Jeruzalem (2016)

Sick Product of a Sick System

One of my all time favorites.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

The only reason I give this movie two stars instead of one is because the directors and writers had a good plot and good settings throughout the movie. The movie started out great and the concept was fantastic.The main character was terrible! She was an annoying character from the start when she chased the boy down the alley, fell down the stairs and just sat there whining. I had no sympathy for her the entire movie, especially when she insisted everyone stop heading to safety so she could rescue a guy she had just met. She is the idiot character that is supposed to die at the beginning of a horror film and instead they decided to make her the main character. If they had made her a smarter, savvier girl then this movie would have been fantastic. Warning: After the monsters show, all you can here is her whining and crying.

A decent premise, but an hour into it I couldn't take any more women crying, sobbing, and freaking out - that's all our protagonist seems to so, and it is maddening; even more so in first person. Someone who refuses to follow directions and just freaks out all the time would be the first to be left behind, not the one everyone wants to save.

Sarah, the main character, is among the worst characters in horror movie history. Once the bad guys became established, we get to hear Sarah cry, scream, hyperventilate, and stutter for about 30 straight minutes. It was ear-wrenching. Just over the top and horrible, and we couldn't wait for the bad guys to get her. As bad as that was, her stupidity brought it upon herself. They had to get out of town fast...so instead if going with her best friend, the hotel guide who knew the city, and two armed guards, she decided instead to whine and whine and stay to find some guy she knew for 24 hours. If you choose some random fling over your best friend, you deserve to die. Not to mention that when she finally did something right (located the asylum keys), she couldn't get the lock open, but rather fell into horror-movie cliché of the girl who is too scared and shaking to simply turn a key. Speaking of clichés, let's not forget the part where her friend turned zombie and was killing folks and trying to eat Sarah, and instead of blowing her brains out, Sarah instead said "She only needs a doctor" Then, of course, Sarah accidentally killed the only guy who knew the way out. Sarah reminds me of Gilligan...always finding a way to ruin the rescue of everyone else. But at least we didn't have to hear Gilligan hyperventilate in every episode. Otherwise, this was a pretty cool movie with some tense suspense. I give it a 7. If the main character were a brave fighter instead of a cowardly dunce, it would have scored a lot more for me.

This movie gets too much bad reviews so I want to counter it with my review... this is a great horror movie, decently build up, good special effects (those winged creatures are creepy as hell) and the acting wasn't too bad either. Jerusalem is a great setting for a movie about resurrection and judgement day, with three of the main religions being together in that single city. A few little mistakes and a few predictable twists but apart from that, it's a movie to enjoy in a dark room... Cloverfield-style! I wasn't sure about this title but now I'm sure to add it to my collection because of the frightening moments. 8/10 so watch this one!