Pop Skull (2007)

There are films and then there is cinema. This is cinema (still, I will call it a film herein).EFFECTS AND FRIGHTS: Where budget is lacking for effects, the filmmakers here use an extreme amount of tension, creepiness, and visual effects, including various cameras tricks, angles, lighting, and stroboscopic effects guaranteed to trigger an epileptic fit (I'm not kidding). There are several jump moments that scared me. SPOILERS: Not to mention a gritty though not gruesome hammer murder, and a bloody butcher-knife scene. Topping it off is the emotional ending that has you desiring one more moment.ACTION: Some have commented that nothing happens in this film - this is 100% incorrect . SPOILERS: There is a broken romance; a seriously broken friendship with consequences; a drug habit that leads to seeing things, including ghosts which lead our anti-hero to murder. Much of what could be described as meandering is setting the timing for tripping and the possibility of a true haunting. It's a mystery too, you see. Personally, I think the film is tight at 90 minutes, and the lack of family life exposition actually makes you think more about how secure Daniel really is, though of course at the very end you probably won't think so.PLOT: Daniel see ghosts. He takes pills. Is it connected? Is he seeing into another world? Why does he take pills? Apparently he has for some time but now it's increased due to his depression over his broken romance. Why is the romance broken? It could be any number of things, direct or indirect. The real question: is Daniel a good person or not? You'll have to make up your own mind.NEGATIVES: (1) The setting is dreary, and while this has its charm, it also gives it that cheap 1970's feel, which is not altogether bad. (2) The dialogue tends to mumbling, and only Jeff has any real speaking parts, mainly aggressive, but there is another side to Jeff, and that speaks to the decent writing here.

I have been seeking this movie out for weeks and had to join Netflix DVD to secure it. I watched it one night when I wasn't feeling well on a weekend and decided to stay in. That night changed my life. This movie embodies so many emotions that really can't be put into words. Paranoia, anxiety, sadness, loneliness, fear and perhaps guilt. Adam Wingard basically shows us what the mind of someone who is desperately struggling looks like. It's something most of us have gone through but something we never thought could be depicted on screen. It's beautiful. Every scene is beautiful and meaningful and will bring you to your knees. I don't understand how something like this was created with such a small budget. I have never seen anything this authentic since Harmony Korine. Adam Wingard uses so many different types of varieties of direction to depict what we can't hear and can only see. I simply cannot give this enough praise.Yes, perhaps this isn't something that you would watch with your family or even friends. I watched it alone and have rewatched it alone since. There are scenes that remind me of Cronenberg and Lynch but yet separate Wingard from the bunch. This movie is hard to retrieve but please try. I have been a fan since I saw "You're Next" and for me, this movie is his best although I love all of his work. This is what someone who really knows what they are doing creates and his passion and clear intent shines through and leaves an imprint on you that no movie has in so long.

I was surprised by this film. It reminded me of some Japanese ghost stories I've seen, which are always unsettling especially after the film when you think it over, and those creepy images start to spill into your every day life. At the same time, Pop Skull featured some innovative depictions of hallucinatory states of mind which I thought were sometimes a little obscure, but other times a useful device for conveying complex emotional states in a character who is verbally rather simple. For some reasons, many of these images -- which are often juxtapositions, stops and starts, changes of speed, transformations, flickering and strobing--seem 'accurate'; in other words, though obscure, they convey a meaningful insight into the mind of a character, yet they leave a lot to the imagination, and make you wonder about the mysterious things lurking around in the psyche. Some may argue that they are just artsy, pretensions -- perhaps even a bit emoish and laughable. Perhaps. The last time I saw anything quite like it was in Gaspar Noe's 'Enter the Void', but the imagery in Pop Skull is more obscure and personal leaving a lot of mystery about exactly what the protagonist in the story is going through internally over a painful event in his life. The storyline itself is not that complicated, but the alternate realities that go along with the story add an intriguing element to the film. I think mood is the key strength of this film. There's a mood of confusion, depression, fear, and encroaching madness, that you expect from a good horror movie. I have to admit too, that I wasn't really expecting the film to go in the direction that it did. So it has some surprises, some mystery, and a good sense of pacing which builds up the suspense fairly well. To call this movie a horror story is fitting, but it is atypical for American horror films. I'll bet that David Lynch could appreciate this film for its power to suggest things to you rather than explicitly feed it to you. I would actually watch it again as I did with 'Enter the Void' just out of curiosity over the various levels of meaning the hallucinatory episodes suggest -- especially in how they tie into the plot, and relate to a characters thought process (however disjointed it may be). I'm looking forward to seeing some of Adam Wingard's other films now.

"Pop Skull" should be an interesting film on many levels as it tells the story of alienation,depression and loneliness due to emotional breakdown.Daniel loses the one girl that he can't live without.She broke up with him to date an actor named Victor.His perception of reality is completely shattered as he trips on whatever he can get his hands on: over the counter drugs,prescriptions,tiny white pills,oblong pink ones.This results in the series of hallucinogenic nightmares...The main problem I have with "Pop Skull" is that it's pretty damn boring.The soundtrack is excellent,the acting is decent and the film leaves many questions unanswered.Admittedly the use of light and shadow is exceptional and there are some great filming techniques used,but the action is slow and lifeless.Just like a drug trip.I enjoyed Andrey Iskanov's similarly experimental "Visions of Suffering" more.5 out of 10.