Anomalous (2016) User Reviews (7)

Stop Following Me

[nogodnomasters · 2/10 · 11 September 2017]

David (Edgar Fox) is a schizophrenic in the care of Dr. Robert Emett Friedhoff (Lluís Homar). When David commits suicide, the doctor is interrogated by Special Agent Maia Kensington (Christy Escobar)who is legendary. David filmed much of his life and some of the feature is found footage.

For the most part, the feature was boring. At 30 minutes something interesting happens, at an hour the backstory suddenly fills in, which didn't really make things more interesting. The ending has a twist which was more confusing than entertaining.

Guide: F-word. No sex or nudity.

Plodding. And, frankly, rather boring.

[kgreene-955-929538 · 2/10 · 10 October 2022]

There is very little that one could call horror in this movie, or even tension. I can't fault the acting, though none of it really stood out for me. The director seemed determined to plod along with a rather flat tone and such a tangled storyline to arrive finally at an unclear dénouement.

So many questions to ask and to never have answered. Who is the interrogator? Why does she say this is not an interrogation? What sensible person would sit still for such an unreasonable line of questioning from such an unpleasant person, let alone a psychiatrist? Why such an interest in a 'simple' death? Why would such a ill patient be left alone to fend for himself and in a dilapidated house? Etc. Etc. Don't even ask about the interrogation room.

Actually good but in a very conservative and predictable way

[sjalkarjadottir · 7/10 · 13 January 2018]

First of .. i liked this movie. The tone, the atmosphere was well done ... one might say "solid". However, while being very competent in what it did, .. how it did it was very uncreative in my opinion.

The shaky cam with found footage character that revealed more and more, step by step .. well, i am not a fan of shaky cam at all .. but the content of the footage, too .. was rather predictable.

In the first third of the movie, it became quite clear that the protagonist would not be the one that was the focus of attention, but the storyteller himself. And that realization kind of disrupted the idea of who was really important. The interrogating female lead came with a massive "x-files"-vibe .. for little to no reason. The mythical conclusion of it all felt rather wrong to me as the whole story could have been unravalled in a rational way much better than to rely on some occult "thing" (that was never really explained) .. so it did feel quite cheap in the end.

However .. i liked the acting (of the doctor and of the protagonist, David) .. not so much of the woman and the other police officers. She herself did the emotionless "Scully" while the other policemen (who were only there very briefly) were just stereotypical henchmen, doing the usual overacting stuff.

The movie itself gets along well with minimal special effects (at least minimal blunt ones) .. and almost no cheap jumpscare. Storytelling is tranquil and soothing .. and lulled me into quite a pleasent mood.

All in all .. the story was nothing to get excited about .. the acting was fine for the most part and the movie itself felt well above averge quality. The filmmakers seemed to understand what they were capable of and what they were not capable of .. so there was no reaching for effects or fancy twists.

It is hard for me to justify why it is a 7/10 .. when what i came up with might justify a 5/10 at best .. but i cannot deny that i was entertained and really enjoyed it. So an unexplainable above averge from me.

Surprisingly Good Low Budget Thriller

[jonathancupp66 · 16 April 2019]

Anomalous is the story of a strange interrogation between a mysterious government agent and a suspicious psychiatrist concerning a supernatural event. The doctor's patient, who much of the story revolves around, recorded many of his unexplained experiences, lending an element of sinister found footage to much of the story. As more of the story is revealed, the relationship between the characters become more complex. It's a low budget movie but it does a good job showing what it needs to tell a story and the special effects are well-used and effective. The main performances are good, particularly that of the patient. There are some rough edges, like the role of the police assisting the investigation, that could have been explained better and just seem sort of off tone. Unfortunately, the ending was too unclear. I wasn't sure what I was supposed to infer from the last few scenes. I can see that the intention was to be mysterious but it was kind of disappointing that they made that choice after so much intriguing set up. Overall, it was better than I expected and often surprisingly engaging but ultimately unfulfilling.

Not what you expect from this kind of movie

[Sankari_Suomi · 7/10 · 30 July 2018]

Schizophrenic David Jacobs (an inexperienced Edgar Fox) seeks treatment from psychiatrist Robert Emett Friedhoff (an old Lluís Homar) who treats him using experimental methods. When Jacobs is found dead in his bathtub, suspicion falls upon Friedhoff.

Maia Kensington (a young Christy Escobar) leads the investigation, confronting Friedhoff with evidence from Jacobs' increasingly erratic video diary.

As the sad tale of Jacobs' death unfolds, the audience must decide: is this just another case of schizophrenia gone wrong, or is it... ANOMALOUS?!

I rate Anomalous at 23.31 on the Haglee Scale, which works out as a mildly deranged 7/10 on IMDB.

Very well put together, a masterpiece

[chameleonaram · 10/10 · 26 December 2017]

Don't even remember when I gave 10 stars but honestly. This movie really is good. It is also hard to give my opinion without spoiling it for all of you. So I will try it with words, disturbing, puzzling, unforgiving, unknowingly righteous.

I am a hardcore smoker but forgot the time I watched a movie without feeling the need to smoke. It truly is a masterpiece, great acting, very nicely put together, great build up and not to forget, a righteous ending.

Probs to the makers, I was entertained for almost 2 hours! 10 stars well deserved.

Be careful, you don't know who is watching

[KikyNez · 8/10 · 12 March 2018]

I usually don't watch hybrids films, but I must say that "The veil" with Jessica Alba, and "Ejecta" were incredibly good and kept me in front of the screen untill the end. So I decided to give "Anomalous" a chance.

And it didn't disappointed me.

It is very good.

For me, was creepy and the story kept me on since the very beginning, and I did wanted to know what was going on?

Some things were predictables, but the end? dude, that was a good end! and even I kind of knew how it would end, it was a little surprising.

So, I recommend this.

The worst: it need more expanded supernatural mythology (it deserve it) and the docufiction part (or mockumentary, if it please you) it was a little slow.

The best: acting was pretty good! good story, very creepy atmosphere, and surprisings jumpscares. Great end.

8/10

Watch at your own risk.