I will talk about this film without thinking that it was made by Unboxholics, but by a small team of 7 people, and not a big studio.
-- Duration: The film was short in length but I think it showed enough (though it left a lot of questions, not necessarily concerns, maybe plot holes). Contrary to some reviews that argue that some scenes were drawn out, I think each one had its role and its proper length. However, possibly scenes were missing that could have made some plot-holes clearer. 8/10
-- Plot: The plot was interesting. The subject matter is serious, realistic and inhuman. I liked the detail that the characters are unknown, faceless, with no names to make them "people". They may represent the same coin, killing one of their own, but maybe one of them is morally right, even if on a gray line. The dialogue was also right and realistic. However, it has obvious flaws, which I will discuss below. 6/10 because of the gaps, if they had been answered it would have easily reached 9/10.
-- Camera: The camera was fantastic, Alekos did wonders, as did the colours, with the lanterns and yellows contrasting nicely in the darkness. In other scenes, where the characters are lost in the harsh and dark forest, the viewer panicked at her spammy movements, while desperately searching for something in the minimal light provided by the lens. In the measured (but serious) jump-scares, the movement was just right and professional. 10/10.
-- Sound: also fantastic. The strings and bass were masterfully placed in the right places to make the experience even more creepy. The simple sounds (walking, eating, etc) were also clear. 10/10.
-- Woman: played by the (fantastic) Foteini (see "Breakfast", a very serious short film), for me she elevated the film to an 8. Some people disagree, saying that she was too cold in parts (e.g. When she tried to show she was upset with the Man for not believing her), but she had scenes that made your blood run cold. Specifically, when she's lying on the floor crying/screaming while her father's shadow is in the background. There, it was indeed creepy and really elevated the movie in my eyes. I also loved her dialogue at the end, it confuses you and makes you itch to find out what's going on, culminating in her murder and suicide. 9/10.
-- Man: played by Sakis, who may not be a professional actor, but he didn't bring the film down on my eyes at all. He played the role of the distant, abrupt man very well. I liked the part where he recounts (half-truth) the death of his son (specifically when he says "let's go fishing, let's go fishing" and somehow his expression lightens up at the memory of his son). In the end, however, when the truth is revealed, I might have wanted a little more emotion, despite the fact that it perfectly conveyed the "confusion" he felt with the Woman's dialogue in the basement (specifically, "cut it out and tell me what the hell is going on"). 8/10.
-- Song: Close to You, by Kid Moxie. Very nice and inextricably linked to the movie. The synths go perfectly with the strings. "Tonight we're closer than ever, like a glimpse into forever": accompanying the two dead characters, who lay dead together in the basement. "It feels like we've been here before, knocking onto silent doors, and I'll always stay": possibly something in purgatory, where the characters are reliving their hell. "If you bleed, I die": when one of them bled, they died. "This is a two way dream": again, maybe something in purgatory. 10/10.
-- Plot: The series might be a bit of a mess, forgive me. The story is about a Man isolated in the forest from any form of civilization, in a hut. One night, a Woman appears at his door, terrified, and begs him to open the door, which he does. She explains that she is with a group of biologists who have come to the forest to examine its flora. That night, she was awakened by the screams of her colleagues and all she could see was a figure (she doesn't say if it was human-shaped) approaching her. Immediately, she started running until she found the hut. The next morning, they go to their campsite, in the only clearing in the forest, but there is no sign, no tents, no fire, no signs of blood or violence. The Man suspects something is wrong, but he can't send her away, as the nearest town is 2 days' walk away. Luckily, he has a friend who supplies him every 2 weeks and in 2 days he will visit him, at which point he makes it clear to the Woman that he can't help her anymore and that he will go down to town with his friend. On the second night, the Man has a nightmare of the Woman standing naked in front of him and being stabbed, blood running from her eyes, and her mouth making an eerie sound. Waking up, he discovers that the door is open and the Woman is missing. So he goes to find her. Meanwhile, the Woman seems to be sleepwalking with a lantern in the middle of the forest. At one point she shorts herself and a white figure (not clearly visible) approaches her from behind with heavy footsteps. He whispers something to her in an eerie voice and unintelligible words. At that moment, she is found by the Man (the figure has disappeared) and the Woman begins to have some kind of spasm, stretching her arms in the shape of a cross, up and down. Eventually, he passes out and returns her to the hut. The next morning, the Man asks her what happened but she doesn't remember anything. They go into the clearing again, by another trail, and the Man recounts how he lost his ten-year-old son two years ago in a storm. Once he finishes his story, they move on, and the Man sees the ghost of the son (who doesn't look well at all, but is wearing white clothes) in the distance of the woods. Terrified, he orders the Woman to turn around. In the evening, the Woman asks him if he saw his son in the woods, and to Man's surprise, she reveals that she sees her father. She tells him that sometimes he is nice to her, but sometimes he is not. She reveals to him that he used to sexually harass her as a child when he was drunk, and on one of those occasions she had a heart attack. The heart attack had happened other times, with Little Woman always bringing him his drugs. But that night, she didn't and watched him die in front of her, killing him. In the next shot, we see the Woman lying on the floor, crying in terror and shaking, while a shadow of a man, the ghost of her father, can be seen in the background. Turning slowly towards the shadow, the Woman breaks down in tears and screams. The day when Man's friend will come dawns but he does not appear in the morning. The Man claims he will come no later than noon but the Woman says that "they will need more wood for the evening." Our story ends with the Man having another nightmare, this time in his basement. There is a medical serum, and following the wire behind some things, a hand with the needle of the serum stuck in the palm catches him and he wakes up. He confronts the woman sitting at the table, her back to him, seemingly asleep. He sits across from her and she, in her grief, ghoulishly picks up a pencil and writes the word FIVE on paper. Immediately, her head jerks back, her eyes rolled back and she makes that eerie howl again like the first nightmare. The Man is lost in the dark woods and hears his son's voice calling to him. Finally, he returns to the cabin and finds the Woman in the basement, awake. She strangely tells him that the place and things (all of his son's things that he has kept in boxes) need cleaning. He has a dangerous look on his face that we've never seen before. Finally, he tells Andras that he knows the truth and that "he won't let you go." The Man sees something in the basement entrance (I think something white?) and, horrified, accepts defeat and sits down. He recounts how his son was gravely ill and could not bear to see him. So when they went fishing and a storm hit he was pushed and drowned. Looking up, he sees that the Woman is not in front of him. She appears behind him, with the knife that was stabbed in his nightmare and stabs him many times, even when he falls down. Finally, she turns her gaze back to the distant shadow of her father and cuts her throat in terror.
I should note here that in an earlier shot (I don't remember exactly when), we see the camera with a light behind it (in first person) going up the stairs to the Woman's bedroom and disappearing into her back (maybe a spirit possessed her?).
-- Plot Holes: We never learn if Woman was really a biologist. If she was, what happened to her team? If she wasn't, and it was all a lie, how did the Woman end up in the cabin? Did she know the Man's story beforehand? Why would she seek revenge? If she didn't know, how did she find out about the Man? Was she possessed by the spirit of his son, killed him, and then, because she herself had terrible remorse and with the shadow of her father always by her side, committed suicide? Why is it that when the Woman stabs the Man, there is not the slightest sign of blood, both on his clothes and on his skin? Is there one monster/demon/ghost or many? Because sometimes we saw signs of a white figure, while other times just shadows. How did the Woman know that the Man's friend would not come? Or was it that even if he did come, she intended to stay? If so, why should she stay?
-- End: let me now speak as their fan. Despite the harsh criticism above, the truth is that I was moved by the play. These guys, who I've been watching for 9 years now (since the days when livestreams used to put a red paper over the light so that it would be red-horror), I can't help but feel pride in their work and what they've accomplished. And above all, they haven't changed a bit, despite the fact that they are now popular. I was particularly moved by the ending, and I'll explain why: the hero doesn't win, there's no happy ending, our characters aren't saints, and everyone dies - just like in so many sick games in the livestreams. A play by them for us.
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