Marc Davings
I like to think of myself as a cine-phile.As someone who loves and appreciates he art of watching movies. Finding the appreciation in a work of art can be challenging however. And 'Kantemir' is a prime example of that.This viewing is painful simply due to the fact it was just a tedious venture. The premise sounds promising. Washed up has beens or never wases gather to perform a play. Then the director shows up. This guy can't act. Not one bit. He looks like he's going to kill someone at any given second. He just looks like a douche.Non of the actors are memorable. Robert Englund does deliver a string performance considering how weak the script is and how bad the direction he receives is. Cinematography is probably the best thing about this film. Even though it takes place in a few settings the scenes on the mansion look really nice.The biggest problem for me was the pacing. Its very "one note". The score tries to add urgency but the direction never delivers. In fact, I'm not convinced this movie HAD a director. There is so much inconsistencies in the scenes it just seems like the director wasn't on set much.Over all this movie seemed like a giant waste of money. I mean aren't there worthy scripts out there needing to be shot? Why pick this incomplete script? It seems like the script would have done better in more capable hands. This director made it worse.The even though the director of the play was horrible he wasn't as bad as the white cop. Holy shite that guy is so clichéd its ridiculous. His acting was some of the worst I've ever seen ESPECIALLY in a low budget horror movie. And that's saying something.This movie was a mistake. The producers should be ashamed of themselves.
TheLittleSongbird
Robert Englund, whose Freddy Krueger in Nightmare on Elm Street is rightly one of horror's most iconic characters, was my main reason for seeing Kantemir. He has been in quite a number of stinkers or not-so-good movies in recent years, but always gives his all no matter what.Kantemir does have a few good things in its favour. It does look good (which to be honest was not expected, considering the reputation with low-budget movies looking cheap or even amateurish) with a real Gothic charm, some real atmosphere in the lighting, clever use of colours and photography that seldom looks cheap. It also has a good music score that sets the mood very nicely.Unfortunately, that is where the redeeming qualities for Kantemir end. One does have to credit Englund for playing a role different to usual, for him this is restrained stuff, and shows that he does have more to him than having a wormy character, and although he does give the movie's best performance his underwritten role and very cliché dialogue is quite frankly beneath him and although he does try, he is somewhat too reserved and doesn't do anything to distinguish what he's been given (which is in all honesty worthless for any actor with any talent). The very less known names are no better, Justine Griffiths looks pretty but phones it in and there is a lot of forced overacting, Daniel Gadi's overplayed smugness is particularly annoying. The characters have no development and just as little personality, they are just there.The script is incredibly hackneyed and never sounds natural and with an increasing lack of rhythm. Even more of a problem is the story, which has to be the movie's biggest problem, there is very little to it, often it is uneventful, and much of it is very tedious with no suspense whatsoever and just as little mystery. A decent idea, quite a unique premise considering the budget, but with nothing of note done with it.Overall, looks good but very dull stuff and does nothing with Englund's talents, which is unforgivable really. 3/10 Bethany Cox
Diane Ruth
A fascinating existential examination of the nature of reality and the struggle to grasp its meaning. Director Ben Samuels is clearly a quite gifted film maker and while this is on the surface a horror movie, that is only the structure within which a deeper story is expressed. Mark Garbett and Ralph Glen Howard have fashioned a compelling and engrossing story that is intensely disturbing, fantastical, and terrifying. Samuels truly excels at creating an atmosphere of dark unease and hovering horror. The suspense and mystery is unrelenting as a journey through a hellish landscape that questions life itself is taken by the characters and in effect, the audience. Robert Englund gives a superb performance and once again proves once again what a fine actor he can be. Astonishing set design and cinematography heighten the surrealistic tone of the film and help make this motion picture a frightening, unnerving, and powerful intellectual experience.
