The Living and the Dead (2006)

In a decaying mansion in England, the former Lord Donald Brocklebank (Roger Lloyd Pack) lives with his wife Nancy (Kate Fahy), who is very ill, and their retarded and schizophrenic teenage son James (Leo Bill) that needs to use several pills to calm down. Donald is completely broken, apparently for paying for Nancy's medical treatment, and has been pressed to see his manor.One day, Donald needs to travel early in the morning to London for a business and he summons Nurse Mary (Sarah Ball). However, James decides to prove to his father that he is capable to take care of his mother and he closes all the accesses to the house and locks himself with his mother inside the house. He gives an overdose of pills to his mother expecting to heal her and Nancy dies. In the funeral, there is another problem with James driving Donald insane."The Living and the Dead" is a harrowing and disturbing journey to insanity. The screenplay entwines reality and madness, past and present, in an environment of nightmare and the viewer needs to be very concentrated in the film to understand the story.Leo Bill and Kate Fahy deliver top-notch performances and the camera work is amazing. This is the first work of Simon Rumley that I see and I noted in IMDb that many viewers have not understood the unpleasant journey to hell and insanity of Donald Brocklebank that is indicated to specific audiences. My vote is seven.Title (Brazil): "Distúrbio Fatal" ("Fatal Disorder")

You've not seen a film like this one! If you're a strict horror fan you should love this flick. I certainly did. I thought it super horrific and, at times, suspenseful too. The fast-motion "schizophrenic" sequences were terrific, by which I mean scary as hell! The acting was brilliant. The score -or lack of it- fit perfectly. The anti-psychotic drug rituals were unnerving! I, frankly, found myself giggling at how much fun I was having!But wait a moment! A number of the user reviews herein didn't see an entertaining horror show but rather a sordid tragedy, albeit appreciating it much on that level. Such reviewers seem to want to make me feel guilty for having had so much fun with the film. Shame on me for not being compassionate regarding the mentally ill. I apologize to them. I want to help them. Here users, take these pills. Take more. The more you take the better you are. Don't worry, you cannot get sick. Why, you cannot die. See, you cannot even bleed. There (swack) you're not even bleeding. Stand up! I'm the Man of the House! Sawackathupps-ugga-ugga AHHHHHHHHHHH!

I'm just going to get this out of the way before I trash: I liked The Living and the Dead for what it was. A simple, psychological horror/drama that was brilliant and did exactly what it set out to do. So why the low score? Because as brilliant and disturbing as it was, there was nothing really special about it. It was short film turned into a full-length movie. It fit more into the "that's cute" category than the "I got my entire money's worth here" category. That was the major problem I had with it: it wasn't anything that deserved a full-length movie, necessarily. If the runtime and price were both cut in half, this would have gotten a much higher score for me.I guess I'll just start out with saying that this was one of the few movies I've ever seen that genuinely disturbed me. There was little to no blood, but the subject matter gripped me emotionally and hit home and it disturbed me. Will it disturb everyone? No. Will it disturb most? Maybe, but I doubt it. It's an acquired taste. The movie banks on you being emotionally affected, and if you're not, there really is no point in watching it because you'll be bored out of your mind. The Living and the Dead is relative in every aspect of the word, and I can't give it a definitive "this sucks" or "this was good" because it varies person to person. That isn't true about most movies, unlike what people want to believe, but that does apply here. It's your call.As for the aspects of the film that aren't relative: The acting is pretty good. The story isn't entirely original, but it isn't typical either. The camera-work is well-done for the kind of movie it is. The pacing gets a little bloated, but nowhere near as bad as it could have been. Everything was well-done in the technical stance. The story was borderline brilliant, though I can see why people would disagree.Overall, if you're looking for a psychological movie that will disturb you, this is worth a shot. I haven't seen a truly disturbing movie in years, but this was almost a little too much for me to handle. Almost. But that was based on my emotional engagement, and that is relative. Just watch it and make up your own opinion.2/10

I thought this movie was great, A lot of people commented on it falling short of the 'horror' genre, but I don't think it was ever meant to be one. Watch it as a tragic drama, and these disappointments fade. I think Leo Bill did a fantastic job and I felt drawn into his character even further by the camera's exceptional use as he moves about the house. I don't want to spoil anything, so suffice to say it was a well acted movie with great camera-work, an exceptional cast and the overlying doom which permeated throughout the movie drew me in sometimes - enough to identify with some the universal aspects of the story and at times feel a shudder through my back, more so than any 'horror' show I've seen in the last few years.