Acensbart Excellent but underrated film

Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Jenni Devyn Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

Corlissa0994 This film having taking cues from Film makers such as David Lynch, Richard Kelly, and Adrian Lyne, still manages to hold its own unique eeriness and maintain attention from the viewer. Spoilers:This movie moves quite a bit, and is very tricky in that the most active character Alex is not even a real entity, but a complex manifestation of Scarlett's last living moments. The movie takes a classic approach to letting the story "unravel" to finally understand what actually is happening as the movie wraps up.My take:Scarlett is a young woman who when she was growing up tortured for several years and then eventually murdered her handicapped cousin by burying him alive in a open fire pit. She made up a cover story to family and police that a burglar had broken in, killed her cousin and proceeded to rape her. Her story was believed by all, and even assured her sympathy and support.The movie we see, is in her subconscious during her suicide by pills and alcohol. Even though she has overdosed, she is not brain dead and therefore piecing through a land of guilt, confusion and retribution. Alex is only a piece of her mind, and actually a part of Scarlett. Alex represents her confusion, her guilt, her comfort and finally her penance and self realization. Right at the beginning when they get to the Ranch, you see Scarlett immediately jumps right in to the thick of it by asking Alex what the most horrible thing he has even done. She proceeds to tell the detailed horrific story of her cousin, (leaving out the murder at this time) and then quickly pretend it was just a joke. This being the first moments of her being honest with herself of what happened, and yet not being fully ready to deal with it. Not long after,you see her start to break down with fear and sadness as she is starting to let in the truth of her guilt and horrible actions. With these feelings fear and confusion almost innocent, she finds comfort and is drawn to her father, represented by the Preacher who first appears on their hotel TV.The entity of Scarlett disappears, and then the part of her that is Alex now has to piece apart the confusion, and along the way is faced with her biggest fears, her fate, her dark side, which is the hooded man that "buries" people alive. (this is no coincidence) The merging of all the cloudy pieces comes when Alex finally goes to her house to understand more of whats going on. We find that the image of Alex, may have been just a neighbor she saw in her waking life that she had a small attraction or obsessiveness with, but no real relationship. She acknowledges that he is in her closet, and demands for him to just take what he is there for. Hence, rape her. She is expecting to be punished, by having all of her own lies and actions come back and really happen to her, thus her lying about a man murdering the cousin and raping her. He reluctantly denies her, and then accuses him of raping her yet again, when her father enters the room. Then Alex takes Scarlett to her old house where she had murdered her cousin, and where she had lied to cover it up. All of her guilty truths are told, and Alex punishes her but burying her in the dirt. This is way she felt she deserved to be punished, and therefore can die in peace. They then show her true body in the conscious world die in a bed after the overdose.A well done film that you may need to watch twice to see all of the hidden potential. Great acting on all parts, and a great story.

edselgreaves I had the pleasure of finding this movie on Netflix and watched it because I was extremely intrigued by the unique title and the interesting poster attached. I loved this film so much I actually made an IMDb account to leave this review. This movie came to me at the right time. It seems to me the producers have been doing the same sort of esoteric research I have been because I could follow the plot with no problems at all from the beginning.The movie is atmospheric, colorful, creepy and haunting, everything you could want from a visceral indie film. The movie is clearly a mixture between some real life truths mixed in with a plot device first introduced by the Twilight Zone episode "Stopover In A Quiet Town". If you had trouble following the plot of the story, watch "Stopover In A Quiet Town" and you will understand it a lot more. The acting is ,at velour, particularly from the striking male lead who carries the progression of the film largely on his back alone. If this were more popular I would love to see this film nominated for an Oscar, but there's no way this little engine that could would be given a fair shot.Now for those who watched the movie but were unable to enjoy it because they couldn't understand the plot: Spoiler alert.Its a simulation matrix. A large part of the first half of the film takes place in a parallel universe, or an offshoot tangent. The original universe was the one where Scarlett messed around with the paraplegic. He eventually died because of her actions, and she feels no remorse. The paraplegic in this original universe is actually Alex. You can think of it as his soul. When he died, that universe ended and their souls were brought into this alternate parallel universe to interact again. This time they are young lovers. But it is Alex's destiny to kill Scarlett in retribution for what she did, and in doing so, free her soul. The masked man Alex sees from the hotel is actually him, again, from a different parallel universe. This version of Alex has managed to somehow cross dimensions to interact with his other selves, whom he reveals the nature of their reality to. Every time Alex dies in a universe, he wakes up in an alternate parallel universe playing different roles, but always destined to interact with Scarlett, until he finally does the deed and kills her, thus freeing them both from the simulation matrix. The fact that the entire movie takes place in parallel dimensions/a simulation is hinted at all throughout the movie. They can't leave the small town to go to LA, possibly because LA doesn't really exist since they are destined to stay at the small town. That's why Scarlett feels "crushed" whenever they try to leave. The strange motel they check into is actually on the same location as where Scarlett tortured & killed the paraplegic, hence it is where their souls must dwell until they leave the matrix. The house Alex wakes up in after the pastor shoots him is ALSO in the same location as the strange motel, its just in an alternate dimension. The masked man (who is actually Alex from a parallel dimension" mentions "cities of pain buried underneath the ground" aka the different layers of each dimension all built on top of one another on the same place. The pastor tells Alex that it's true he is in a dream, but Scarlett's dream, then shoots him. This is true and proves a point: Alex can die a million times over, and the end result is that he will just keep waking up in a different dimension. He will only be released when he kills Scarlett, thus freeing them both from her sin. Its her loop, not his. Its truly an incredible film. If you didn't "get it" the first time, watch it again.

fitts-stamp Bottom of the World is a wonderful intellectual challenge. I've seen it some four times now, and am only starting to grasp what's actually told in the movie. It is a non-linear movie, so be prepared. The key to it all is the subconscious. Look for the clues and it begins to make sense. Look for my full review on my blog.

David Maxx Bottom of the World is an strange, spellbinding film, because it is one of those rare films that doesn't contain a blatant plot; there's multiple unexpected plot twists and shifts where you are held strictly responsible for paying very close attention and attempt devise an idea of what's actually happening throughout the film. Jena Malone is great at portraying a woman's spiral into mental anguish brought on by guilt from an act of terrible violence. The underlying religious themes run strong. That's just my theory.