DISCARNATE

DISCARNATE: (of a person or being) not having a physical body. "methods for communicating with the dead or with discarnate spirits"

this is a great example of how you need a lot more than good effects to make a horror movie.

This movie has potential, but falls short on every level. The mediocrity starts almost instantly with the most confusing and unnecessary opening 10 minutes in film history. not a single character gets properly introduced, and there motives are just as unclear. we get massive time jumps, and are left with a star wars style text crawl to fill in the gaps this movie couldn't bother to explain earlier.

thankfully, the rest of the movie is a lot better than the opening would suggest. this movie ends up being about a neuroscientist's obsession with a drug that merges the after life with our reality. we get our standard medical horror test subjects / researchers introduced,and the majority of them are well acted and interesting. i say the majority of them because of Thomas Kretschmann as our leading man and Nadine Velazquez as Maya. both actors feel more at home in B movie schlock, and having them in this movie hurts its mostly serious and dark tone.

as far as its directing, the whole is trying to be modern while just ripping off a lot of other classic horror movies. the afterlife elements are right out of flat-liners, all of the pineal gland stuff is straight out of FROM BEYOND, and overall this movie never tries to do anything new. that being said, its not a bad movie. despite its issues with both pacing and acting, this isn't a bad movie. or a good movie.

this may not be the most genius thing i have ever said, but this is simply a movie. would i recommenced it? no. would i say you shouldn't watch it? no.

but i will say i wont be watching this movie again anytime soon.

meh/10