Angelus

American writer and atheist, Joseph Crone, receives word from his estranged brother, that his father is dying. He travels to Spain to see his father on his death bed, where he discovers that his younger brother has followed his fathers calling and become a catholic Pastor. Together they have established their own chapel on the grounds of their family home. Joseph's life has been plagued with strange happenings and tragedies, which seem to be connected to the number 11. His intrigue soon uncovers deeper mythological and religious significance to the number and possibly his family.

11-11-11 is written and directed by Darren Lynn Bousman, who previously brought us Saw 2 – 4 and the superb 2010 remake of Mothers Day. Bousman has made skillful use of popular synchronicity around the number 11, where numerologists and string theorists believe that events linked to the time 11:11 appear more often than can be put down to mere chance or accident and has great symbolism in the universe.

The basic idea for the movie is engaging with lots of potential, unfortunately, this is where the films merits end. The plot becomes tedious and bland fast, holding this pace for the majority of the film. The scares consist of frightening faces appearing in the shadows or windows, but they fail to show any snap or shock value, becoming repetitive and tiresome early on. The special effects, especially the costumes and make up, feel amateurish and almost laughable a times. The acting and dialogue is decidedly mediocre, the characters are difficult to like or relate to in many ways. The twist ending of the movie was better than expected, however, it does not make up for its unexciting story and production short comings. Overall a great idea, wasted.

This movie was just TERRIBLE. I got an advanced copy and what a complete waste of time. This was solely a gimmick for 11/11/11. The people who wrote this were just looking for a way to make money on a movie and what they came up with was the weakest plot somehow tied to religion and a number.

But guess what, the number has nothing to do with this movie. They could have easily made this movie without all of the number references. They also could have easily made this movie better without such a loose plot, however it was extremely hard to follow or figure what was going on.

Then they finally tell you what is going on like you are a child, flashing back to scenes that you just saw and don't need to be retold. Overall, this movie didn't even give the satisfaction of even coming off as a scary movie, like it advertises.

The scares were weak and overplayed. The best part was maybe the crazy old man, but that is even stretching it for me. Just say no, I wish I did.

You may or may not have bought into the false advertising campaign that is targeting young horror fans who think that they are going to see some apocalyptic event that occurs on the 11-11-11. If you are part of this target group, I am telling you now that you will most certainly be disappointed. This film is a slow-paced, methodical character-driven piece about the conflict between faith-based ideologies. Don't be tricked into thinking that this is going to be some exciting or thrilling popcorn adventure in the same vein as some of the other high budget apocalyptic films out there. Director Darren Lynn Bousman has himself said that he wanted to explore his own spiritual beliefs and conceptions about existence through this film.

We begin by following Joseph Crone (Timothy Gibbs), a popular novelist who is tormented by the death of his family through constant reoccurring nightmares and hallucinations. As seemingly random events begin to unfold in his life, Joseph struggles to cling onto any real purpose of his continuing existence. As he rapidly descends into a state of self-seclusion, he discovers a pattern in which all the events in his life are taking place. They appear to always happen at the set time of 11:11 am/pm. When his estranged pastor brother Samuel (Michael Landes) rings to tell him about his dying father, Joseph immediately travels to Barcelona. Here is where the story will perhaps turn south for most people. We spend a good 40 minutes of the film trying to decipher strange supernatural clues as we are subjected to long-winded seemingly pointless dialogue scenes. For some this may be incredibly boring, especially since the fact that apart from a few jump-scares and men in goblinesque costumes, the film is basically devoid of any horror or suspense. As the day of 11-11-11 approaches, events get weirder and weirder until the finale where a huge revealing twist is attempted but comes off looking incredibly schlocky.

Overall I'm pretty sure this film will flop badly. Due to its misleading nature, I feel that many people are going to rightfully flame this film in general. In my opinion it would have served better as a psychological drama about the descent of a rational man into madness. The twist would have been Joseph's self-realization that 11-11-11 has no meaning and it is just another number. Unfortunately the film favors a more unrealistic and perplexing ending that wasn't needed. There are however some redeemable qualities to the film such as the philosophical themes surrounding religion vs. society and also the talent of Timothy Gibbs to carry the film until the end despite many major flaws. I recommend that you watch this when it comes out on DVD so you can make up your own mind but I suggest that you consider the limitations of the budget (which couldn't have been more than $2 million).

2/5

I had hope for director Darren Lynn Bousman (Saw 2-4), since Repo! The Genetic Opera was a flawed but interesting experiment and his Mother's Day remake was actually pretty much excellent IMHO. But alas…bad movie is bad. Bousman's directing skils aren't even the real problem here (the film is shot decently and is at times pretty atmospheric), but near everything else is... There is hardly enough story here to warrant a half hour Twilight Zone segment, let alone a feature film. For an hour, the same things happen over and over again, even going so far that 2 characters have the exact same conversation no less than 3 times. Acting is hammy at best, especially from the lead actor, who's film-noir detective like voice-over nearly takes the film into the realm of parody. The music is constanty omnious, even when nothing remotely creepy is happening. The finale is actually pretty OK and I actually liked the ending, but the makers damn near give us the resolution of the movie in a powerpoint presentation with the director shouting "See? See what we did there???" I actually had quite some fun watching this, giggling at how bad this all was. And I admit I jumped a few times. Just make sure you don't go out of your way to see this. It is a deeply silly film.

the plot is just atrocious. the ending is ridiculous. the acting is terrible. the special effects are far from special. the theme is unoriginal. about the only enjoyable aspect of this "film" - i'd not call it that, but rather a "cinematic suppository" - would be the soundtrack. save yourself. save your money. save 2 hours of your life that you will never get back if you were to suffer through this travesty.

the saddest part about this movie is the fact that it will make more money than most of us make in our entire lifetimes.

oh and just to add perhaps some weight to my statements, i graduated film school. i spent months studying screenplays and the screen writing process. i went through years of work to attain my degree. you can take my opinion, or you can see for yourself.

i hope for the former. i'd rather you be spared the suffering that is this filth.