Solstice

After the death of her twin sister Sophie, Megan heads of for a few days with her friends. However, on arrival at the family cottage, Megan begins to experience visions and dreams. Is her sister trying to reach out to her from the dead, or is it something else....?

Directed by Daniel Myrick, who co-directed The Blair Witch Project, Solstice has many things going for it. The cast are pretty good, with special mention to Elisabeth Harnois, as Sophie/Megan. On screen pretty much the whole film, meaning the film stands or falls on her being convincing, and she is very good indeed.

The setting does give the film a nice atmosphere, and the story has enough of a mystery about it to keep you interested until the end.

But as a film that is supposed to be a horror film, Solstice fails. Yes the setting is atmospheric, but none of the so-called scare scenes work at all. Myrick, who has made scarier films, doesn't pull of the scares here at all. In fact, I think the film would have been better as a mystery-type film, dropping the horror elements completely.

Despite this though, I did enjoy it, and while it will never be remembered as a classic or highly regarded, I was never bored at any point and found it to be an enjoyable film.

After watching this, I kind of agonized whether to come here and write a review. I really had high hopes for this one, primarily because I usually really like Supernatural tales or Ghost Stories that are done well, but sadly this one left me a little bit flat (kind of like Chaz Bono)

The tricky thing about this movie is that technically it is rather good. The photography and look of the film lend well to the overall mood and atmosphere of the story. It's just that to me personally, in my lowly and wretched opinion, there was just something substantial missing that might have made this film better. Even the acting, which normally can be quite abysmal in these low-budget 'Teen' Horror films, was decent enough with what they had to work with. I don't know... I almost want to say that I got a slightly shallow 'MTV' type of vibe from it, especially with the sound design, but I'm not sure that was quite it...

I will say that there were 2 VERY brief moments that I really liked in the film. Without giving anything away, I liked the part where the dog was chasing her into the woods and what happened. Also, and this was like ONE minute only... I liked the old-fashioned / religious sounding choral voices in the soundtrack when they were sitting outside and the main girl got up and left the group and approached the barn-like structure (I also liked the lighting effect that went along with that)

I'm thinking that probably the reason they went back and released this older film is because now Amanda Seyfried has become much more famous. I was quite surprised that it was made in 2008! She, was not particularly outstanding in her role, but she was okay. Actually, I felt that the main girl did a much better job (granted, she had a LOT more to do) She kept reminding me of someone (I don't think I have seen her either before or since) It wasn't just her looks, but her expressions and manner. I THINK who she was reminding me of was a younger version of Lisa Kudrow, sort of... Heh, not really relevant I guess, but still it kind of nagged at me while I was watching the film...

Anyway, I usually really LOVE a good Cajun / Haitian Voodoo flavoured film. As a matter of fact I just saw the recent 'JESSEBELLE' and really liked it. I think, overall, that film was a better example of creating a more creepy and suspenseful mood and ultimately being more effective than this one. In reading some of the other reviews here, it appears that many people DID indeed find the movie satisfying enough. Most of the reviews and the current ratings seem to land between '5' and '6', which sounds about right to me (I gave it a '5' because it just seemed to fall a bit short in a few areas)

As far as whether to recommend this to others as a 'Good' film, that would have to be based I guess on how demanding you are with these types of movies. Definitely, if you don't really go for Supernatural or Ghost Stories that much, then for sure give this one a pass... But, if you do like those types of films and if you are not expecting TOO much, then you might enjoy this one somewhat. But honestly, I personally just found it a bit weak. And I really do think that there are similar but much better films than this out there...

In these recent years we've seen so many horror films with one crazy plot twist after another and presenting us convoluted story lines and deranged denouements. So how surprised I was to discover that SOLSTICE manages to tell a ghostly mystery plot that is so basic and simple, it actually turned into a solid and engaging film. The mystery develops slow but steady. There's practically no shocks or gore, but the film didn't need all that. And there's only one twist featured within the film, but it's a good one. The mood and atmosphere are tense. The cinematography looks great. The swamp and woods settings are wonderful and creepy at the same time.

Veteran actor R. Lee Ermey has a small role, but his character actually has weight. Young actress Elisabeth Harnois plays a double role (Megan has a twin sister Sophie who's suicide becomes the core of the mystery) and I'd really love to see more of her. Aside from being beautiful, she's also perfectly capable of carrying this film with her lead performance.

I thoroughly enjoyed SOLSTICE because it's very effective without over-doing things. I even liked the ending, which for once does not include the whole cast being slaughtered at the end of the film or a crazy twist still killing off the protagonist unexpectedly. That would have been too easy and predictable. The way things come to a conclusion now, makes it a better film, separating itself from the obvious ones. To give you an idea, I thought SOLSTICE was better than recent films like THE MARSH (2006) and BENEATH (2007).

Well, Solstice gets a high-five for good casting, visuals, sound and overall atmosphere.

Only problem is the story. It's the same type of ghost story a proper horror fan has seen a gazillion times. And it's a remake! Why? Also, at 87 minutes, this felt like hours. Bo-ring. There are red herrings, scary shadows, MTV-style flashbacks from the dead, and while it's all well done, it's all been done before. Thank you, but no.

Myrick had a mediocre movie (Believers, also (V)) and a good one ruined by a terribly miscast main actor and a "gotcha-sucker!" ending (The Objective). At least here, justice was served and this went straight to DVD where it belongs.

Eduardo Sanchez' "Altered", although more of a sci-fi horror hybrid on a low budget, is superior to all of the above mentioned films in my opinion. Here's hoping that Myrick (who has loads of talent) will make a proper great movie in the future.

5/10

The plot is almost like that of What Lies Beneath, but played amongst teenagers. Very well made, the acting is authentic, characters are diverse and the plot doesn't give in till the end. The camera work and editing is very smooth, and not overdone, the sound effects as well. All in all you would enjoy this movie and worth your money.

The down side for those thrill seekers and horror fans, is there is zero suspense, and no jolts, not even with the sound effects. It's more on the drama side. The Sixth Sense is far more scarier than this.

And for those who likes skins, well, although all of the actors and actress are very good looking there is no part in the movie that could turn you on, RATED PG!