Offseason

I'm the type of viewer who doesn't mind seeing people walking around, investigating an interesting setting for long stretches of time. If you like to see a film with regularly-marked story beats and linear progression, this one ain't for you. Really enjoyed the efforts to create atmosphere in thick layers, especially some earlier scenes in an ocean-side grove. At times I could sense a Lucio Fulci vibe, which the director effectively channeled. Actors are all working hard and do a good job. It's all very watchable, but the conclusion holds no real surprises. The film runs fairly short, and left me with a curious feeling - even if it ultimately goes nowhere, I wanted an enjoyable ride to last a little longer.

Marie is busy navigating the aftermath of a broken relationship when she receives a mysterious letter summoning her to the island where her mother was buried. The grave has been vandalised, and for legal reasons the local caretaker needs her advice on how to proceed. Marie's ex-boyfriend helpfully drives her to the island, which is separated from the mainland by a folding bridge. Before crossing, they are advised that this is offseason, so the bridge is due to close at night and will not reopen until months later. What happens next will shock you! Offseason is a nice little indie film from experimental writer/director Mickey Keating, who most recently impressed me with Pod (2015). Keating has a nice flair for atmosphere, so Offseason spends most of its 82 minutes being creepy as ****, ramping up the tension until it's tighter than piano wire. The plot is simple, and draws clear inspiration from H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos in a way that I found both creative and respectful to the original works. Keating does a fine job of blending traditional thriller/suspense motifs with cosmic horror, and there's a scene near the end of the movie that proves he knows exactly how to handle a big reveal. I rate Offseason at 23.31 on the Haglee Scale, which works out as a highly respectable 7/10 on IMDB.

This movie is based on nonsense. The filmmakers think the audience are stupid maybe. Where do I start, two people going to a secluded island in modern times and both of them don't have cell phones? And then when the main character gets lost and was looking for a land-line to call for help she goes into many stores where phones are ringing and didn't even bother to use one of them? Wow, I just don't understand how actors even accepted to take part in this garbage. Don't waste your time like I did.

This didn't work for me. It reminded me the video rental times in the worst way. I don't like to speak a lot about films I don't like. I prefer just to say that the plot is predictable, I am not a fan of the editing style and I never felt that I was really into the film, a bit too amateurish for my own taste. Good performance of the main actress tho.

During my whole watch through of this film I had one singular thought coursing through my mind, "This would have made a hell of a survivor horror game". For those uninitiated, it's a genre of games where your primary objective is to escape the horrifying goings-on around you. People lost in a strange town they can't escape from, people being chased in a forest by unknown assailants, that sort of thing. This movie is right up the alley of that genre and I swear that even the soundtrack was reminiscent of the first Silent Hill (the game, not so much the film of the same name although it can also be argued that that it could be an inspiration for this movie). There's a weird island/town, a distinct sound (the raising of the bridge), weird townspeople that act absolutely crazy, and a lot of fog. As a fan of Silent Hill, I immediately drew the comparisons and think I enjoyed this movie that much more because of it. Not because the movie was bad on its own, per se, it was just that I really liked how things transpired throughout the film, in a way that clearly reminded me of one of my favorite gaming franchises. That being said, the acting in this movie is really well done (even the townspeople play there roles perfectly), and while the movie is light on actual scares, I was effectively creeped out at certain points, especially by the town florist. The music was effective and really put you in the mood, and the movie looked good (in that there was obvious care put into the cinematography, set pieces and framing of each shot). The only sour note in the whole movie were the special effects. They were sparse, and when they did show it, it looked cheap and obviously home made. There are more effective ways to use practical effects than this, so it kind of ruined a movie that had a lot of good thing going for it. Overall, if you are a gamer and enjoy survival horror, you'll like this movie. Everyone else will find it very hit or miss.

I stuck it out because I wanted to see how it would all turn out. Maybe it was just one of those slow burn films, I thought. The plot seemed promising, but it was just an hour and a half of a woman running around fog world Silent Hill. Nothing more. Don't waste your time.

source: Offseason

I did not expect much going into this film but found it very entertaining with a nice Lovecraft overtone. Not for everyone but HP fans would enjoy it.

*Spoilers* A few good creepy moments. But missing too much (including the mystery of the elusive cemetery caretaker) to be a solid horror film. Most of it is the main character wandering around a dense fog. It had potential. Wait until its free.

This is weird and not in a good way. Something feels off from the start, and then it keeps getting worse. Acting is not good. For sure, the bad script doesn't help the actors. There are some scary and intense moments, however there are also some unintentionally funny ones. Flashbacks with the mother were the most interesting scenes here. Maybe the movie was too short. There is something missing here in order for this movie to be good.