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Reviews
Neverlake (2013)
Started out very promising, but fell short.
I was initially very excited about this movie. Perhaps it's just the English Major side of me, but I was thrilled by the prospect of a possible eclectic horror film based off of Shelley's poem "The Sensitive Plant." While the movie started off well, I was gravely disappointed by the end.
There's enough mystery throughout the beginning of the film to keep you going right till the very end, if only just to know what exactly is going on in this creepy Italian lake. I was impressed with the creep factor without the cheap jump scares and such, and I was intrigued by the possible plot line that was kept just out of reach.
However, Jenny's father being a psychotic murderer/rapist who was harvesting the organs of his children (children he raped Jenny's mother - who is locked up in a hospital - to conceive), was most definitely not the twist I was expecting. Not to mention the fact that none of this meshes with the mythological spirits of these Etruscan Idols.
There were so many cultural references in this movie! There was the story of the Etruscans and the supernatural power of the lake. Great! Poetry references out the wazoo. Awesome, good to have a horror film with classic literature! Then there was the possible overkill of Peter Pan parallels, which no one else seems to mention in the reviews: the name of the movie is Neverlake, much like Neverland; a group of "orphan" children led by a mysterious boy named Peter who has even more mysterious powers; she READS them Peter Pan; her mother's last name is Darling, for crying out loud! Anyway, all of this led me to believe the ending would be a smorgasbord of historical and cultural allusions.
But no. There's just some creepy doctor who somehow got away with fathering and killing five children to keep his firstborn alive. Nothing really fit together. This movie had such potential to be something great and other-worldly, but the storyline just took a fall of a cliff in the last fifteen minutes of the film.
Also, can we just talk about the uncomfortable UST between Jenny and Peter?
From the beginning, we're led to believe that there's a possible connection between the two: Jenny asking Peter if he likes love stories; Peter saying he only likes the ones ending in tragedies (which, if you're already guessing he's a ghost, you might think he means he and Jenny since he's dead); the way they freaking look at each other; the forehead kiss when he "comes to her" in the hospital room.
All of this leads the viewers to believe that Jenny will be devastated when she finds out this handsome young man she's (most likely) fallen for is really dead.
Instead, we find out he's actually her BROTHER! Her dead brother, who likes tragic romance stories and who was only conceived because their mother was raped. It's just...weird and creepy and ew. Just gross.
Overall, I gave this a 4 out of ten, because while I was greatly disappointed, there were redeeming qualities about the film. I wouldn't say it's a 'complete' waste of time, but I wouldn't necessarily recommend it either.