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Literally one of the most boring horror movies I've ever seen. Now, granted, I'm not really into paranormal stuff, so this probably wasn't going to be my type of movie anyway. But it was so hyped up as scarier than Midsommar (which I've just seen in theatres and really enjoyed), and it was available on Netflix, so I decided to give it a shot.

The acting was pretty good and the characters were fairly interesting, which is the only reason it's even getting 3 stars. The plot was incredibly bland and predictable, even leaving out the paranormal stuff. I found absolutely no part of this film to be even mildly scary. I had trouble to focus at parts, and at no point did I feel immersed in what was happening. There was also very, very little significant character development for anyone, which I found disappointing as some of the characters had potential to be very engaging. The ending was almost laughably farfetched, even for a paranormal movie. All in all, I feel like I've wasted a few hours of my life. I understood the plot, btw, just didn't find it particularly engaging, interesting or original.

Using the washroom after viewing this movie had me more on the edge of my seat than the film itself.

Average cinematography, the characters were stereotypical and boring, the plot was highly predictable and trite (as in, there was no part of the entire movie that caught me off guard or that I didn't expect), and the scenes that were apparently meant to be suspenseful or exciting were not. The film was full of cheesy, forced dialogue and pointless romantic subplots (one of my biggest pet peeves in action/adventure movies). It did have a few funny moments, which is just about the only thing that made me give it higher than a 1/10 rating.

It's not the worst thing I've seen in my life, and to be fair I don't usually watch this genre of movie (it was the one my cousin wanted to see), but around halfway through I definitely was bored and looking forward to the end. In hindsight, I wouldn't have spent $10 and two hours on this. It's probably an all right family movie or an appealing plot for a 12-year-old, but for me it was a total yawn.

*Note: I haven't seen the original version of this movie.

Plot: 7/10. FBI agent who also happens to be an extreme sports athlete infiltrates a group of extreme sports athletes who also happen to be eco-terrorists hellbent on completing the Ozaki 8 ordeals, a set of extreme sports ordeals, while also "giving back" to Mother Earth (read: committing crimes) and trying to save the planet from destruction. Have to say, this is by far one of the most original and inventive plots I've come across for a crime movie. Points off for a couple instances of poor executions/research (I study terrorism, so I pick up on this easily in these movies): 1. Bodhi telling Utah that he "knew he was a cop from the beginning, but thought he could save him" - this would NEVER happen in any extremist group ever. I get that they weren't a terrorist group in the original movie, but if you want to make them terrorists, you have to change the way you do things a little. 2. The whole thing about Bodhi being on the boat with Ozaki when he died, I mean... sure, it gives him motivation, but could we be any more predictable? 3. The romantic subplot between the girl and Utah was literally thrown in there for the sake of it and added nothing whatsoever to the plot. Furthermore, the one "important" female character was literally a sexy lamp and didn't participate in any of the group's activities until it came time for her to die for the male lead to have feels. 4. Another instance of "these weren't initially terrorists but they are now" poor execution: not that I don't understand that he wanted to complete the Ozaki 8, but no terrorist ever would just do something he knew was going to kill him without benefit to his cause. Again, maybe this was believable in the original movie, but it is not believable here.

Characters: 7/10. I loved the character chemistry between Bodhi and Utah. Points off for no development of literally any other character. Especially in the case of Sexy Lamp lady who croaks for Man Tears.

Cinematography: 10/10. Absolutely visually stunning movie. This is definitely the high point of the film, especially for the extreme sports fans among us.

Atmosphere: 8/10. Pretty standard action movie atmosphere.

Music: 9/10.

Overall score: 8.2/10

*Note: I haven't read the book this is based off, so my impressions are based on the movie only.

Plot: 5/10. Promising horror plot. A woman's husband dies suddenly during a sex game, leaving her chained to the bed in their cottage in the middle of nowhere. She must figure out how to survive, and quickly starts having creepy hallucinations. This is a truly scary scenario, and so the movie could have been a lot scarier than it was in my opinion. Overall, I found it creepy at best, and dull in parts at worst. There were definitely some creepy elements – Jessie getting out of the handcuffs, the dog, etc. – but these pretty much exclusively relied on gore. I found the ending extremely weird and out of place, and felt that it could have been better weaved throughout the movie to make it seem less like it came out of nowhere in the end.

Characters: 7/10. Jessie was an interesting and well-rounded character, and the flashbacks to her (kind of cliché and predictable) backstory were well-done, as was the symbolism in the plot to reflect her story (eg the handcuffs representing her being trapped in the past, the eclipse). The other characters were very minor, but managed to still be intriguing for the most part. Points off because I found the minor characters to be detrimental to the atmosphere of the story in parts – this would have been significantly creepier with more focus on Jessie being alone with her predicament.

Cinematography: 7/10. All right, but nothing particularly creative or that impressed me. I enjoyed that it was shot in kind of a "vintage" way.

Atmosphere: 9/10. Stayed very true to Stephen King.

Music: 6/10. Okay, but not particularly memorable.

Overall score: 6.8/10