I see the trailer for this almost everyday when I ride the train and was intrigued like a darker peculiar children. Will wait for it to be on iTunes or Netflix then.

One more thing was that most of the score consisted with a song that sounded like Nat King Cole's "Nature Boy", so much so I could have sworn that was the music being played except with the lyrics replaced by "lalalala". Turns out reading the credits they didn't credit Nat King Cole's song, so it must have been a poor rendition of it. And that in a nutshell was how I explained my dislike of this movie to a friend, I told him that the movie felt just like that, a poor rendition of much better films.

Shame, cos I gotta say, that trailer is impressive.

I enjoyed more than most I think. Absolutely loved the set design, atmosphere and cinematography. You can tell they put a lot of money and effort behind the film. The story was definitely the weak spot and the pacing issues exacerbated the problem. But I didn't mind the slow reveals as much - more time to spend in one of the more unique cinematic environments in recent memory.

I got to see an early screening, and felt it was a not-so-hot Shutter Island.

@Halberstram said:

I got to see an early screening, and felt it was a not-so-hot Shutter Island.

Ding, the shortest and most accurate review of a film ever. Though as with Shutter Island I had equal beefs with both of the two films. This one was much more unrealistic and Shutter Island also had a better twist. Still both films are well worth watching, I did quite enjoy The Cure For Wellness despite it's flaws as I was first watching it. It had what I often call great watchability, but bad afterwards as I deconstruct what I just saw and when I peel back its layers I come to see exactly how ridiculous some of the film was in hindsight. Prometheus had great watchability, but wow did it fall apart when I deconstructed it in my head later, but I still loved it anyway because anything sci-fi with a budget is almost always entertaining to me, except that putrid error in filmmaking which occurred with _ Passengers_ which was utter crap imo, I'm mad they took what could have been an awesome film and made that mess instead.

@Halberstram said:

I got to see an early screening, and felt it was a not-so-hot Shutter Island.

This is exactly what I kept thinking as I watched it! I'm glad someone else noticed. I was beginning to think that I had to re-watch Shutter Island.

@ThrillKillz said: Prometheus had great watchability, but wow did it fall apart when I deconstructed it in my head late

I was thoroughly disappointed with Prometheus as well. Instead of falling apart afterwards though, it never came together.

except that putrid error in filmmaking which occurred with _ Passengers_ which was utter crap imo, I'm mad they took what could have been an awesome film and made that mess instead.

I actually liked Passengers for what it was. It was better than I had expected and I liked the concept.

Sci-Fi is one of my favorite genres, maybe even my favorite. I understand what you meant when you said "with a budget" (as opposed to a bad SyFy movie) but there are some really excellent low budget Sci-Fi films out there. Some of the best fly beneath the radar.

(SyFy has really gotten their act together with some of their series' - for example, The Expanse. So I'm not knocking the post turn-around stuff.)

Having now watched this film, I feel the OP does it a huge disservice. It is no more "made from parts of good movies" as any other movie borrows and shares similarities with others within its genre. This film does creepy spectacularly well, and the set design, shot framing, lighting and general cinematography are staggeringly proficient. To dismiss this as a "cliché" would be reckless, and the fact the OP describes it as "boring" suggests this simply isn't his type of movie. I was gripped from the opening shot right through until the last, and my girlfriend was too.

@silverhawkins said:

the fact the OP describes it as "boring" suggests this simply isn't his type of movie. I was gripped from the opening shot right through until the last, and my girlfriend was too.

Define the type of movie this was? I absolutely love horror films and thrillers, and always loved them and even used to write a regular Halloween column discussing Horror movie tropes. My grandmother worked as a movie makeup artist (my brothers and I always won Halloween costume contests growing up, and it wasn't unusual to find a prosthetic head or hand in our refrigerator), and my great grandmother was famed as a scream queen so horror movies especially have a special place in my heart. I just didn't like this movie, mostly because it was so long and slow, and kept reminding me of other films (as it did with my friends as well) probably to grasp something to keep me awake and because I've seen so many horror films over the years. It's likely the former, because I was able to recognize the lalala song (even though the original wasn't credited). I had that much bored attention span to ponder where I've heard that song before (the intro of Mulan Rouge).

Just out of curiosity what films did it remind you of? As others have said, there's definitely a Shutter Island vibe.

Personally I enjoyed the film, obviously there are questions and parts which make no sense but it was my type of chiller thriller.

@cpheonix said:

Just out of curiosity what films did it remind you of? As others have said, there's definitely a Shutter Island vibe.

Personally I enjoyed the film, obviously there are questions and parts which make no sense but it was my type of chiller thriller.

Like I've stated, the first 10-15 minutes the plot was straight out of Dracula (when Jonathan Harker was sent to Dracula's Castle). It didn't just feel like Dracula, it was Dracula as it contained so many of the same plot points (sent after another, gypsy warning, travel to a castle, etc) that my friends and I actually thought we were about to watch a variation of it. Then you saw parts from Shutter Island, Frankenstein, and cumulating in a scene straight out of the Phantom of the Opera complete with unmasking). I can't remember the other individual scenes since its been a while since I've seen it (and hadn't been interested in watching it again), but that's what the movie felt like a mishmash of scenes from other movies (the same way that comedies such Scary Movie does, only this wasn't trying to be a parody).

@Innovator said:

Define the type of movie this was?

Psychological thriller. Straight up. Plain sailing. No doubt.