When Night Falls (2007)

best movie i've ever seen.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

It seemed like someone had a cruel sense of humor to take a film school movie project and actually put it out on DVD. It seemed like it was nothing more than an amateur work project for some film school.The movie was amazingly slow moving. You had to get well over halfway through it before things started picking up pace. And even then it was boring and uneventful.There was nothing scary about this movie, except maybe the fact that whomever made it actually made money off of it.At best, some of the bright moments in the movie was parts of the music. But the absolute top moment of this movie was when it ended. I forced myself to sit through the entire movie, because I was sure that something cool or thrilling was bound to happen, that no movie could possibly be this boring and uninspiring. But, boy was I wrong, oh how I was wrong! I physically felt myself grow older as this movie dragged on and on. I sympathize for anyone sitting through this movie, honestly. My heart goes out to you.Stupid "twists" to the plot, which seem to hinder the movie from progressing more than it adds suspense to an already faltering storyline.I like thrillers and horror movies, but this one sunk even below rock bottom.

A delicious little homespun thriller that hearkens back to the isolated-cottage stage thrillers of the 1930s and 40s (it is set in 1932). The fact that it is set in an old house in New Zealand helps immeasurably--the opening shots make the house seem like the only one in the entire country. All the elements are familiar (escaped killer, locked windows, strange noises), but the director juggles them in unexpected ways.The commentary on the DVD is highly enjoyable--Alex Galvin, the director, tells of how the house was pieced together out of eleven separate locations (including his own garage) and several of them were historically-preserved houses from the era. The traffic at those locations made the audio track unusable, and the film had to be re-synched from top to bottom (Tania Nolan, the leading lady, supplied the footstep noises for everyone). The limited amount of shooting time meant the lead actresses had to rehearse all their scenes, including fight choreography, for two weeks beforehand (as if it were a play) and then deliver in a few hours while lighting conditions were favorable. Perhaps most amusingly, modern telephones and signs had to be digitally erased, frame by frame (most painstakingly in a scene where Tania Nolan walks slowly down a hall with knife upraised, and there was a telephone behind her head which was wiped out, pixel by pixel, in each shot.)

To be honest, it was nice to see a locally made film, independent at that, making a refreshing spin on a suspense thriller of bygone days but in a modern style. Well worth watching, and beautifully produced.Certainly this film has been a labor of love, as this is seen in the way all the actors came across in the film. At times the way the film was shot, you felt at times that you in the actors shoes and were actually experiencing the film.Other times you felt the influences of Steven King, and all the other old masters of the suspense genre style, through out the film in the way it was shot. I can see this cast and crew go forward onto bigger and better productions. It is sometimes hard to realize that this is a first full length feature film they have made, and also having the hard task of writing the script producing and directing this all on a shoe string budget.Plus shooting the whole film in just 10 days. I shall wait with baited breath to see how the next project produced goes, will it or will it not be a follow on. I suppose only time will tell

Saw a test screening of this a few weeks back and absolutely loved it!! It had the best acting of any Kiwi film I've seen in a long time and there were some really great scares and twists! The second half of the film, I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. And the ending completely blew me away!! The 1930s sets and costumes all looked authentic and I never would have guessed that the film was made on a relatively low budget. Also the music was the best I've heard from any film in ages. It was beautiful but also really scary when it had to be. All in all, this is one of the best thrillers I've seen in a long time, not just from New Zealand but anywhere. Though if you don't like getting scared, it may not be for you.Really recommend it!