive" reviews, one of them talks about non-linear storytelling. Non-linear. It was a mess. And the other talks about the acting! I've never heard of any of these actors or seen any of the other "movies" they've been in. The cinematography looks like it was filmed on a cell phone. That's cell phone, not smart phone. That might have been watchable. How many times can you pan the trees and move really slowly and suddenly have someone appear.Really? Do yourself a favor. Go see Shaun of the Dead or World War Z again.

***Depending on your sensibility this review may contain some small scene spoilers.*** Wow! Swamy really takes a body downtown with his new thriller. Packed in tightly are: taut suspense scenes, scary music, gray and white flashbacks and a screenplay rivaling the best in Conrad, punctuated again and again with a pithy mantra worthy of Hitchcock himself, "Trust no one!" You begin to wonder whether a few crows or the shower scene in Psycho will show up. Trust me or not. Will nothing be left out? The secret I pondered as I watched deep-breathing scared rabbits hiding behind trees and under covers, praying not to get stabbed in the neck, was how scary could this possibly get? How many nightmares would I have? Or could this thriller turn comedic in a moment's notice? The answer came when a good guy, trying to help the terrified Rachel reporter, showed up in open shirt with suspenders and the brim on his large gray floppy felt hat flipped up. After two appearances with brim down--signifying utter seriousness of purpose--the flopped-up brim knocked me out of my seat, and I couldn't stop laughing. The price of admission is well worth that one moment of gut-wrenching laughter. This thriller will not fail to surprise even the most ardent Zombie-loving movie-goer. Don't miss it!

I find some of these user comments laughable. Not difficult to tell that some of them have not in fact seen the film. Has the film opened in India yet? One of the user comments is from India. I saw the film in Tampa with a group of friends and we enjoyed. At least from what we could tell so did most of the audience. My only issue was music that was loud and perhaps not needed in certain scenes. Faulkner, Riehle and Savante all did really well, and the cinematography was well done. This film is appropriately creepy. It feels like a new angle on an old story and it works because you care enough about Rachel. But I think the strongest performances come from the supporting cast of Riehle and Savante. The cinematography stands out as I said. It made me want to go on summer vacation in MA till the hooded villagers showed up. I won't give away the spoiler climax but it certainly surprised my girlfriend and I.Well done to the director and everyone involved.