The Pool (2014)

Too much of everything

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Good movie but grossly overrated

Excellent adaptation.

I don't often review films. Frankly, with the advent of "quantity over quality" which has taken place with free streaming on major providers, I find that movies of the horror and/or psychological thriller seem to be just recycling the same themes and storylines over and and over again, with cheaper and cheaper production budgets. I just find that it's much harder to suspend my disbelief these days - and maybe that's because I've seen so many horror films/thrillers at this point. Let me tell you, don't be thrown off by the fact that this is a foreign film and contains subtitles. IT IS TERRIFYING. The characters are easy to identify with, as is the storyline. For those who enjoy the outdoors, they can relate. And for those who do not, well, this movie will only drive them further away from the woods! I just have to say that this film was jarring. The twists, the turns, none of them were typical of the genre, and the writers were/are brilliant. The acting was top notch, and the filming was wonderful. The scenes were cut perfectly for the style and fit the scenery and context well. I literally couldn't stop watching, the film kept me on the edge of my seat. OH, and I tried to eat dinner during it. Don't do that!

This Dutch horror film opens with one of the most sharply observed views of a family holiday I have seen. Leannart Lennaert (Gijs Scholten van Aschat, who also co-wrote the screenplay) takes his wife Sylke (Carine Crutzen), and two sons Jan (Alex Hendrickx) and Marco (Chris Peters) camping, along with friend Rob (Bart Klever) and his daughter Emilie (Jamie Grant). The teenage sons argue, flirt with Emilie, while the elder members become more and more exasperated, whilst revealing that Sylke is having an affair with Rob. The level of sarcasm between the characters is delightfully realistic, and Len is determined they all enjoy themselves, whether they like it or not! As is often the way in these films, no matter how many rotting animals are found, no matter how food supplies inexplicably become festooned with maggots or injuries are sustained, they refuse to leave immediately.After suffering food poisoning, Rob dies in the night. However, we see a brief clip of Leannart strangling him and vomiting over his face, making it appear he choked to death in his sleep. The clip is so sparse, it isn't immediately clear whether it actually happened, or was just another of the increasing amount of hallucinations prevalent. The hallucinations are caused by a shell found by Jan, but seems to possess Leannart, and causes them both to see images of a young woman. In another brief flashback, it appears the woman maybe the reincarnation of a witch, drowned in the pool many years ago.At the end, on Jan and friend Emilie are the only ones left alive. When they try to leave, they only find themselves back at their campsite. Emilie falls to her knees in despair.'The Pool' is a slow moving film which features some exceptional performances. It is difficult to know what is hallucinatory and what isn't as events wear on, and the ending does nothing to make things clearer: Jan finds a motorway, seemingly freedom. When he turns to look at the girl behind him, it is the woman from the hallucinations.

Well, there's a surprise; another Dutch movie that only receives a mediocre rating on IMDb (5.8 on the day this review was posted). It is quite a fact that everything which is Dutch and not directed by Paul Verhoeven has a tough time in the cinemas. 'De Poel' (The Pool) received quite some positive reviews and was hailed as proof that Dutch horror movies can work; however, advertising for the movie was predictably lacking, so this movie probably only saw the inside of a few cinemas for no more than 2 weeks, with only a handful of moviegoers and some copy pirates as its sparse public. But you would at least hope that a good movie, even a commercially failed one, ultimately gets its due credit here, like The Shawshank Redemption. Alas, no such luck.Did most people who rated this movie take the time to actually watch it? I kind of doubt it. There has to be an audience for this movie, a rare type of Dutch film that takes its matters seriously, and doesn't feel like a low-budget, low-scale imitation of a better American original. It is not that Dutch cinema has a rich tradition of horror movies. 'De Lift' (The Elevator', remade as 'Down') is a rare example from the 80s. Not much worth mentioning was made in the 90s, and in the zeroes, a few attempts were made to revive the genre with 'Doodeind' and 'Slachtnacht'. However, these two, although enjoyable, were obviously made from the archetypical American example, the slasher horror (or 'Dead Teenager Horror' as the great Roger Ebert liked to call it). The Pool, however, seems to take its inspiration from (IMO) one of the best British horror movies of the last decade: The Descent.The Pool has the same basic premise: a couple of friends venture into a forbidden area, but a succession of adversities slowly turn them against each other. And while the psychological tension rises, a hidden evil that dwells in the surroundings starts to pick its victims, one after another. In this case, experienced camper Lennaert (one of Netherlands' finest character actors, Gijs Scholten van Aschat, who also co-wrote the screenplay) goes on a camping trip with his wife, sons, his good friend and the friend's daughter. He convinces the rest to stray from the beaten path and enter a forbidden area to camp in, next to a giant pond. It doesn't take long before a succession of events, ranging from strange, unnerving to downright disturbing, convince them that there is something terribly wrong with the place. Of course, Lennaert gets the blame for this, which causes his relation with his family and friend to take some turns for the worst, with dire consequences.The great difference with 'The Descent' is that the outside threat does not come from a few cave-dwelling monsters, it has a more supernatural origin. However, the biggest strength of the movie is that it doesn't lose itself in exposition. No time is wasted on endless explanation; it is almost like the makers rely on the audience's familiarity with supernatural movies like The Grudge, The Ring and The Shining; we only see glimpses and images of what may be visions, hallucinations, memories, feverish dreams, or reality, and the audience has to fill in the blanks for itself. I saw a few deleted scenes on the BluRay disc that explain way too much and kill much of the mystery, so the creators were right to cut them out. It also helps the movie to pick up a pace unusually fast for the genre. Within 30 minutes, we are in the second act, and after one hour, it turns into the highest gear, so the mere 85 minutes of run-time certainly don't feel short.The absence of monsters doesn't mean a lack of gore. The visual horror scenes come sparingly, but are all the more effective and visceral for it. The special effects look really great, given the low budget of the production. Still, the movie remains evenly balanced between character scenes and gore, right to the end. I would have hoped for a climax that had me gasping for air, but unfortunately, the ending is quite tame compared to the rest of the movie. The actors, with leading man Scholten van Aschat up front, have no problems being convincing without being flashy or going into hysterics, which adds perfectly to the tension. I've heard people say that the dialog is bad, but I think that is because Dutch simply doesn't sound as cool as English (both our words and sentences are longer, which makes it hard to make cool-sounding quotes).You could say that the movie is assembled from parts snatched out of other (sometimes better) movies, but I feel that you can make a fresh new dish from old ingredients, as long as you don't snatch it from one recipe and flavor it enough. The stew created for The Pool is good for my taste, so I certainly am hungry for more. I wouldn't be surprised if it starts to make money when Hollywood is eager to buy the remake rights.

Dutch "horror film" De poel seems to be an imitation of for instance recent American remakes of Japanese horror films and it doesn't do a good job of it. Ineptly written, the film falls apart at a certain point becoming hard to watch in the sense that I wanted to fast forward and get to the end of it.The film lacks any real artistic value. There is no good story here with themes and depth and therefore the film doesn't hold your attention.The film basically has no personality of its own; it's like the script was written in an office by people who wanted to make a "Hollywood" movie which results in these Dutch characters in this Dutch movie speaking in ways that Dutch people don't speak. We don't talk like characters in a Hollywood movie (I am Dutch myself). I cringed listening to this fake dialogue. One character seemed to be an exception and he was talking like a lot of Dutch kids talk nowadays where they too copy things from American culture. I wouldn't be surprised if the word "fokking" is now officially a Dutch word.Anyway, I could go on but you get the idea. De poel is a failure. I do give it two stars instead of one though as there were a few successful shots. One for instance was a wide dolly shot where one of the kids leaves his tent at night and walks to the water. That was an OK shot.Edit: I was reviewing Hansel and Gretel when I saw that I had given this two stars due to some of the shots being OK. But I have to admit that even those shots don't save this film from being a complete and utter failure. It sounds harsh but that's just the way it is. So one star it is then.