A Resurrection (2013)

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Eli (J. Michael Trautmann) who is off his meds, believes his dead brother Devon (Patrick de Ledebur) is going to come back from the grave and kill the students who killed him in an unsolved hit and run. Jessica Parker (Mischa Barton) the the school psychologist is attempting to wade through all of this while her deputy boyfriend (Devon Sawa) is out investigating weird things such as Devon's grave being dug up.The film is more mystery than horror as we try to wade through things with Jessica deciding if Devon is back from the dead or if this an elaborate hoax as the body count climbs.I liked J. Michael Trautmann as the creepy kid. Unfortunately the film needs an upgrade in dialouge and horror. The production gets failing marks as a horror film, but passing grades as a suspense/mystery. Mischa Barton, one of my favorite B girls, was unconvincing in her scenes with Trautmann due to script dialouge.A decent rental if horror is not the main goal.What was with the sigma nu delta frat paddle located in the principle's (Michael Clarke Duncan) office?

I don't think I've ever felt so inclined to leave a bad review of a horror movie. I'm very passionate about the genre and in most cases, if a movie is "panned" by critics I usually find that I myself enjoy it, such is the ridiculous bias against the genre by mainstream outlets, so I pay zero attention to the reviews left by others. In this case the movie was panned by critics and by myself to boot, I'm sad to say.The plot in itself was good and definitely something that under different circumstances could have made for a terrific movie. It was nothing original but it was a simple idea that could have been very effective. However, the acting and to a lesser extent the script completely undermined the premise and made for a very poor movie. My main gripe is the performance of "Eli" which was nothing less than appalling. Featuring him in the opening scene set the tone for the rest of the movie and made me question the movie very early on. The rest of the cast's performances ranged from poor-acceptable, but I strongly believe that with another portrayal of Eli the film could have too been deemed acceptable. However, such was the portrayal of the main character the movie could not be any better than poor. Without coming across as unnecessarily cruel it was possibly the worst performance that I think I've ever seen and single-handedly sabotaged the film. The responsibility has to fall on the director/producer, whoever that may be, who in addition to leaving in a few less than convincing lines/scenes did not re-cast such an important character. The camera work was easy on the eye and the budget was capable of backing a good movie, and you would think that with a good idea for a movie there is only a slim chance that it could go wrong. It proved to be the case though as it did go wrong and made for a disappointing 90 minutes. I wouldn't recommend this to a horror fan unless you are struggling for new movies in the genre to watch. It's not eye-rollingly, mind- numbingly bad by any means but it was definitely disappointing.

Mischa Barton couldn't act her way out of a wet paper bag. Viewing her performance in this travesty was actually painful.Michael Clarke Duncan brought himself down to her level. He should be ashamed of himself.The supporting cast was an odd mix of irrelevant and absurd.The plot (what there was of it) made very little sense. I suppose if this story had been handled by a competent director with actually talented actors at his disposal, then the end result might not have been so embarrassing to watch.As it is, I very much want all those associated with this production to be banned from the industry. (Well, I really want them dropped into an active volcano, but I suppose that's too much to ask...)

In Middletown high school, the outcast Eli (Jonathan Michael Trautmann) is bullied by the braggart Brandon (Nick Jandl) and his friends. They are hold in detention by the principal Addison (Michael Clarke Duncan) to be interviewed by the psychologist Jessie (Mischa Barton), who is engaged of Deputy Travis (Devon Sawa) that is the son of the local priest.Jessie and Addison realize that the mentally disturbed Eli misses his big brother Devon (Patrick de Ledebur), who was murdered in a hit-and- runner. When Eli finally talks to Jessie, he tells that Devon was killed by Brandon. Further, Eli tells that he found the body of his brother and a witch has put an evil spirit in his body. Now he needs six souls to live again and he will seek revenge against Brandon and his friends. The skeptic and atheist Jessie does not believe in his words."A Resurrection", a.k.a. "The Sibling", is a low budget horror movie with a tense story but all the potential is wasted in a terrible conclusion. My vote is four. Title (Brazil): "O Despertar do Mal" ("The Awakening of the Evil")