Curses! Yet again an tantalising and twisted-looking DVD cover leads this intrepid reviewer into another crushingly uninspired pile of drivel and nonsense. (Not this one, it was this and couldn’t find a larger version of it). And if Wikipedia defines this is a legitimate slasher, you may as well call Love Island a survival horror, and come to think: that wouldn’t actually be a bad redefinition.
Neverlake is a daft and completely forgettable snore about a girl who encounters ghosts and evil secrets. Little really happens and what does isn’t scary. Initially, however, its fairytale approach seems somewhat alternative and almost stylish, promising a potentially intriguing fantasy atmosphere with hopes for a dash of intelligence.
Jenny is a well-spoken young woman on holiday. Their father is loving but distant, more focused on his obsession with relics of the ancient Atroscon [sic?] civilization, yet her stepmother is generally atrocious and awful to her in comparison. With the remote location and the activities tormenting her, Jenny turns to curiosity and exploration, which proves to be deadly when it unearths horrible familial truthes.
Though the beginning is appreciatively theatrical and oddly immersive, the ride rapidly disintegrates, dropping the speed to an insulting crawl, wretchedly drifting through developments so sluggishly that any twist or dynamic was already expired before its introduction. For a presentation intended to be classy and upmarket, the irony is that its unbalanced focus between thiller and drama appears only brutalist and crude.
What weakens the narrative – and especially the spoken word poetry, perhaps one of the finer events – is the lazy sound construction. While similar to Mark Snow in personality, the lack of instruments or variety coupled with the predictable and blithering execution is lame and pretentious, sucking and trampling the life out of the emotion it tried to capture. At the same time, the cinematography is excellent, controlled and distinguishable, capable and effective in portraying feelings as well as whole landscapes.
A shame that it sucks. There are scarier kid’s books if you want to look for them, because this is just messed up unstructured crap which never deserved a cinema production. A play or poem would have been a stronger choice. And on this subject, why not try Black Death: it is a superior display of horror infused with the dramatic, and there are better actors.
3/10
Possession Media 