ChicRawIdol A brilliant film that helped define a genre

Dirtylogy It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Kien Navarro Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

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

druidbloke Just a quick one to say some of the previous reviewers didn't seem to quite get the full meaning of the plot or script, they might leave you with the impression this film is one of those films where strange things happen without reason and not much makes sense, it isn't, it's actually pretty tight with few inconsistencies, the ending was spot on and satisfying, if a little rushed and predictable. It is debatable if this really could be classed as a horror, it's really more about the characters as the supernatural element is played down, there's no vagueness that some unknown force is at work though as suggested by a previous reviewer, one scene confirms it beyond doubt but I wont give anything away, The acting was very good throughout, especially from Mark Strong, also good to see Charlotte Rampling and David warner turn in good performances.

Stephen Tucker After looking at the ratings and other user comments for this film on IMDb i was a bit unsure about purchasing this film. But after watching it i have to say that i was greatly, and pleasantly surprised at how good it was. The film was interesting and intriguing all the way through and i thought that all the roles were played very well, especially Mark Strong and Sienna Guillory, whose stunning acting carried the film very well. I also thought the film had a good ending that concluded it well and left me satisfied with all loose ends. Overall, i'd say that this film is a great watch and i thoroughly enjoyed it from beginning to end.

Paul Andrews Superstition starts in Italy where nineteen year old English teenager Julie McCullough (Sienna Guillory) is working for the Cenci's as an au pair looking after their young child Claudio, however one night tragedy strikes & a fire breaks out in the child's bedroom in which he dies. Julie is accused & charged with arson & murder, the public prosecutor Isabella Flores (Frances Barber) ask's her friend & defence lawyer Antonio Gabrieli (Mark Strong) to represent Julie which he agrees to. The police forensic experts have no idea how the fire started & the Italian press baying for blood dub Julie a witch, the evidence is against Julie as it seems is the whole of Italy. Things look bleak for Julie but then Antonio is contacted by a professor who may have a very unusual & very supernatural explanation for what happened...This English, Dutch & Lexembourg co-production was directed by Kenneth Hope & if you stumble across Superstition without knowing anything about it you would be forgiven for thinking that it is a supernatural horror film which it isn't. The script by Kate Dennis & Paul Hoffman is much more of a courtroom drama than a straight horror film, in fact apart from one or two supernatural overtones I wouldn't call Superstition a horror film at all. The vast majority of the film is made up of the courtroom scenes, the personal angst surrounding Julie & the situation she finds herself in & her defence lawyer Antonio being drawn into her world. Superstition is very much a character driven piece, in fact Superstition lives or dies by it's character's since it's a very exposition heavy film with very little in the way of dramatic incident. Luckily the character's are actually excellently fleshed out to a degree where you care about them, the relationship's between people, people's motives, lies, trust & how the situation affects them is what Superstition is all about. The actual limited supernatural elements are a little hard to swallow & seem somewhat implausible in a rather forgettable twist ending. At 90 odd minutes in length if you have the patience to follow it then Superstition is a fairly engrossing & gripping drama, if your looking for supernatural horror & things that go bump in the night then forget it.Director Strong does a nice job here & the film is very stylishly shot, the film is also quite cleverly edited with several flashbacks scenes which all tie together nicely. The film has a soft look about it with muted colours, wide open locations & lots of fades rather than quick sharp cuts between scenes. Again Superstition is not an out-and-out horror fest of blood & gore, far from it in fact & I don't think there's a single drop of blood in the entire thing or a single scene which is meant to be scary. There's a definite atmosphere of unease but it doesn't try to be scary at all. I am not an expert on Italian law but why was Julie freed after being convicted of arson? I know she was acquitted of murder but the fact remains that a baby died in the fire she was convicted of starting, wouldn't that be called manslaughter which is a crime in itself? Wouldn't the judge take that into account when sentencing? Also, despite being set in Italy not one person ever speaks in Italian...Technically the film is well made with some nice stylish cinematography. The locations look nice enough although I am pretty sure it wasn't actually shot in Italy. There's some very good performances here from a good cast here including Charlotte Rampling, Alice Krige & the always watchable David Warner.Superstition is more of a courtroom drama than a supernatural horror film & you really should know that before watching it, alas I think the marketing campaign bigs up the horror elements which are obviously easier to sell than a drama. Worth a watch if you have the patience, stick with it & don't expect a full on horror film. Not to be confused with the brilliant gory horror flick Superstition (1982) about a killer witch.

alienrobotz I'm sure I remember the case of the teenage fire-starter but was it necessary to sanitize the storyline with so much obvious fiction and lack of attention to the central role.While the acting from Mark Strong and Francis Barber as the defence and prosecution lawyers in this British made thriller were adequate, I frequently felt I was watching a low budget movie stretched by obvious financial constraints that severely held back the potential this movie could have achieved.I normally like Sienna Guillory who 'played down' several years to portray a nervously troubled teenager who has a complex association with fires., but this time around I wasn't convinced. Playing Julia McCullough a sensuous teenager with a limited education and the inept ability to grasp what appears to be happening around her, Sienna is a 19 year English Nanny who is subconciously obsessed with the fire that killed her mother four years previous and the blame she apportions herself with her mother's death. She moves to Italy and works as a Nanny for a middle aged couple with a small son. Unreasonable attention from the menopausal husband towards Julia which is never properly explored causes anxious concern with the once troubled teenager and fires mysteriously start in the family home, the second of which kills the baby and Sienna Guillory's character is accused of murder and arson. After a bumpy start with a totally token sex scene between consenting adults, namely the Italian couple, the film shifts into a courtroom drama with a series of flashbacks and weird links that pull the various characters together. At times Sienna Guillory's acting as the irritating Julia McCullough could be construed as wooden, the pregnant pauses and definitive passion loss when passion was most needed are blatantly ineffective. While Strong and Barber played the whole scenario like another well rehearsed British TV play with predictable effect the rest of the cast were strangely bewildered for the best part looking like they had turned up for two or three totally different productions. In fairness Guillory does on a few occasions attempt to rise above the mundane script by attempting to characterise her role, only to fall back again in the following scene. The sultry pout and little girl lost routine just kept coming back which stripped the potential this character was crying out to offer. Maybe it was all about the script, hard for an actor to act when there isn't a part to play. Having seen Sienna play well in other films, maybe it was all about the direction.How the once most desirable Femme Fatale Charlotte Rampling has lasted and in her her early 60's still looks so wonderful defies logic and in a role void of make up too, but as a 'Shrink' who doubles as a 'Mother Superior' wearing designer lingerie under a frumpy cardigan was all to US TV for me. Recruited to support the defending lawyer in figuring out how 'Julia' ticked the sexy Francophile lacked her normal presence. I was itching for a burst of Ms Rampling topless in a Nazi uniform and a pair of trouser braces covering her latter day modesty, even if it meant enduring another flashback.Window dressing with one time audience pulling actors which also included a cameo role by the normally excellent David Warner suggested the Producers needed names to prop up a film they didn't really have much faith in. Frequently confusing, the photography suffered from an overdose of soft focus, too many flashbacks and and not enough of the slow lingering close ups needed to establish the troubled mind and supernaturally vexed soul of Julia Too many times I had to ask myself was I really watching a paranormal extravaganza or a subliminal PR exercise for the Italian Lakes. as the photography and locations kept drifting away.If a story is good and you secure a great scriptwriter, a brilliant director will follow. Unfortunately this film had none of these ingredients. Budgets would have been better spent exploring the reasons behind the complexity of the central role. Having a little more faith in Sienna Guillory's emotional potential would have made this film a lot better for everyone, actors included.Best bits: Sienna Guillory's pout (in small doses) The first time I have seen a Red Double Decker Bus driving down an English Country Lane in 40 years.Worst Bits: The screenplay.