ReaderKenka Let's be realistic.

Ploydsge just watch it!

Freaktana A Major Disappointment

Phillipa Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

kjerwaldron These people leaving reviews probably are being paid to leave them because anyone whose actually seem this movie, would never say its good. Its horrible. Like Freddy got fingered horrible. A 22 yr old does not a convincing 15 yr old make....The acting is so awful that the plot is lost. If this was your labor of love Ms Fries, please choose a different medium. This is going on the black list for me.I have to leave more words here because my review isn't long enough yet so again i will say this movie is terrible. Oh and the cinematography is horrible too. The characters are unlikable. Im going to try to save this now.

ritera1 I am #11 to review this movie and think only the 2nd that isn't actually associated with this film. Who are you kidding? Nine people who absolutely loved this but 95 users give it a collective 5.2. I smell something fishy. (Especially since the bio of the director is off the charts and I don't buy any of it.)If you have the DVD, the Action Flick Chick quote is real. The Huffington Post quote is real. I'm going to assume the rest are, too. As for the Accolade Film Award-Award for Excellence, this won two technical awards. It should be noted from their website that they hand out awards four times a year and there are a LOT of "winners". Check out the very long lists. Reminds me of how elementary schools hand out participation awards. Amateurish work across the board. There is wiggle room when you're talking about shooting a film as it takes a lot of time and a lot of money to make it right. Or even close to right.But what is here is awful. Very bad acting, writing, and directing. And who thought you could sell the lead as a 16 year-old girl? She's not a day under 25.I don't know what to pick apart first. Clunky as a bag of rocks in a tin can. The acting was terrible; stilted and forced. And yes, predictable. Rosemary's Baby knockoff. Daddy's motivations were obvious. Mommy showing up at the end was telegraphed big time---but why? Why would mommy divorce daddy, have a running feud for years, and then show up to see her daughter raped? Entirely for effect but had no basis in common sense or logic. But this in a sea of aimless and pointless scenes just treading water 'til the end.And it looked bland at best. Sure, bland at worst, too. But very uninspired photography. A lot of nothing. The daughter was there to investigate her dad. It's hard to like the hero when she's pretentious and stuck-up. (The info was "her future"? That's nice.)And it didn't help that her love interest was a walking-talking douche-bag. "Really?" with the wardrobe and make-up? (And why, like the girl, have to wear the same clothes on different days in the story?)Elisabeth, please don't make any more movies. Please. The people who are encouraging you are wrong. There is a reason that, despite this misguided praise, that you haven't had another feature in three years. You may love it. I don't doubt that. You showed your boobs for it. (But your character had sex with her clothes on?) That's dedication. But you have to find something that you can actually do. Best of luck.

nkkingston I first saw this at the Bram Stoker Film Festival, where it won "Best International Feature", and purchased the DVD there (which speaks for itself). It stands up brilliantly to a second viewing, I have to say, and works as well on the small screen as on the big.The Commune is a good, slow creep in the manner of The Wicker Man, the subject area well researched so that little bits peek through in ways the audience might not always appreciate on a first viewing. It's one of those films where the more you know about the setting the more frightening it is, unlike a lot of horror flicks. The intense colour palette gives it a dissonant quality that enhances the unsettling feeling the film inspires. I feel the climax could have been a little bigger in terms of set pieces, but as it stands it does give the film a more personal feeling.

jfaerber First, I'm not even sure if I should call this movie a "horror" movie. Yes, it involves a few horrible acts, but when I think of a "horror" movie -- especially by today's standards -- I picture some PG-13 crap with a bunch of teenagers running away from an unstoppable killer for 90 minutes. This isn't that kind of movie, not by a long shot.And when I say it's an indie film, I don't mean it's indie compared to Transformers 2. I mean it's indie in the truest sense of the word. It appears to have been created by a bunch of like-minded people motivated by their love of movies and devotion to the story they wanted to tell, not by profit. I have no idea what the budget was for this movie, but I'm guessing it was pretty small. And yet that doesn't come across on film. It's a "small" movie, in that there aren't a lot of locations and the cast is small and there aren't any special effects. But it never feels like a "cheap" movie. It's well-shot, the sound is good, and the music was particularly strong.The story involves Jenny (don't call her Jen!), a 16-year old girl forced to spend time with her estranged father as part of a custody agreement. Her father's some kind of hippie guru and lives in a weird commune. Jenny arrives at the commune and we initially get a lot of fish-out-of-water / culture clash humor. But the humor's offset nicely by an undercurrent of creepiness to everything.Jenny soon meets Puck, a kid who lives in the nearby town. They strike up a friendship, and spend more and more time with each other as Jenny is continually creeped out at the commune.I won't spoil the rest of the film. As I said before, it's not what I'd call a "horror" film, per se. Maybe more of a psychological thriller. But it's also got strong elements of black comedy. It's my kind of movie, in that it slides quite comfortably back and forth between genres.I found the high point of the film to be at the beginning of the third act, in a prolonged scene between Jenny and Puck. Elisabeth Fies, the writer / director / co-star, establishes a really intimate, genuine, raw moment between her two characters.If you're in the mood for something different, and want to support truly independent filmmakers, check out The Commune.