Animus

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The second movie called Animus that didn't really do it for me. Still this is a step (or two) up from the other one I watched. Which isn't really saying much, since this still isn't really good. Some nice shockers and I reckon for a low budget movie the effects are ok too. So depending on how much slack you are willing to give this, how low you are comfortable lowering the bar to have fun or even if you just are into this sort of no money movie almost amateurish style of filmmaking ... I appreciate the love they put here, so I might be giving them some slack, always consider that when seeing my rating - bear that in mind so to speak

This is a really bad movie. Really, really bad. It was obviously very low budget, you can tell by the film, but that doesn't always mean the movie will be bad. The story is ridiculous. Some kid is a patient in a mental hospital for children, it turns out he is the bastard son of the guy who runs the place, and his wife tells him to deal with the kid "one way or the other" which makes no sense because shes telling him to kill the kid. That's only one way. There is no other. So he tries and the kid kills everyone. Meanwhile, the woman telling this story worked there, and she said she knew the kid and took care of him for a while. Then he was moved to another floor and "she never saw him again." Three sentences later she says she saw him again, pulling bodies across a floor. The dialogue is horrendous. I mean it's really, really bad. When the group of students start driving to the hospital to film, the girl in the backseat and one of the guys next to her start arguing, and I thought to myself that no one in the world is this bad at talking. It's painful to watch. The actors have no chemistry, and the redhead is just the worst actress I think I've ever seen. I feel bad saying that but she really makes a bad movie so much worse. Her facial expressions are so stupid, and I have no idea how this girl is an actress. You could probably pull a random person out of a Wal-Mart and ask her to read some lines and she would do better. I don't know what other movies she's been in, maybe they're better and it's just this role (maybe they told her to seem unlikable and stuck up?) but it's just SO bad. I just wanted to hit her the whole time. I think she's supposed to be funny and hot but she comes off as neither. I don't think there are any redeeming qualities to this film- I know it's a first time effort for the director, so it's understandable that it's not great, but next time he needs to find better actors, because there are a lot of watchable movies with stupid plots. This isn't one. It's not one of those that is so bad it's funny either, it's just appalling, and I have no idea how it has a 3+ rating. There are a bunch of clichés, like when they get to the small town with the abandoned hospital most people are nasty and call them "city folk," one man says something about them hanging out with a "negro" and they'e all yelled at and warned not to go in the hospital because "the scandal along with the shut down of the mine nearly ended the town." Oh and at the beginning the unlikable redhead says "omg it's time for ghost chaser!" which is a reality show in which a guy named "Wes Carpenter" (I don't think Wes Craven or John Carpenter would want anything to do with this) literally yells at ghosts. He became a ghost chaser (probably a rip off of Supernatural by the way- in Supernatural there is a reality show called Ghost Chasers) when he was doing plumbing at a house and saw a ghost. Oh and there's an idiot ex boyfriend who tracks the girls phone by GPS and follows her to the hospital. Guess who dies first? His character is killed off about a minute after he shows up. Also there's one girl who has to pee a lot. We see her squat a lot. Every bad cliché in a horror movie is in this. There's a scene where two girls come out of interviewing someone and the unlikable girl and someone are having sex in the car, and they just stare through the window while talking about how awful it is. It's just awkward and bad. Do yourself a favor and watch ANYTHING else. It's just SO bad. Really bad. The special effects are awful. The music is bad, and this is literally the worst acting I have ever seen. EVER. I can't stress how bad this is. I love horror movies, and I forgive a lot, but I have honestly seen a LOT of better movies on YouTube done with iPhone cameras.

For an amateurish movie, then I am sure that "Animus" was doing quite well by itself, but if you sit down to be fully entertained and watch a proper horror movie, well, your money is better spent elsewhere. I gave up roughly about halfway through the movie, or there about, just when the killer - whom I assume must have been Isaac, given the starting credits. Why? Well, because the movie was just downright boring and uneventful. I am sure that all of the Davis people had fun making this movie, and I am sure that the actors and actresses did too. But the movie was just too much of a unfinished product to sit down and watch. But of course, perhaps this was a learning experience, how do I know? Storyline? Well, initially it is a group of people who go to an old abandoned hospital, which is allegedly haunted. (Something seen in many other horror movies, particularly bad 'found footage' movies.) The characters in the movie, well they were adequate, but weren't really fully detailed or having enough dimension. It was as if they came off forced, scripted and wooden at most times, giving the cast very little to work with. As for the effects? Well, I gave up before I could really see any, so I have no clue how well - or lack thereof - the special effects department did. The scene with the nurse and doctor in the operating room was a little bit too 'borrowed' from "Silent Hill" in my opinion. I will say that the movie was nicely shot, some good camera-work here and there. But what was the best in the movie was the music and sounds, that was nailed right on the head. The movie, or at least what I saw of it, didn't impress, nor did it manage to captivate or allure in any sense. And as such, I am rating "Animus" a mere 2 out of 10 stars.