Review of Pora mroku

Pora mroku (2008)
3/10
"Hostel" meets "c-grade"
15 October 2008
The news of this movie being made sparked hope in the hearts of Polish moviegoers as it represents a genre almost dead in Poland. Having that said, it's easy to fall in this overly critical mindset about almost anything that the movie has to offer. With this in mind I approached all its elements with a certain dose of precaution and as much as I'd love to say it fared out well... it did not. Firstly, the script feels too complicated. It's not that I don't like unexpected twists and rapid changes in the characters' development. I just like the above to follow simple rules of logic I can relate to. Here, logic is absent. Instead, we get a bunch of random people, driven by random motives, and all that is seasoned with random flashbacks the source of which never gets apparent. This semi-scary horror device, incorporated in many 90's movies just doesn't fit here. Next, we have poor acting. You don't have to understand Polish to see the omni underdevelopment of everything here present. Sadly, this movie (and a few others screened this year) makes me believe that Poland does not have young, capable actors. Their workshop tries to be b-grade Hollywood level, but the effort put into that just shows, making the experience of viewing this film something not to recommend. The only good thing I can point out are the locations the movie is shot at. Using post war bunkers, old factories and other 60+ y-o facilities makes some scenes enjoyably disturbing. But that's really all the movie has to offer. Sadly.

I recommend giving this one a pass.
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