SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Spidersecu Don't Believe the Hype

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.

Humaira Grant It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

TheLittleSongbird 'The Sandman' drew me into seeing it, with a cool poster/cover, an slightly intriguing premise and as someone with a general appreciation for horror. That it was low-budget, which from frequent personal experience is rarely a good sign due to that there are so many poor ones out there, made me though apprehensive. It is sadly however yet another film seen recently, hence some reiteration because the exact same strengths and flaws those films have are present here, that to me was incredibly disappointing considering its potential which it doesn't do anywhere near enough with. 'The Sandman' is terrible, with a plethora of problems (huge ones too) and doesn't do enough with its potential, which was hardly small. There is next to nothing to recommend and it is a sleeper.Lets start with the positives. The scenery is atmospheric and spooky. Tobin Bell does his best.Unfortunately, the scenery is not done justice by the rather direct to video schlocky way it's shot and edited, it was very clear that the film was made in a rush with no care or enthusiasm. Going on further to the negatives, the story does feel paper thin, disjointed and over-stretched and some of it feels vague, under-explained in the last third where the film especially became duller, more predictable, more senseless and less scary. Too many characters are too sketchy and with nowhere near enough to make one want to endear to them. Their annoying and illogical decision making and behaviours frustrates.Making the film feel bland and forgettable with not enough heart put into it. The effects are ropy at best, the sound quality is obvious and utilised cheaply (being too loud in the build ups and people's reactions) and it's best not mentioning the uniformly lumbering and histrionic acting, especially one of the worst child performances ever.Dialogue can be stilted and rambling, with lots of clichés and no depth whatsoever, while the pace goes to a standstill very quickly and drags on forever with very little going on worth caring about, never recovering. Found too many the supposedly shocking moments not surprising or scary and the supposedly creepy atmosphere dreary, due to the excessive obviousness, a lot of dumb and vague moments and explanations and the lack of tension and suspense. Would not have minded the lack of originality (the film is extremely derivative and in a dumbed and watered down way) if the story and atmosphere were at least alright in execution, in reality they were both very poorly done.A lot of 'The Sandman' has underdeveloped plot elements and often nonsensical and confusing character motivations, while too many of the things to make you jump or shocked are far from creative or scary and are pretty tame. The ending makes the film finish on an incomplete and confused whimper.There is not enough threat, and what there is of it tends to be used poorly, it is completely unimaginative and more odd than creepy in its execution of the more psychological elements, completely failing to show any sense of horror or creativity. Some badly sagging momentum too. The direction is leaden, inexperience seems to be all over the film, and the music doesn't really fit.Altogether, another very bad film. 2/10 Bethany Cox

cherschleigh EVERYONE is a critic. I don't go to movies to pick them apart. I rate the movie based on the entertainment value of it.This movie was great "lite" fare. Just the right amount of gore and the Sandman was a perfect mummy-like monster.This is worth a look. I would see it again to pick up things I missed the first time.thebat2O

GL84 Following her brother's death, a photographer who takes in her abandoned niece finds that her claims of unwittingly creating a nightmarish creature called The Sandman is true when he begins killing those around her and must a way to stop its bloodthirsty rampage.Overall, this was quite the fun and enjoyable effort. Among its finer qualities is the fact that there's a lot of interest to be had with the central figure here who is a rather fun concept. The titular Sandman is quite an accomplished character with his backstory featuring her involvement in his conception and reality which makes for a really enjoyable time here, and along with the notion of being able to come to life in times of her feeling great stress or anger makes him an accomplished boogeyman. There's some fun to be had here with the way it gets involved with many of the scenes here, as the few scenes he's featured in makes for some really tense and thrilling moments from its first appearance in the convenience store, a fine series of events at her house as at first she conjures a trap to let others onto her powers as well as a later scene where it fully appears to take a victim away and the chase through the car graveyard which is a fine action piece. That it follows the scene with a strong and wholly enjoyable stalking scene in the mausoleum where the creature takes out the agents on her trail in the blackened corridors makes this even more fun by giving it a solid action scene right afterward. The rather fun dreams and flashbacks that occur here are almost as chilling, and given that this mostly leads to fun with the creature's rather strong appearance all done practically with a stellar costume to boot, this one generates a lot to like overall here. This one does have a few minor flaws here, most of which come from the fact that there's not a whole lot of action to come in the creatures' scenes. There's only one prolonged scene of the creature interacting for more than several seconds here as he generally seems to get conjured up and kill those around him in flash quick-cut scenes so it doesn't have much to do. Likewise, this one does tend to come off with little in the way of the creatures' motivations or actual conception as nothing is really given about what it's doing with her, why it chose her or even came into being so the little we get does help although it doesn't offer as much as it could've. Otherwise, there's not much to dislike here.Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence and Language.

mistela67 Very unimaginative, routine, seen-it-a-hundred times sort of horror movie. I got through about 50 minutes, and I couldn't continue. I would think that in 2017, filmmakers can come up with something a bit more novel. How many b-horror movies use a little white girl, that screams a lot, named Madison, with a 20 something big sister/aunt, both are frightened of some cheap CBI monster, that kills people...I'll pass.