Saw 'Cold Moon', being fond of horror regardless of budget (even if not my favourite genre), Christopher Lloyd and being intrigued somewhat by the idea. Being behind on my film watching and reviewing, with a long to watch and review list that keeps getting longer, it took me a while to get round to watching and reviewing it.
Giving 'Cold Moon' a fair chance with being interest and apprehension, it turned out to be far better than expected. Won't say that 'The Haunting of Helena' is a great film because it isn't and the potential, while not wasted, is not fully lived up to. Considering the large number of films seen recently being mediocre and less and wasting potential, was expecting worse and was relieved that while wanting in a fair few areas it was actually one of my better recent low-budget viewings.
'Cold Moon' started off quite well, the first half is promising, unsettling and atmospheric and really does intrigue.
Production values did have some eeriness and nowhere near as cheap as expected, and the music, which not the most memorable in the world, didn't detract from the atmosphere.
The setting is effectively spooky and some of the acting in support was not bad. Christopher Lloyd turns his limited screen time into gold, he clearly enjoys himself here and shows everyone how it's done. There are spooky and suspenseful moments and it isn't dull. The direction doesn't feel phoned in and the storytelling in the first half does intrigue.
However, the story was severely wanting in the second half after starting off promisingly. It is very disjointed and after the promising start the final third especially loses atmosphere, one loses interest and things start to not make sense. Too much of the film is vague and doesn't explore some elements and story strands enough, some dropped soon after being introduced, go nowhere or serve much point.
Ending is unsatisfying, on top of feeling hasty there are too many loose ends hanging in the air. Got the sense that the writers didn't know how to end the film. Would have liked much more tension and suspense which dissipated as the film got duller, more predictable and senseless, scares could have been more consistent and some weren't surprising or unnerving enough, the over-obviousness hurts it.
Found too the script to lack natural flow and with a bit of cheese going on, and the characters bland with some adopting some annoying and not always logical decision making. 'Cold Moon' contains perhaps the most annoying grandmother in film history, and Candy Clark's acting is just horrendous for reasons too numerous to list (namely because it is some of the most painful over-acting personally seen anywhere). Tommy Wiseau's involvement is basically a walk on cameo if even that.
Overall, better than expected but not great still. 5/10 Bethany Cox
Giving 'Cold Moon' a fair chance with being interest and apprehension, it turned out to be far better than expected. Won't say that 'The Haunting of Helena' is a great film because it isn't and the potential, while not wasted, is not fully lived up to. Considering the large number of films seen recently being mediocre and less and wasting potential, was expecting worse and was relieved that while wanting in a fair few areas it was actually one of my better recent low-budget viewings.
'Cold Moon' started off quite well, the first half is promising, unsettling and atmospheric and really does intrigue.
Production values did have some eeriness and nowhere near as cheap as expected, and the music, which not the most memorable in the world, didn't detract from the atmosphere.
The setting is effectively spooky and some of the acting in support was not bad. Christopher Lloyd turns his limited screen time into gold, he clearly enjoys himself here and shows everyone how it's done. There are spooky and suspenseful moments and it isn't dull. The direction doesn't feel phoned in and the storytelling in the first half does intrigue.
However, the story was severely wanting in the second half after starting off promisingly. It is very disjointed and after the promising start the final third especially loses atmosphere, one loses interest and things start to not make sense. Too much of the film is vague and doesn't explore some elements and story strands enough, some dropped soon after being introduced, go nowhere or serve much point.
Ending is unsatisfying, on top of feeling hasty there are too many loose ends hanging in the air. Got the sense that the writers didn't know how to end the film. Would have liked much more tension and suspense which dissipated as the film got duller, more predictable and senseless, scares could have been more consistent and some weren't surprising or unnerving enough, the over-obviousness hurts it.
Found too the script to lack natural flow and with a bit of cheese going on, and the characters bland with some adopting some annoying and not always logical decision making. 'Cold Moon' contains perhaps the most annoying grandmother in film history, and Candy Clark's acting is just horrendous for reasons too numerous to list (namely because it is some of the most painful over-acting personally seen anywhere). Tommy Wiseau's involvement is basically a walk on cameo if even that.
Overall, better than expected but not great still. 5/10 Bethany Cox