Reunion (VI) (2020) User Reviews

A film stuck in a flat and repetitve rut

[jtindahouse · 4/10 · 9 November 2020]

I've enjoyed some New Zealand horror films in the past, so while I wouldn't say my expectations for 'Reunion' were high, there was certainly some reason for optimism. Sadly it was ill-founded optimism. This film took about 85 minutes to get out of first gear. There were times when I was wondering whether I had looked up the wrong film. The film I was supposed to be seeing was supposedly a horror (or at least a mystery/thriller) movie. This felt like an extended episode of 'Shortland Street' (a local soap-opera).

I had actually seen the trailer for this film before going in, something I try to avoid for movies if I can. It hadn't looked great in the trailer, but I was hopeful they'd left the best bits out. In actuality I couldn't tell you what the best bits of this film were. It was all very repetitive and dull. The highlight package was limited. It wouldn't have been an easy film to make a trailer for.

The film tries to do some damage control at the end and throw a shocking twist at us, but by then I had checked out and no longer had enough investment in the story to care. Also the way they presented the finale was quite bizarre. It just didn't work for me. I'm sad to say that 'Reunion' was a misfire and not one I would recommend.

Family of complete WACK-a-DOOs!!! :O

[midnitepantera · 4/10 · 7 February 2021]

Super dysfunction junction going on in this mess that calls itself a family.. Movie was slow for 1st hour and started to feel like torture. But I wanted some answers to all the weird poop they showed us, strange images, creepy old drawings, flashbacks, weird black ooze, no packing skills at all. The last 25 minutes is probably best part of movie, but still left me with a ton of questions about that room and its contents. How was the mom planning to pack that hot mess up??? :o I felt sorry for Cara and then Ellie, but the parents can go straight to Hell for all I care. The 2 female leads did give great performances, but the movie is just all over the place, too many questions unanswered, and I wanted to hear the lecture they kept running in the background, but I may have well been listening to Charlie Brown's teacher because it was impossible to get more than a snippet or two of what was being said. I'm sure there are people who enjoy this style of story telling, but Most people won't. I have to say Pass on this or if you watch and get bored about 30 mins in to it, fast forward to last 25 mins and you will get as much information as watching the whole thing. If it was arranged differently, it might have been kinda good. I gave it 2 stars for the female leads and 2 stars for the cool old house and that ROOM! :O

3. Stars is generous

[delores052 · 3/10 · 12 March 2021]

Movie made absolutely no sense. Editing was choppy. Didn't know where you were in this. Just a mess of nothing. About all I can say .

Wasted acting..

[RMS1949 · 2/10 · 6 February 2021]

A dismal movie that some may call a slow burn. I just call it "boring".. The entire premise of the film is to established a final showdown between mother and daughter.. And when it came it's totally dulled by imagery and more flashbacks, as if we didn't have enough of those already.. Both actresses did a fine job with the mess they were handed but just couldn't overcome it..

I just wasted 40 minutes of my time

[davish_wulf-1 · 1/10 · 20 February 2021]

.... then I did a fast forward and wasted 8 minutes more....

It's that bad. They had the materials to do a good movie, good photography, nice looking house.... but were they really expecting someone to take this poorly written script to be taken seriously?

Boredom to death, I could watch raindrops falling on my window and be more entertained than this.

It had potential it didn't completely fulfill.

[TokyoGyaru · 5/10 · 20 July 2021]

First off, I hate the mother SO MUCH. Unfortunately, I'm all too familiar with the mother's behavior, the lying and manipulation, maintaining control over relationships of other people through her, etc. When she told her daughter how her daughter was making someone else feel, someone who wasn't even there to confirm or deny, I had a flashback to memories of my own mother. She would lie about how other people felt about me (something she has always done to others), when she was really just projecting her feelings onto them. She's stood in the way of relationship after relationship, sometimes repeatedly (whenever they were on the mend), because she had to control everything. She also does things to force you to be dependent on her and then acts resentful of it. She also criticizes and demonizes the daughter's interests. She's very abusive and a bully, even when getting her way, and the daughter has no choice but to cave. Being used as an instrument to hurt. Blaming others for bad things she, herself, did. So, they did an excellent job of reflecting that.

They did a half-way job of creating mood, but they don't do much with it. Furthermore, it's not at all scary or even very mysterious. Also, the acting was low-energy in very much the wrong way. If I were to contrast it to something similar that was executed correctly, the acting in "We Are What We Are" was very well executed in how they truly reflected the underlying tension, repression, and unhappiness. In this movie, the acting has potential, but it's missing some humanity. The characters may be distant, but they act like strangers instead of estranged. That's the best way I can describe it.

At least it doesn't look like it was filmed on a burner phone, so there's that too. And the music is okay. Finally, I think it's interesting just how different the daughter looks when she smiles. She almost looks like a different person.

Not horror, just horrible

[haskel-72951 · 3/10 · 12 June 2021]

I've seen better bad family dramas masquerading as thrillers on Lifetime. Dysfunctional family, buried secret, obvious "twists"... nothing new to see here and nothing old done well.

A bit too trippy for me

[jmbovan-47-160173 · 3/10 · 21 June 2021]

The film has a little too much mind bend for me to stick closely to the plot. Then it was all a bit to murky plotting for me to watch it closely enough as I didn't care as everyone was miserable. Then the story unfolded more clearly, leaving me somehow more confused. So didn't care.

Slow Burn But Not in A Good Way

[Mehki_Girl · 7/10 · 19 February 2022]

This movie is the scriptwriter's deceit. He made it for himself and not an audience.

I like slow burns, well done horror, and movies that don't explain everything. I'm okay with flashbacks and voiceovers.

But not weird just to be weird. Or esoteric just to be esoteric, without coherent meaning.

I get the manipulative, abusive parent trope and the child who's now an adult, who doesn't trust themselves because they were manipulated by cruel, narcisstic, must always control others parents. I also get movies where we can't completely trust what we're seeing and we can't trust the protagonist's version of the story.

Okay fine.

This movie had some supernatural elements that can be explained through guilt, misremembering incidents from childhood, and possible emotional and mental disturbance.

But it was impossible for the dad to have done what was implied, so now we're going from melodrama into science fiction.

Are we to believe the voiceover that you can turn common metals into gold; therefore, you can create life in a tube with some ooze? Is Ellie a creation and an imperfect one at that and Cara was the perfect one? Why would mom be jealous? She knew what dad was doing and participating in it. Or was Cara the result of an affair that was alluded to. ("She's not really a Maybrick".)

The ending was overdone. I became annoyed with Ellie stumbling around and falling over boxes. She's pregnant, not an invalid. Just leave. The minute she saw Cara, she should have left, but the movie would have been over on 10 minutes

The other element that was overdone in the end were the visuals. They were so overdone as to be laughable and I'm one of the few who doesn't laugh at serious, but unintentionally funny moments in movies.

The dad could have simply been dead as much as his present didn't contribute anything. He was just a babbling annoyance in the background.

What a mess this was. I gave it a 7, because it held my attention enough to want to see what the hell was going on.

I'm still not sure.

Okay here's a go: spoilers below

Mom and dad didn't have a good marriage. Dad was into creating children from scratch, so to speak because mom was barren. He had a stroke right have creating another child, Cara, after creating Ellie (or Ellie mayn have been natural, but disappointing her imperfection - she wasn't a particularly nice little girl).

For whatever reason, Mom doesn't like Cara, apparently a sweet child. Ellie is also jealous of Cara and did things to get her in trouble and mom all too eager to believe that Cara is at fault for things that Ellie has done.

Ellir has faulty memories of her childhood and also feels guilty for doing something that ended up in Cara's death. Mom reinforced that it was her fault, but we find out Cara's death, which appears to have really been an accident was actually caused by mom, although initiated by Ellie. We see glimpses of these events throughout the movie. We see the truth at the end.

Over and over we are treated to a voiceover lecture talking about supernatural things (how we transitioned from belief in magic to belief in science). We also see that Ellie did a lot of peeking through keyholes and seeing strange things she didn't understand that haunt her, along with feeling guilty over Cara's death.

Simultaneously we're treated to mom and daughter's strained relationship and the distance among mother, father, and daughter. Dad is just a babbling idiot in the background. Ellie has strange waking dreams that mingle what she saw in childhood and her guilt.

A glass vase is significant and we do find out why. There's a man doing work on the house in preparation to sell it (Ellie's back to sell her grandparents' home - Mom is supposed to be packing, but not having much luck.) The guy working on the house is a completely useless character and is there only to rescue (sort of) Ellie in the end. The fact they used to date only served to bring home the point that mom ruled everything. That's it. They could just have had Ellie leave and drive her own self away in the end.

Maybe we're to believe that poor dead Cara is at rest andEllie will birth her devil spawn of blackooze (there's lots of that, too) and live happily ever after.

If this sounds incoherent, well that's how I remember the movie.

So slow paced that it killed off the movie...

[paul_haakonsen · 3/10 · 24 March 2021]

I hadn't even heard about the 2020 movie "Reunion" from writer and director Jake Mahaffy before now in 2021, as I had the opportunity to sit down to watch the movie. And I must say that the movie's synopsis had me lured in, and the fact that Julia Ormond was on the cast list also made me have an interest.

And the movie's synopsis states, and I quote, "What begins as a tenuous reunion slowly turns terrifying." Now, the key word here is slowly. Boy was this a slow paced movie. It was, in fact, so slow paced that the fact of sitting through the entire movie without falling asleep was quite an accomplishment. Wow, this movie was incredibly slow paced. And that, in turn, made for a very tedious and boring movie.

The storyline in the movie was actually interesting enough, but it was just slaughtered and mauled by the incredibly slow pacing of the storytelling. There were some really good aspects to the storyline and some very interesting things here. Just a shame that it was killed off by the monotonous pacing of the movie.

As for the acting in the movie. Well, the movie does have a rather small cast ensemble, which means that there is somewhat more pressure on the cast to deliver good performances to carry the movie. And the two lead actresses, Julia Ormond (playing Ivy) and Emma Draper (playing Ellie) really put on good performances. Just a shame that these performances were wasted on such an atrociously paced storyline and movie.

The movie itself had so much potential. But it just never was brought to a fulfilling fruition. Why? Well, you already know the answer to that; the pacing of the movie.

Visually then "Reunion" was interesting. There was a good sense of foreboding and lurking dread throughout the course of the movie, and that was accomplished by the sets that made up the house and its interior. And I must admit that I was especially impressed with the visuals towards the end of the movie, but by then it was just too little too late.

Ultimately then "Reunion" just failed as an interesting movie. And while I managed to endure the ordeal of getting through the movie, then this is by no means a movie that I would recommend you rushing out to spend your money, time or effort on.

My rating of this 2020 movie from writer and director Jake Mahaffy lands on a more than generous three out of ten stars.

A Dark Brooding Film

[ladymidath · 10/10 · 20 May 2023]

I don't understand why this movies gas so many negative reviews. I know that many see this movie as long and dull, but this is a very dark and atmospheric film. This is a look at child abuse and evil, selfish parents and the adult children that survive them but not without emotional scars. It also has a strong supernatural elements that work very well here. The movie is beautifully shot and the musical score that interweaves wonderfully, it gives the movie an almost surreal and fantastical feel to it. If you are looking for a horror movie with gore and jump scares, this is not for you but if you don't mind a slower paced, more cerebral film with a deep story, then Reunion will be a treat.

I've still got some questions....

[brandicemondia-58883 · 6/10 · 25 March 2022]

Cinematically, it's a beautiful film. I felt like I was there in the room with them. And I'm a true Julia Ormand fan from day 1. The house was everything here - another review hit it on the head - the house IS a character. The film itself felt a bit disjointed at best. I wish we could have delved deeper into what the father and mother did in that "office" as well as the hidden laboratory space. Excellent acting all around. Not sure it's something I'd want to watch again, and yes it was a slow burn to a bit of a mashup ending. Over all I'm glad we saw it vs not seeing it. New Zealand is absolutely a favorite of mine for it's dynamic filmmaking!!!

A dream of dark and pre-digital things.

[GiraffeDoor · 5/10 · 13 July 2021]

Clearly the goal here was to get someone to call it "arthouse" (a term I despise because it implies not all movies are art) and like so many before it, takes some ideas that sound fine on paper but collapses under the weight of its own ambition.

Major Persona and Eraserhead vibes: the former in the way that the visualization was pretentiously permitted to eclipse the subject in a way that was comedic (the screen warps likes its a well used VHS). The latter in how the line between dreams and reality are (admittedly quite admirably) blurred along a theme of maternity.

This theme is fact is really used to beat you over the head, I thought the intermittent slides and lectures ultimately added nothing and where just the writers' lazy way to try and push their own obsessions onto a story that really wasn't made to convey them.

There is a smart story here somewhere. While the main focus is on a family visit that totally reminds us why we don't go home for Christmas anymore, flashbacks gradually piece together a much more intriguing story of sororal jealousy and parental manipulation.

Often melodramatic and sometimes even soapy, I want to give credit to an audacious attempt to not just be another paint by number family drama or teen scream. It tries to sort of have elements of both but even the passion clearly put into this work was not enough.

Fascinating in its own way just as much for what doesn't work for what does, I suspect if you saw it with someone you could talk about it for a while.

Another bad horror movie

[JANHYUN · 1/10 · 15 January 2022]

I rated it 1 cause there is no zero.

Like really where is the story?

And why it was so slow like u feel bored so quickly And the two men did not do anything or add something.

Disjointed story

[Valid_ID · 1/10 · 13 August 2021]

A disjointed story, a mish-mash of 4 characters , 2 of whom are completely undevelopped (the father and the childhood friend). One of those inane movies that make you say WTF! At the end, as you resent the waste of time, and are immediately forgotten because there's nothing to them.

Another worst horror film! Full of boring conversation, and annoying overuse scene! Avoid at all cost!

[kwenchow · 1/10 · 25 March 2021]

This film start with a sound from the recorder talking about black magic, and a daughter "Ellie" visit her mother "Ivy" scene! As turnout, this film is about finding out who kill Ellie's sister "Cara"! Cara actually kill by Ellie's mother! Entire film full of boring conversation, and annoying overuse scene! Such as, overuse of the imagination scene, overuse of the flashbacks scene, overuse of the drinking scene, overuse of the jump scare scene, overuse of the calling names scene, overuse of the searching scene, overuse of the walking scene, overuse of the arguing scene, overuse of the switching from right to left scene, overuse of the recorder sound narrating scene, and overuse of the watching TV scene! Make the film unwatchable! Barely intense scene is, Ellie dreaming a baby biting her nipple! At the end, after locked her parents in a room, Ellie leave their parents house with her ex-boyfriend "Gus"! That's it! Another disappointed film!

The other reviews are too generous

[ali_bakirdan · 1/10 · 16 June 2021]

The snails pace and lack of coherent plot made this movie unwatchable.

Giving 3 stars for the ending.

[Bxsteph · 3/10 · 21 March 2022]

I'm not a fan of movies that are confusing the entire way through.

This movie is slower than slow. Watching paint dry is a bit faster. It catches your attention becaus you want to figure out why all the weird stuff going on. Your brain tries to connect the dots, tries to validate watching it.

Alas, it's really only until the last maybe 20 minutes that you get to put everything together and connect the dots.

I gave it three stars instead of one because they did tie everything up at the end, so no loose ends. THANKFULLY.

A decent slow-burner. I liked it.

[usadainpink-84708 · 7/10 · 9 February 2021]

This is actually not as bad as the rating. It felt a little cheaply made as if they lacked budget, but overall the story was pretty alright. It's not really a horror movie, more like a mystery-drama about a strange family. The house was really eerie and I enjoyed the atmosphere it gave the movie. The ending was a little rushed but the small twist wasn't bad. I feel like it just needed to run maybe 10 or 15 more minutes to properly flesh it out. Overall it's a decent, slow movie but with a great atmosphere and creepy setting, and a decent intrigue. The main actress was pretty good. Definitely not a bad movie, I liked it, just don't go in expecting something scary.

Unfortunate

[Horror_Flick_Fanatic · 5/10 · 7 April 2022]

The film had somethings to admire. The cinematography was very good. The setting where the story takes place was decent. The casting was also good. Gina Laverty (the little girl in white) had a resemblance to Emma Draper. Some of the practical effects were on point and quite creepy.

Unfortunately, where I feel the film bombed was with the story writing, pace and sound of the film. The story is very disjointed, and it seems the sound guy misses the cue for the jump scares because they don't seem to match up with the actors' performances. The editing was also quite poor. Ellie's audio clips of her research annoyed me the most about the film. It was like chalk screeching against an old blackboard. It also made no sense. I wanted it to stop, and I wanted to hit the stop button.

I really wanted to like the film. I think the film could have been phenomenal if they had the right people in post-production. In fact, I bet this story could be re-edited by someone else and immediately improve the film quite a bit. This film really did have a lot of potential. It's just a lot of technical points that really ruined it for me. Just to make it clear, I didn't have a problem with the actors. It was just the editing, sound and direction that were very lacking.

Don't Tell Me To Calm Down You're Boiling The Cauliflower!

[CharoleaWood · 10/10 · 24 April 2023]

This movie clearly didn't find its audience based on the reviews here, I'm only grateful my library had it and I found it there on a tour of horror films several years ago.

Reunion is a criminally underrated supernatural/psychological thriller --- intelligent and brilliant, thematically, visually and sonically.

The story here is about a daughter and her crazy mother.

The exceptional final act leaves us with some interpretations:

either, A., mom was genetically crazy and passed her insanity onto her daughter;

or, B., mom and dad were the genuine occult article and crazy mom is trying to prevent her daughter from inheriting their dangerous knowledge.

Of course, daughter is crazy too, but whether or not her craziness was genetically caused she was certainly pushed to it by her mother throughout her life.

We can, however, have some understanding (if not compassion) toward mother because we make the same mistakes.

We, too, have children as means to an end, to play god or in misguided attempts to improve our relationships with our spouses.

There's also the jealousy of infidelity --- here misplaced onto daughter's adopted sister.

Sister turns out to be not only a murder victim, but also one who had been molested by father.

What a glorious final fifteen minutes are presented here as everything comes together!

And a wonderful tour of a beautiful old house.

Reunion is a pure diamond in the rough, if you enjoyed this movie then please add your review to this here pile of soot so that this flick may shine and get seen by others!

Slow burn.

[lemmyhead · 7/10 · 5 February 2021]

If you like your horror with lots of blood, splatter. and quick cut frights, this film is not for you. This is a real slow burner. Within the first ten minutes you know there's something burning underneath. Clues are added in flash backs. Sometimes in conversations between the two protagonists. There it is, simmering away. You really want to find out. Annoyed because you want it to move on more quickly. In a nice way. It's a very well acted film. There are only three characters that are worthy of mention, Ellie, (Emma Draper/Gina Laverty), Ivy (Julia Ormond0 and Cara (Ava Keane). The two senior actors put in fine performances. Their shattered mother, daughter, relationship is built through out the film. Terminating in a final scene that sums up their relationship. The two young actors play their role more than competently and are worth keeping an eye open for in the future. The supporting actors are just that. They carry their small parts with aplomb but because of the shortness of the roles they don't have time to shine. The film is set in a mansion that appears to be in the countryside of New Zealand. There's plenty of light for the outdoor scenes. The indoor scenes are all dark. Not so dark that you don't know what's happening. Dark to make the place oppressive. It's nicely shot and manages to keep the gloom, conspiracy and feel of threat. This has made my list to watch again. If you want to spend 95 minutes working your brain and have pieces of horror thrown in. This is the film for you.

Total waste of Time

[calmom55 · 1/10 · 12 September 2022]

I stuck with it to the end because it had a great setting (a haunted house), and creepy characters that could be in any family. NOTHING was resolved in this film. What was the father doing in his creepy lab with the girls? What was deal with the fetus? The devil's child? Totally normal but her pregnant mother was having hallucinations? What was real, what was not, is never revealed.

I read one review that said that even if you thought the rest of the film was a waste of time, the last 15 minutes made it all right. Not so. P. U.

I liked the actors and the characters, but the inclusion of the father was a waste of time, he could have been covered in the plentiful flashbacks that made no sense. The handyman, I could have used more of him, but he really played a small part.

And WHAT was the deal with the missing piece of glass from the broken vase??? I mean, really! I was not only disappointed, I was insulted.

I See For 666...6

[shaftique · 4/10 · 15 April 2021]

Below average slow burn horror. Not terrible, just not good.

The writer is clearly "in the know" so to speak. Watch out for hidden messages throughout the movie. I see you Jake Mahaffy.

There wasn't a coherent minute in the whole movie!

[dracforever · 3/10 · 23 July 2021]

Whoever wrote the script for this movie was tripping on mushrooms to think any of it made a lick of sense. I tried, I really did, to try to piece together a semblance of a story but I just couldn't do it no matter how hard I tried. Too bad, everything else was not so bad.