Reviews

I gotta say, a lot of effort was put in to really make this look like a 70s talk show. Set design, costume, and even the look of the film all make it feel authentic.

I loved the character meant to represent James Randi and other historical references that were made.

The visual effects at the end were pretty cool. I'm usually not big on CGI but I thought it looked neat.

The problem is with the story set up. The film wants you to believe that "found behind the scenes footage" was included. Those scenes don't read as behind the scene. I can buy that cameras are on when you're "off" but this has a really high res (higher than the regular film scenes) camera following them. They never acknowledge the camera but it always gets their best angles and no one is mic'd but we can hear everything they're saying.

Not much really happens and the ending is nonsense. I also didn't love the way the film was introduced. A narrator explains the cultural landscape and the background of the main character. I wish we'd just been dropped in to the show.

I think this is a great idea for a horror movie but the script needs work. Some of it just seems so forced and then bam it's over.

The sound editing and mixing is so bad that I thought this was a poorly dubbed foreign language film at first.

Just poorly dubbed as it turns out. Which, I don't know why they bothered. The soundtrack and background noises are so loud that you can't hear/understand what they're saying a good portion of the time anyway.

There were a few scenes where they used practical effects that I quite enjoyed. Whoever did the makeup on injuries did a terrific job. There's a scene where someone gets dragged off a pier - in this one instance the sound effect was perfect and made for a very brutal scene.

But they're barely worth getting to.

So many long drawn out scenes of just nothing, drawn out dialogue, or bad cgi. At one point they use the same shot of the shark slightly turning twice in a row. I usually don't notice things like continuity errors but this was so egregious I don't know how anyone missed it. Literally if they had just used the turn shot once it would've been fine.

I couldn't find any details on the budget. Clearly they had some money. But man, if someone paid more than a few hundred thousand dollars for this (and that is me getting generous), they got ripped off.

While I adore Baahubali: the Beginning, the conclusion is the superior film. When you know the story in its entirety, the first movie seems like a side quest because the beginning, middle, and end of the story all happen in this film. The cgi is not the best at times but the story is super compelling. It keeps you on the edge of your seat. We already know where the story is headed but the journey to get there is a blast! The acting is superb and the music is awesome. I especially like the song Baahubali gets as his theme song. I have it stuck in my head all the time.

Also, the greatest scene in cinematic history is in this film. 👏 I seriously watch this scene on repeat and make an effort to show it to everyone I know. I dont want to give too much away but justice is served with a swift beheading. Amazing. Dialogue, perfection. Love it.