Resolution

Caught Resolution at a film festival. This is a movie that you have to see, as there is no way to really describe it. It doesn't fit into any sub-genre within Horror, but it definitely belongs in the family. The film is one of the most creative and unique I've seen in a while. It's thoroughly entertaining, moves at a good pace and keeps you guessing the entire time (and after its conclusion for some. Personally, I can't wait to get a second view of this film.) The two leads put on very good performances which is essential for a film with an isolated setting.

This may end up being one of those films that people either love or hate. I loved it, and speaking with fellow audience members I did not find any one who really disliked it. Even if you don't end up "loving" the film, you'll no doubt be entertained. Plus it will provide for some interesting conversation with fellow fans. I think most viewers, like myself, will find it refreshing and unique. (And those are two qualities that are getting harder and harder to come by in modern horror.)

See this film! You won't regret it.

8 1/2 stars

A deeply oddball, and pretty entertaining low budget mash-up of character study, humor, and metaphysical horror. It's not like anything you've seen before, but it achieves that effect by taking a LOT of elements you've seen before, and having fun combining them in novel ways.

A young guy - Michael - who seems to have his life pretty together goes out to try and save his depressed, meth-head, gun loving friend – Chris – who is living alone in the middle of the woods. The unanswered question of who took the video of this Chris acting so crazy sets the tone for this film full of unexplained weirdness that creates a generally tense and creepy atmosphere despite any clear resolution to many of the questions (that's only one of several meanings the pun-laden title seems to have).

Much of the film is the relationship between these two men, and how Chris reacts to being forced to go cold turkey after Michael handcuffs him to a wall pipe. Both the acting and dialogue wavers between fun, honest, touching and a touch amateurish. Chris has one of the easier, least believable sudden withdrawals from serious addition I can remember seeing on film. But this film doesn't seem too worried about being real. It seems far more interested in being entertaining and leaving you wondering just what things mean; that old, creepy photo, the escapee from a local loony bin who knocks on the window at night, the fact that they are on Indian lands with a bad history. Do these things mean anything? Or do we just assume they do from a lifetime of horror and suspense films? The film-makers aren't always saying, they want us to wonder for ourselves… and to smile while we shiver just a bit. I'll be curious to watch this again. It seems like a repeat viewing will either reveal its shallowness or uncover hidden depths

As the other reviewer already stated, this is different. I had no idea what it would be (didn't read the synopsis, the movie was part of a Festival), but I was really pleasantly surprised. A little movie that could. It's not without flaws mind you, but you can feel it tries hard and there is a real connection between the two main characters, which is very important to the movie.

If you don't mind a few bumps along the ride you will definitely enjoy this movie too. You have to remember, that while it has some light moments, it's not a fast paced movie. It moves along slowly, but it never felt like a drag (to me at least). If you're a fan of independent cinema, you will probably wanna check this out

About 5 minutes in and I went "this weirdly reminds me of "The Endless"... I feel like I have seen this before". Obviously, now I know why. If you haven't seen it yet, watch this and then immediately go watch "The Endless" 2017 right after.

Something about this style of filmmaking and storytelling feels so unique and fresh. A slow pace but still engaging, down to earth characters with natural and relatable dialogue, a spooky atmosphere without relying on jump scares. Stand out performances from both main characters, great acting.

The story was intriguing but I don't know if it made the most sense in the world as a stand alone. They definitely do not spoon feed you an explanation and you have to watch "The Endless" to have a full appreciation for this. So, if you are not planning on watching it, not into a bit of ambiguity or a true low budget independent film... this might not be for you. Otherwise, I would definitely recommend. As a stand alone I give it a 6, but with "The Endless" I give it a 7.

Resolution was getting a lot of comparisons to one of my favourite horror films, The Cabin in the Woods. Critics and audiences were calling it unpredictable, genre-bending and unlike anything that we've seen before. The DVD has quotes like, "The movie The Cabin in the Woods should have been." One quote even compares it to Sinister, which I find bizarre given that Sinister didn't get great reviews (not my opinion by the way, I think that Sinister is brilliant) so of course I was very excited to give Resolution a watch. We all know that the majority of modern horror films are tired, so to get something unpredictable is a rarity. Unfortunately, Resolution didn't live up to the hype.

The film has an interesting premise. A man chaining his drug-addicted friend to a pipe in an abandoned cabin, in a bid to make him go cold turkey. Unfortunately, this premise isn't quite enough to sustain a feature length film. The majority of the film is the two characters chatting and arguing, which is fine for 45 minutes. In fact, the most entertaining scenes are between the two thanks to the chemistry of the actors and the funny dialogue, "I met this dog! She's awesome. We're writing a book together!" However, this becomes pretty boring once we hit the one hour mark.

The whole film is just like waiting for something to happen, but nothing really does happen until the last 15 minutes, and even then it's still dull. It's frustrating too because the idea is very clever it's just not done well, in my opinion. The Cabin in the Woods used a similar postmodern meta-narrative however, it was incredibly entertaining throughout, whilst still being intelligent. Resolution is clever, but dull.

A lot of the film is one character walking about and coming across various peculiar encounters. There's a man in a cave, some shifty religious nuts and a mental patient tapping on the cabin's window, however none of these have anything to do with the plot itself. I understand that these are supposed to represent various ways in which the narrative could unfold, but is there any need for this to fill out the majority of the actual film? The Cabin in the Woods played with a similar idea in one short scene in the basement.

If you're after an unpredictable and self-aware horror film, then I'd stick to The Cabin in the Woods or Funny Games. Resolution offers tedium more than anything. It does have a fairly engaging first half, but the second half quickly runs out of steam. I appreciate its ideas, however it ultimately feels flat.

Read more weird and dazzling reviews at www.asdaman.wordpress.com