Don't Look Up (2010)

Traveling to Romania to finish a legendary movie, a troubled director and his crew must deal with the effects of a deadly curse over the production killing off anyone involved and deal with it before succumbing to it.Overall this one was pretty enjoyable if slightly disappointing effort. This one really tends to get going with the rather enjoyable and exciting back-story here detailing the effects of the gypsy curse and revelations about the early film here which is quite the creepy story that would've made for a rather enjoyable film had it ever been filmed. This makes the filming of these scenes quite enjoyable as there's a fine sense of atmosphere displayed there during these scenes when looking back at them through the film-cameras which makes many of these accidents quite thrilling when falling lights, broken rigs and failing light-work all conspire against the crew in a slew of grisly accidents that come off rather nicely here to carry on the legacy of the curse here in addition to the few startling ghost attacks up on the stage- rafters and the ambush down in the basement. This also brings up the events of the final half as the true value of that curse comes about with deadly accidents in the development lab, a thrilling revelation sequence on the movie set as the replayed events of the original story are enacted and then finally meeting up with the main spirit which causes this one to really get a decent enough finish here to help it somewhat against the few flaws here. Among the biggest is the fact that there's just no end to the rather convoluted and completely meaningless visions that he keeps experiencing which don't really further the movie at all. Rather than serving as a way to keep the filmed movie going or gaining insight into how to defeat the ghostly being stalking around, which is what's to be expected in this kind of situation here, they're more used to showcase supposedly creepy images and jump-scares that don't mean much instead as there's little purpose to them, and simply being there to remind us how troubled he is doesn't help matters so all these scenes do is serve to highlight the film's next big problem in the uneven pacing. There's so many stretches here where nothing really happens that there's times when this one tends to run aground and derail itself by not going for the main storyline involving the curse on display against the film crew as they deal with their own petty problems or utilizing his moronic visions that keep the ghost actually off-screen so long into this one until the final battle. That in itself is the biggest issue holding this one back, as while the lame CGI for the lone ghost sequence might be another detriment it's not as bad compared to these other factors that hold this one down.Rated R: Graphic Violence and Graphic Language.

Marcus Reed (Reshad Strik), a film-maker troubled by strange visions, travels to Romania to try and make a movie based on a long lost film by legendary '20s director Béla Olt (Eli Roth). Reed's film is hampered by strange accidents on-set: is Marcus losing his mind or is an ancient gypsy curse causing his problems?Don't Look Up is a remake of the 1996 Japanese film Joyû-rei; it is an American/Japanese/South African co-production starring an international cast and directed by Asian film-maker Fruit Chan. No wonder it's a bloody mess. The first half of the film is extremely boring, while the second half makes no sense whatsoever.A couple of gruesome death scenes and frequent clouds of CGI flies do nothing to make this garbage any more bearable. Boring dialogue, terrible acting, horrible editing effects, a set that looks like an old derelict junkyard, an irritating Romanian character who says 'Mr. Marcus' every few seconds: this sorry excuse for a horror film is a total dud from dull start to utterly incomprehensible finish.

I'm somewhat used to indie-films zipping around from past to present to dream sequences and back to any combination of the above. But this movie was just plain dumb. A legend says gypsy girl is killed due to a pact with the devil. A silent film maker tries to make a film about the legend, he disappears. A modern day film maker decides to try again, turmoil ensues. The plot is so contrived in the first 15 minutes that I lost interest. Then, people started beating each other up for no apparent reason, then people started dying. People that I really didn't care about, people who were so uninteresting that I started wondering who they were. Oh yeah, they were the people working on the movie, but no one had a back-story, besides the director, who, all you figured out was that he was a whack-doodle. Don't think I'm giving away any major plot points, but I always put a spoiler alert just to be on the safe side. Rent it or watch it "on demand," but don't waste your money buy it.

Normally I don't write reviews... although after watching this movie, it marked my life in such ways I had to leave a comment and warn others. Just spare yourself the misery. This movie shows promise at the start, thinking of such urban legends as the filming of The Exorcist... yet sadly it fails to deliver. The plot is very poor to say the least, and the main character inspires as much empathy in his role as a mad director, that by the end of the movie you are actually rooting for something to happen to him. The movie ends, and ends again, then ends strangely... and I now have to find a way to wash my brain of this dreg...