VOD from the Dead - The Pond (2021)
Of all the subgenres of Horror, Folk Horror is the most hit or miss. This is my opinion, and I’m open to debate, but first allow me to explain. The margin between a “bad” folk horror movie and a “great” folk horror movie is pretty slim, which in turn means that you could do a lot of things right and still be on the wrong side of the spectrum. I say this without malice, but rather out of care. You see, the folk horror genre is home to some truly amazing pieces of horror cinema. Some of my personal favorites are “Blood on Satan’s Claw” (which our own DeadAliveDana reviewed here) and Ben Wheatly’s stellar slow-burn from 2011, “Kill List”. If the former didn’t have as much action and intrigue along the way, it would be an absolute drab. For the latter, were it not for an excruciating final 15 minutes this would have been one of the biggest let down slow burns of all time. So you see, the difference really is marginal between “bad” and “great”. This brings me to Shout! Studios’ most recent VOD release, “The Pond”. Does this one beat the margins or fall victim to folk horror’s worst tendencies?
WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
“The Pond” is the story of an anthropologist on the verge of an apocalyptic discovery who begins to descend into madness, as his hallucinations reveal something sinister is after him. Set in a Balkan village rich with supernatural dread, the film’s evocative cinematography
creates an ominous, slow-burn atmosphere that’s sure to linger with the viewer long after the film has ended.
Homemade Halloween costumes just hit different don’t they?
HOW IS IT?
“The Pond'' is a frustrating movie. On one hand, it has beautiful locations and cinematography. On the other, it feels like the entire movie was built around this cool Balkan village as a visual backdrop. What makes this so frustrating is that “The Pond'' has a dreadfully perfect atmosphere. Much of that dread can be attributed to the location in which this was filmed, but also supporting aesthetics such as the score. While the camera work and mood will keep your interest, it’s not enough to make you forget that nothing you are seeing on screen makes any kind of sense.
And that’s really the Achilles heel of this film; its reason for existing seems to be only to capture the eeriness of the village it’s filmed in. The plot is both vague and confusing, which caused me to constantly ask myself what is going on and what am I supposed to care about? The actors do a fine enough job in the first half of the film, but in the third act as things (finally) start to happen and their demeanors change so does the quality of their portrayals. I don’t blame them entirely, instead, I blame the absurdity of the dialogue and the “reveal”. I’ll avoid spoilers, but fans of divine comedies may share my sentiments...or maybe not?
Perhaps it is just personal taste, and I don’t declare any kind of superiority as I love celluloid trash as much as cinematic treasures, but a film should always try to tell a story. It doesn’t have to be a good story, or linear, or great, but it should make the attempt to have a story it is telling. That’s what I found to be missing here, there just isn’t much of a story. It’s beautiful and enticing visually, which makes it all the more of a missed opportunity since the characters and their actions all feel rather meaningless. It’s hard to make a movie that looks and sounds this good, and I don’t want to take away from the film despite my issues with it.
Much like the rest of “The Pond” it is very much style over substance.
LAST RITES
A visually haunting village is not enough to propel this viewer through the drab characters and plot. While this one wasn’t for me, the technicals were strong enough to warrant curiosity on the future for these filmmakers.
THE GORY DETAILS
Directed By
Written By
Starring
MARCO CANADEA (PROFESSOR)
LESLIE KUNZ (ABBY)
PAUL LEONARD MURRAY (CHESS PLAYER)
Runtime
Where can you watch it?
Out now! Scream Factory and Shout! Studios will release the mind-bending new film The Pond, in-home theaters on Digital and On-Demand on February 23, 2021.
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