Hottoceame The Age of Commercialism

FirstWitch A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Taha Avalos The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

divinours I had low expectations for this movie but was very pleasantly surprised. The slow pace of the storyline allows a gradual build-up of the atmosphere, which kept me interested to the end. This is helped by great set of locations (derelict villages and temples, rotting jungles...) that are masterfully depicted - both vividly and with a dreamlike quality that increases as the movie progresses. The actors are good (Petch Osathanugrah is particularly creepy) but do not overplay their roles, contributing to the dreamlike sensation. As the end draws near, the boundaries of reality, imagination and symbolism dissolve...Most of the negative reviews here seem to come from people expecting a horror/gore movie or comparing Vinyan to Lynch's work. While there are graphic aspects to the movie, very creepy characters and an ending open to interpretation, these comparisons are inadequate. Forget about them and watch Vinyan with an open mind - you might not like it (it is one of its kind and not for everyone) but you won't regret having watched it.

Jack Hawkins (Hawkensian) 'Vinyan' is a striking yet aimless film that fails to engage. The film charts Paul and Jeanne's search for their missing son after witnessing footage that leads them, Jeanne particularly, to believe that he is alive somewhere in the Burmese wilderness. Their son had gone missing during the 2004 Asian tsunami; however the film doesn't detail any of the event, which doesn't help in making the viewer care at all about the whole premise. Jeanne is somehow adamant that her son is alive, based on brief, bad quality footage. Unfortunately, Jeanne is one of those irrational, hysterical, self-centred women that make films of this ilk rather irritating to watch. She regularly begins to feel sorry for herself, so much so that in one scene the task of walking across a muddy landscape is just too much for her and she starts falling over on purpose to let her husband know just how discontented she is. Jeanne and her silicone injected lips lace the film with irritation. Paul, who is going through this traumatic experience just as much as her, is measured and sensible, but he is still not a character one feels inclined to empathise with at any moment - apart from when his wife is being a pain in the arse, perhaps. I didn't care for their cause at all; the whole thing was a lingering shot of rain, landscapes and tribal children. At times the film was slightly creepy, but that was the extent of its power; considering I watched this film as part of the 'Fright Fest' season, that's quite a major flaw. Not only does this film not work as a horror, it doesn't work on any other level either. Due to its utter vacuity, there isn't much to say apart from that it is Art House nonsense - all visuals, no substance and a bathetic ending.

Maz Murdoch (asda-man) I was, however, a ma-hussive fan of Fabrice's debut, Calvaire. In fact, I believe that Calvaire is one of the greatest horror films of the century and it's such a shame that people inappropriately write it off as some sort of Texas Chainsaw Massacre/Straw Dogs rip-off. Thanks to the anticipation for Fabrice's latest venture into horror, Alleluia (a thematic sequel to Calvaire) I thought I'd give Vinyan another try as it had been a few years since I last saw it. This time, I saw something different in it.Vinyan is a real mood piece. It reminded me of Only God Forgives and Under the Skin, the types of slow dream-like films which rely more on atmosphere than plot. They're not for everyone, but if you manage to find a dark room on your own and immerse yourself in their worlds, then you can discover an experience which is really quite special.The opening to Vinyan is fantastic. We see a tsunami from the sea's point of view, so gradually muffled screams become more intense as the water turns redder and redder. It's an unsettling sequence and the sounds become quite intense before cutting off to silence. Suddenly we meet Emmanuelle Beart with her Paula Hamilton upper-lip emerging from some tropical sea. We find out that Emmanuelle and Rufus have lost their son, presumed dead, but Emmanuelle's sure that she saw him on a blurred tsunami-aid video. This is only the beginning of a long and strange voyage into darkness.Fabrice really shows off his directing skills here. There's a fantastic disorientating experience near the start where Emmanuelle runs off from Rufus at night in the heart of Thailand and the camera follows her around amongst the bright neon-soaked night whilst music plays so loud you can barely hear yourself think. It's a great sequence which really emphasises the isolation felt by the character. In fact, we spend quite a lot of time in our heroine's head (I think). Whereas Calvaire remained objective and real (there was no music in The Ordeal) Vinyan delves into Jeanne's unstable head, often blurring dreams with reality in bizarre and unsettling ways. For example, there's one shot of a boat appearing from the fog with silhouetted children on it. The image is so dreamy that it has to be a dream, or is it?Watching Vinyan a second time, I was never bored at all! I noticed how fantastic the acting is and really empathised with the bereaved main characters who are just so desperate to find their son. The atmosphere is so thick throughout, and Fabrice's choice of music and sounds adds to the nightmarish quality. The film looks sensational too. You could pretty much take any shot of the film and marvel at it. One stand-out moment is the aerial shot which follows the couple into some sort of ruin. There's a real sense of danger and that something bad is going to happen.The final twenty minutes were as frightening to me as they were the first time I saw it. I don't want to spoil anything, but it's kind of like a house of horrors encountering one surreal spook after the other. Fabrice's scares aren't cheap though. They run deep and are executed in an unsettling and dream-like way. It's difficult to tell how much is actually in Jeanne's head, or if something more supernatural is going on. Just like Calvaire, Vinyan ends on the most unsettling note with a disturbing shot that is difficult to get out of your head. It poses a lot more questions than it cares to answer, but this only adds to the terror in my opinion.It's easy to see why Vinyan was so poorly received. It was marketed as some sort of slaggy horror film when it's actually more of a slow art-house film which wouldn't suit the masses. If you allow yourself to be immersed in its dark and dream-like atmosphere then you can actually find quite a lot to like. It's much more complicated and deeper than it first appears and it offers a truly frightening, surreal third act where Jeanne's unstable mind begins to seep out into reality. Vinyan is a masterpiece of atmosphere. It may be a little too slow in places, but don't let that put you off. Go with it because there's actually quite a lot to like.Read more strange and horrific reviews at www.asdaman.wordpress.com

hannahbeth85 Vinyan was without doubt one of the worst things I have ever spent 2 hours doing. Jeanne the lead female character was the most annoying woman I have ever come across, I was actually hoping something painful and awful happened to her after 10 minutes of getting into the film. I could find no empathy with either character I really could not care less if they found their beloved son or not. So many ends were left untied that it became laughable, it seemed the writers started every morning and didn't bother to follow up from where they had left off. Avoid at all costs, I thought I'd seen some bad films until I'd seen Vinyan. EEUuuugghhh