Waste of time

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

This is one that slipped by me.The reviews seemed mediocre to average on IMDb which generally among horror ratings means it may be decent. I avoided spoilers on this one since there seemed to be a mystery of sorts involved. This is a decent supernatural horror movie. I've seen a couple movies based on Jim Jones type suicide cults, its been done before and as good as some have been, seeing more of the same generally doesn't interest me. This was something completely different though more akin to H.P. Lovecraft's "The Thing on the Doorstep" or the movie "Skeleton Key" which I won't go into detail about but I'd recommend for similar reasons. Needless to say, I enjoyed it. It's not stellar but it's good and well done.

A grim answer to the question "What the heck happened to Jessica Alba?", The Veil starts with a blasphemous mass and ends with a crucifixion. Heavily relying on the Jim Jones' mass suicide with just a dash of the Manson family, it mixes classic cinematography with post-modern seasoning, found footage (please Lord, make it STOP!) and an unreliable narrator. Mix the whole in a Cabin in the Woods environment (after carefully expunging all said movie's cleverness and voilà, here's your bad movie of the week. You watch what is filmed of the characters; you watch what the characters film; you also watch a lot of the characters watching the movie they found. Call it meta if you wish. One calls it crap.Sarah Hope, natch (Lili Rabe, of American Horror Story's fame, here given absolutely nothing to do) is the sole survivor of Heaven's Veil, a cult led by Jim Jacobs (Tomas Jane, hamming it up as if the world was really about to end). Maggie Price, natch (Jessica Alba) wants to shoot a documentary on the massacre, because her father, an FBI agent, committed suicide after such an horror happened on his watch. She has a crew, which bears no importance whatsoever since they will all die anyway. OK. Let's share a moment of non-nonsense approach now, shall we?So: jump scares (at least 6), rocking chair, moth, whispering ghosts, scary doll, spiritualism seance, demonic mumbo-jumbo, torch lights running out of battery, no cellphone coverage. All checked. Everything that could possibly go wrong does so from the start, but the characters are real troopers, so they carry on. Also, they are dumb as dumb can be. Wait a minute, no cymbal-crashing monkey?For some reason, there is ONE videotape, labeled "Experiment 23", and it's shitty as hell, but all the rest is shot in glorious Super 8 Cinemascope, immaculately edited, of course. What Experiment 23 shows makes no sense whatsoever to what will follow, but they all get hooked on it like a 20$ hooker on her first crack pipe. "We need to watch the rest of these films", someone says. NOOOOOO! RUUUUUUN!Not to spoil much, but Jim Jacobs aims at retrieving the three nails of the Cross to acquire eternal life, a project absolutely as legit as ruling the world via the creation of a social network or creating new California property development land through an earthquake. Jesus was nailed to the Cross, so the spirit is nailed to the body, you know. Of course you do.Embarrassed by so many references it would be pedantic and tedious to list them, movie pedestrianly proceeds to its bitter end. FBI has ESP. Sarah is not what she seems to be. Jessica Alba gets immortal the hard way. Now let's all have a quizz: why is that thing called The Veil? Oh, rutabaga.

...But, when all was said and done, I just couldn't. Could it have been better? Yes. Was it as bad as others here have written? No. I think the reason people here have given it a bad review, is that it IS lacking in some respects, however, it's an interesting story, original in it's execution. It's filmed beautifully, for a horror film. My kudos to the Cinematographer, it looks amazing.I think most people now a days want their ghost stories to have more 'jump scares' and less 'story' and THAT'S why it's getting bad reviews. If they were more familiar with Rod Serling, or had seen some of the Hammer Film movies, they'd appreciate this one more.This movie takes the typical 'abandoned cabin in the woods' story to an entirely different area, tying into 'true events' and putting a solid twist ending to good use.I rated it a 7-10 because I think what this movie really needed was MORE Thomas Jane, and maybe some John Carpenter-esque sound tracks, but over all I enjoyed this movie more than I expected it to.

Don't listen to the naysayers who think the only decent movie is a top-notch blockbuster world-wide smash hit.Don't listen to those who say this isn't a "real horror/suspense movie." Some think real horror must be gobs of guts and blood. Some think it must keep you constantly on the edge of your seat while tearing up the armrests with your fingernails.Nay nay I say. There is room for everything as long as it is done entertainingly.This movie has a gripping story contrary to most horror flicks which simply flash panties while young girls run from monsters with stories that someone was abandoned, unloved, or otherwise wounded by society and now spends their deformed adulthood splicing up people (or it's a monster from an urban legend). Same stories, different colors of underwear.Well, let me remove the nails from this cross and help you transcend to a new adventure beyond the veil of horror.Lean back with your popcorn and soda, enjoy the story and mild supernatural mystery. You won't find fingernail tears in your armrests but you will enjoy watching the story unfold even if you don't get to see those gratuity flashes.Watch it with friends and you may even find yourself discussing the possibilities of the spiritual theories posited within. Just for fun, of course.