The Forgotten Ones (2008)

Sorry, this movie sucks

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

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

The movie is, The Forgotten Ones.(2009) Written and Directed by Jorg Ihle. Spoilers ahead, as I'm going to talk about it, on the positive side; Beautiful Costa Rica location shooting. Also on the positive side, umm, Good technical specs, Good sound, A workable score and acceptable editing. On the downer side, there seemed an earnest attempt to drag romantic issues into a horror show.The plot? Kids in jeopardy on an uncharted island. Expect the usual as one by one they are picked off, leaving at the end the one who did not think she had it in her to survive, a Ripley inclined heroine triumphs to tell the tale. Stock formula plot, seen before. The threat here are a people the locals call, the forgotten ones. An isolated cannibalistic tribe, Ah, the drama as Liz played by Jewel Staite. Is going for a fun excursion with her love interest Peter played by Justin Baldoni, who brings along his friends, and a couple of girlfriends to round out the victims, I mean cast.There you have the setup. I've seen better shipwrecks, I liked the one in the movie "Triangle " (2009) A large duration of this movie consists of implied menace, without showing the beasties, Standard Horror movie tradition. Much in the same style filming technique as was used in, "Predator" (1987) A rustle in the branches, type buildup.About halfway in the creatures reveal themselves. Along the line the list of victims grows. Eventually the plot reaches the lone survivor conclusion.The critters were not too bad in execution, quasi ape with a mean set of choppers and lots of hair.Acceptable level of credibility in the closeups. workable prosthetic's. . You will notice a goodly amount of fast editing in the chase scenes, the running was more implied by jump cuts than shown, very few shots of the actors playing the manamals actually running. For all that, the movie eventually runs out of clichés and arrives at a remorseful conclusion. Seven, "See the nice beach" Stars out of Ten

Director Jorg Ihle works from his own imaginative script and brings this exciting film to the screen with style and creativity. Lovely and gifted actress Jewel Staite gives a superb performance and effectively steals this movie from the rest of the cast without too much trouble. Staite lights up the screen each time she appears and when she isn't in a scene, the film suffers for it. The thrills come fast and furiously and a group of people on an island fight for their very lives against indescribable creatures of horror. While there is indeed blood shed in this motion picture, it is within reason and not excessive when it features such intense depictions of beasts devouring humans. Truly terrifying at times and as genre cinema, actually very, very satisfying.

I picked this up in the bargain section of my local supermarket.The first few scenes, set in 1922, set up a nice teaser for the remainder of the main feature.That is where it lost any sense of suspense.The dialogue was corny. The characters were too flat.I must admit, the only reason I decided to buy it was for Jewel Staite - she was the only name I recognised - She was great as Kaylee in Firefly and as Jennifer Keller in Stargate Atlantis.Apparently someone called 'Kellan Lutz' is well known so this may well appeal to his fan-base.The monsters were never fully explored or developed. I guess that maybe some of the screenplay ending up on the cutting room floor.The cinematography was fair to middling but the dark scenes didn't have enough contrast at times.The biggest disappointment for me was the 'crazy credits' at the end where the makers thanked everybody including Mel Gibson, Sly Stallone and then engaged in listing the proponents of the world's major religions, totally unwarranted.I would have given this one star but for the fact that Jewel Staite was in it and managed to be the most believable character of all.It's an hour and 25 minutes I won't get back but maybe this will save you from the same sense of anticlimax.This title was released in the UK as "After Dusk They Come".

If you read my reviews you'll see that I'm not one for hyperbole. But, all things considered, this really is one of the worst films I have ever seen.A group of young rich Americans - who have various relationship issues between them - get on a yacht to sail off to a party. The boat sinks and they find themselves stranded on a mysterious island where they must battle to survive against a tribe of murdering sub-humans.Yes it's all been done before, and there is NOTHING in this film that even attempts originality. But that's not the main problem. I can't tell you how bad it is. The relationships between the characters are poorly developed, the characters themselves are one-dimensional and unsympathetic, the acting is bottom-rate, the plot pointless, the direction annoying.I usually try not to spoil in my reviews but this film is so bad I don't want you to waste your time seeing it, so I'll give you an example: One character is attacked by the creatures and dragged off into the jungle while he sleeps. He wakes to find his shin-bone broken and sticking out through his skin (he has noticed none of this as he slept). This kind of injury must surely be one of the most painful things possible, yet when he (eventually) notices it he winces as though he has been stung by a bee, then calmly ties the bone with a splint, gets up and starts walking around seemingly un-perturbed. Later we see him running.Characters are seemingly killed off one by one, only to be seen again later being tortured by the creatures - and then killed anyway. As the plot rambles on, the tribe seems to have some kind of mysterious agenda, and it turns out they are selective in which humans they kill, but by the time we discover this there is only one human character left and she has no-one to talk to, so we don't get to know why.Sometimes films are so bad they are actually funny, and they develop cult status. That won't happen to this one, because it doesn't even have any heart. Even if you like gore, the killings are not all that bloody so you'll be disappointed on that level too. Overall, by the time the closing credits roll it really is a relief, and you just wonder: why did they bother?In all my IMDb reviews over the years, I have never given a move a '1' rating before. It seems there's a first time for everything!