Kantemir (2015)

Kantemir: Directed by Ben Samuels. With Robert Englund, Diane Cary, Daniel Gadi, Justine Griffiths. A group of actors and actresses gather in a remote Northeastern town to rehearse for a mysterious stage production, only to be plunged into a hellish world where their real lives mirror the grisly story of the play.

“Robert Englund, whose Freddy Krueger in Nightmare on Elm Street is rightly one of horroru0026#39;s most iconic characters, was my main reason for seeing Kantemir. He has been in quite a number of stinkers or not-so-good movies in recent years, but always gives his all no matter what.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eKantemir does have a few good things in its favour. It does look good (which to be honest was not expected, considering the reputation with low-budget movies looking cheap or even amateurish) with a real Gothic charm, some real atmosphere in the lighting, clever use of colours and photography that seldom looks cheap. It also has a good music score that sets the mood very nicely.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eUnfortunately, that is where the redeeming qualities for Kantemir end. One does have to credit Englund for playing a role different to usual, for him this is restrained stuff, and shows that he does have more to him than having a wormy character, and although he does give the movieu0026#39;s best performance his underwritten role and very cliché dialogue is quite frankly beneath him and although he does try, he is somewhat too reserved and doesnu0026#39;t do anything to distinguish what heu0026#39;s been given (which is in all honesty worthless for any actor with any talent). The very less known names are no better, Justine Griffiths looks pretty but phones it in and there is a lot of forced overacting, Daniel Gadiu0026#39;s overplayed smugness is particularly annoying. The characters have no development and just as little personality, they are just there.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe script is incredibly hackneyed and never sounds natural and with an increasing lack of rhythm. Even more of a problem is the story, which has to be the movieu0026#39;s biggest problem, there is very little to it, often it is uneventful, and much of it is very tedious with no suspense whatsoever and just as little mystery. A decent idea, quite a unique premise considering the budget, but with nothing of note done with it.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eOverall, looks good but very dull stuff and does nothing with Englundu0026#39;s talents, which is unforgivable really. 3/10 Bethany Cox”