It's a flip-flopping movie -- at the end, it turns everything upside down, and it really brings the action to life. But the film disappointed me, and even the final did not help.
The beginning is quite ordinary - the boy lives in an oxygen tent, he is very sick: he has a pathological immune reaction to the outside world, a kind of allergy. And now parents find a unique miracle doctor, she will help, that's for sure. . .
While watching the film, there were many questions to the writers: what kind of disease is this, when a few sighs literally cause blisters all over the body? Bone marrow puncture is made through the gluteal muscle?! And the injection of the drug - by trepanation, and without anesthesia? What was that all about?
And why do you need three procedures instead of one, for example, especially in light of the unusual ending?
All these unanswered questions were annoying.
The 'ghosts' were also rather slurred; the boy's mother also had many questions. . .
The finale did not correct the situation, in my opinion.
Although the boy played well, I hope he shows himself again! The rest of the actors played quite indistinctly, I think.
5 out of 10
Ambivalent feeling after watching, on the one hand quite a good horror on the subject of mysticism, on the other hand, not quite harmoniously replaced one idea of the film with another. . . I think the main drawback is the unnecessary “unexpected turn of events” that literally falls from the ceiling without any connections ... there is no backstory, and the first thought after the last 15 minutes is “what is this nonsense?” But all the same thinking, I realized that in general, at once the movie will go, besides, personally in my opinion, the boy played his role worthy. Spoiler. It’s a pity that they went into the wilderness and felt another Omen. I was waiting for a more realistic story about an unusual disease, not a battle between God and the Devil.
Not all Netflix horror films are equally good, but there are really decent ones that deserve attention. I generally try to avoid religious movies, but horror movies, to give credit, are often pretty good. I will not say about the deep plot, for example, the Curse of the Nuns, and besides the Screamers there is little interesting, but in general not bad.
But I'm still for horror movies with a script and a little plot, albeit religious. Although it is necessary to guess from the context and fragments that the plot involves references to the Bible, the Antichrist and God, and maybe I watched the film so inattentively, but the realization of what is happening came literally in the last two minutes. In a good way, not “what I just saw.” I love movies when you’re sure of your story theory until the end, and then it turns out you’re not sure. And I want to scold myself that I looked inattentively, and then you realize that there were no prerequisites for this. That's the same with the movie Eli.
The beginning is quite standard and you do not expect much at first: well, the family, well, comes with a sick child to some old house. First assumptions? Ghosts, ghosts and ghosts again. Maybe someone will get into him and he'll kill everyone. The seed for the plot is a cliché. So I decided in the first minutes of watching, but somewhere in the middle I realized that I was very wrong.
The only thing that the film looks a bit heavy, because the screenwriter, as it seemed to me, in an attempt to confuse the viewer and bring him to the final in complete ignorance, heaped up so many details, confusing that at first glance they all seem to be plot holes and not docking. It may be so, but it is difficult to understand - this is a hole or a creative idea of the writer to knock off the right path the flow of confused thoughts and guesses.
What I certainly didn't expect from myself at the end was sympathy for Eli. Despite all the plot twists and the finale, for some reason, I still want to blame everything on my parents, some kind of excessive custody or hell knows what else. Hell knows.
I didn’t expect much from this movie, but I was pleasantly surprised. From the usual seemingly horror pulled something more, also not new, but switching from one topic to another was successful.
First of all, the first 50 minutes were boring, even very boring. The cat cried, a lot of conversations and experiences and no specifics - what kind of disease, what is the method of the doctor and what kind of house. There was a feeling that the creators themselves did not know what to slither and wanted to quit watching. Actors are not a fountain either. Even Lily Taylor (the only actor I've ever seen) was very faint. I didn't believe any of them. Everything is stretched and simple, no proper transmission of emotions. Considering how much drama evoke in the first half of the picture, it is quite an important factor for the qualitative perception of what you see.
Plus, the whole other half. The actors' game did not get better, but the movement became many times more. We began to open some veils of secrets, created several rounds of intrigue and interest in what is happening has become much stronger. Again – nothing new, but cleverly built old. What audiences love is that they let us step by step to discover the mystery, but they didn't bring everything to light at once, keeping us in the dark until the very end. Such a move has always been successful in viewing. The intrigue is heated, heated, and then cools sharply and again. Not bad, not bad!
The topic of the child’s disease is not the main one, although at first it seems so. Lots of soul-throwing, heart-to-heart conversations, and achanias and achanias. Plus, ghosts that directly suggest that the house created specifically for people with similar diseases is unclean. And how cleverly everything turns at a certain moment. I’m a zealous skeptic, so I treat these films as fairy tales rather than pictures of what might be real. In the movies, children are constantly intertwined as those who see the dead, although adults at first do not see them and, accordingly, do not believe them. Think of Astral, for example. In the atmosphere he has no equal, the narrative is quite fascinating, and what sinister music! There is nothing like this in this picture, but, in fact, the narrative is conducted in a different way. And this move is the main feature, because at a certain point you simply do not know what to expect from further events.
As a result, it turned out a fascinating (albeit from the second half) film, with a weak play of actors, but a noble ending. A good pastime that can take up your half an hour of free time. I can only recommend to fans of this topic, the rest will probably be bored. Well, as a fact, Netflix again gave a good show. Not a masterpiece and close, but still. But still, watching the films of their platform, there is a feeling that we could shoot better. Elay is a vivid example of this. It seems good, but there is no complete satisfaction from the film.
6 out of 10
That's what happens when you hire cheap writers, no shit, there are as many as three of them (!), in general, these nerds wrote the script on their knees, during the shooting, and in the end there was such nonsense that you can not describe it in words. And it turned out to be right, NICAK, collected a lot of stamps, and made of what was, frank nonsense. . 3 out of 10, and then for acting. . .
You know, Netflix sometimes amazes me with its ability to ruin something so much that it is almost impossible to watch, and to create some small masterpiece. "Elay" or, more correctly, "Eli", refers to the second category. By the way, the hand of the creators of the series "Ghosts of the House on the Hill" is felt. Oh, it feels really good. If the title of this series says something to you and you watched it to the end, and you liked it, and you understood everything, then without hesitation go watch and do not read anything in my review further.
For me, movies with child actors in the foreground, which play well, always get an additional plus in karma. Charlie Shotwell, which I have not seen in films, just smart. You believe him and care about him throughout the film. Sadie Sink, which many saw in "Stranger Things" also does not fail. So here I have a tremendous aesthetic delight. The rest of the actors, of course, also play amazingly, but from them it is expected, they have names and good work behind them, and children are always a game of roulette. The only unknown person here was Max Martini (except for the very “background” characters). He is not given the biggest role in the plot, but the man he is prominent and played wonderfully. You will find out how wonderful he was at the end of the film.
This is another movie where you can’t tell the ending. Suggestions about what is happening will haunt you throughout the tape and the further you watch it, the more insane they will become. The intrigue is perfectly sustained and opens naturally, like a flower bud. The storyboards please the eye, the general atmosphere of what is happening and, importantly, the speed of events. It is not necessary to wait for "when it begins" for a long time, and when "beginning-a-axis" you can not come off. Very interesting.
There are "boo" effects. That's not cool. Not many. That's cool. I don’t think I’m going to lower my eyes.
Autoimmune diseases occur in people infrequently, and yet, if it is diagnosed and confirmed, then it does not bring anything good for a person. According to medical statistics, there are hundreds if not thousands of diagnoses of autoimmune diseases that are completely different from each other. They appear in different ways, but the mechanics are similar. According to the results of studies, patients have a serious failure of the immune system, as a result of which it attacks their own organs and leads to nightmarish consequences. some people begin to feel acute pain in the joints, others feel a sharp abdominal pain, and still others are completely torn apart from a headache. And it is only natural that most doctors are the last to think about autoimmune diseases, focusing on much more familiar diseases. The only problem is that traditional treatment does not show any results at all, and the patient gets worse every day, more and more organs begin to feel catastrophic damage and there is a high probability that without receiving proper treatment, a person will die. Of course, only a relatively small percentage of patients suffer from this disease, and yet every year this pathology is gaining momentum and in a decade autoimmune diseases can become a significant problem, like many modern diseases for which a cure has not yet been found. Without a doubt, autoimmune diseases themselves are the object of special research and based on the stories of patients, you can shoot some serious, soul-rending drama, but director Kieran Foy decided to go much further and shoot a mystical horror, presented through the prism of the struggle of a little boy against a complex disease. The theme chosen for horror was very strange, and yet 'Elayu' there is something to interest the viewer and encourage him to reason.
So, the plot of the film introduces us to eight-year-old Eli (Charlie Shotwell), who half of his short life struggles with an autoimmune disease that deprived him of the banal joys of life. While his peers walk outside, go to school and go on outdoor trips with a class, Eli is forced to live at home in sterile conditions, wear special clothes and consume medications that draw an impressive amount of money from his parents’ pockets. It would seem that the lumen in the state of the child is not seen, and Paul (Max Martini) with Rose (Kelly Railly) will have to bear such a heavy, but necessary burden until the end of their days, as the inspired Dr. Horn (Lily Taylor) appears in their lives, stating that she has repeatedly dealt with an autoimmune disease, and therefore she may well help Eli, who is waiting for a mansion with ideal conditions for treatment. Unable to refuse such a generous gift of fate, Paul and Rose agree to help and put their son in the hands of Dr. Horne, who without thinking twice places the child in a sterile ward. And everything in this situation would be fine if on arrival at the mansion Eli almost immediately began to see some ghostly figures. Realizing that nothing good stay in the mansion may not end, young Eli tries to find out what is happening around, but the more active he begins to act, the more secrets and oddities appear in his way. And not only the hero himself will be difficult to cope with everything and understand what is happening. The viewer will also be in a state of complete unpredictability and will be perplexed until the very end, when everything will turn into a single picture, turning the narrative on its head.
The creators paid a lot of attention to the mental anguish and experiences of the child, as well as his parents, who for many years struggled and continue to defend themselves against a serious illness, and nevertheless Kieran Foy is not going to devote himself entirely to medical research, because it is much more interesting for him to frighten us and force us to destroy our own guesses about the truth of what is happening in the mansion. The script constantly makes sharp reversals, strange and unpredictable things happen in the frame, and Foy laughs with delight at us, because in fact it is extremely difficult to predict any further events. In some ways 'Elay' recalls the best works of the early M. Night Shyamalan, there are some hints in it on 'Stefani', a similar thriller in content, delighting with games with reality and our consciousness. However, with all the indisputable merits of the film, it should be noted that sometimes it is excessively superficial and it is issued that this scenario was created primarily for the attraction of destroyed assumptions, but not for the deep perception of the character of the main character, his characters gradually pushed to the margins of the narrative, as well as attempts to look inside the problems of autoimmune diseases, which were initially allocated so much time. Of course, no one demanded from the director of a mystical horror with a double, or even triple bottom, special scientific and dramatic research, but after watching, a lot of questions remain in my head that have no answers and are not at all friendly with logic. But if during the acquaintance with 'Elay' they did not make themselves felt due to the many different events, then as soon as the whole picture is formed into a single whole, then the inner skeptic is not so easy to calm, because he begins to lay out all the available material on shelves and pieces falling off from a single integral plot core cause acute discontent.
However, what Kieran Foy can not take away is the ability to escalate tension, cause intrigue and heat it up almost to the very end, even where the script fails. And if in the work on the sequel 'Sinester' Foy made a number of mistakes and almost destroyed the glorious halo of the worthy horror Scott Derrickson, then in the work on the series Mike Flanagan & #39; Ghosts of the House on the Hill' the director fully rehabilitated and still learned to use competent staging techniques in order to cause the audience a rabid heartbeat and wide open from the strain of the heart. Of course, in 'Elaya' there were not as many really creepy episodes as in 'Ghosts of Hill House' and yet many scenes were awe-inspiring, and the twisted plot allowed us to come up with many details that were sometimes even much scarier than what is shown on the screen. So Kieran Foy knows how to stir up excitement, encourage our fears to grow and scare even where there is nothing in fact, but he should work more seriously with the script group so that his film is perceived not only as a puzzle for the brain, but also a deep, thoughtful work in which logic is all right. But even with all the ambiguous moments, the story looks interesting, knows how to scare and captivate, even if not with the head.
Eli is a boy with an allergy to the world, living in a soap bubble and moving around in a suit
Finally! One of NETFLIX’s most anticipated movies came out in October. One of the producers is Trevor Macy, who has behind him ' Ghosts of Hill House' and ' Gerald's Game'. As assistants, he had Jenny Hinkie, who had a hand in 'The Curse of Annabelle'. Directed by Kieran Foy, responsible for 'Sinister'. Cherry on top of all this ' tasty by description' cake, lies actress Lily Taylor, star 'Spells' and ' Curse of the nun'.
Eli is a boy suffering from an autoimmune disease and has to wear a special suit to avoid death. He is allergic to everything, including air and water. Eli's parents, Rose (Kelly Riley; True Detective and Yellowstone) and Paul (Max Martini; Pacific Rim), make one last attempt to cure their son and go to Dr. Horn (the same Lily Taylor).
The doctor lives in a large mansion, turned it into a sterile house and receives patients, a kind of sanatorium. Eli confided in her and after the first procedure began to occur strange visions in which he sees ghosts. Good-natured ghosts want to help him and tell the truth that hides in this house.
I hasten to say right away that the film is not fixated on ghosts and they appear only a few times in the entire timeline. ' Hallucinations' the boy is misleading the viewer so much that predicting the future course of development will be very difficult. But the ending will please you, although it turned out slightly crumpled.
Just as the estate is a Frankenstein dwelling with an old Gothic horror and a hospital thriller, the story is similarly joined together. Creating a plot about a sick child, the film deftly reveals two different fears. This is a child who knows what's going on but is ignored by his parents and adults. And because of the paranoia coming from a medical thriller, when you're not quite sure of your mind or hallucinating.
Meanwhile, filmmaker Jeff Cutter is shooting Eli in the same style as Cloverfield, 10'. A few spectacular screamers and stress-filled moments really stand out, as the wrong direction of shadows is used. To deceive the eyes, different techniques are used on hidden things that are in plain sight.
As a result, the film slowly spins, increasing the tension and expectation of the finale, which will give answers only in the last 15 minutes. For the rest of the time, you may be sympathetic to the boy's family.
6.5 out of 10
Elijah burns an allergy to life: from the fresh air he catches his breath, from the green grass begin to rustle - so he would lie in a good hospital, and the parents for some reason stubbornly engaged in home treatment, hiding his son in a plastic tent, not letting a step outside the threshold of the home (possibly, the case was not covered by medical insurance), until the father found a suitable private doctor and, as usual, for everything that was, gave the child to the doctor who promised to bring him to normal, especially not spreading about the essence of his medical technique.
The boy with all his might portrays misfortune - illness, fear, a terrible house, despair - it is not known where the present ends and the imaginary begins, whether there is a sense in words or around a continuous mysticism that delays what so much fog has been caught up for, and the film flocks to one place, hiding the truth about doctors and parents, wasting time on idle tricks with ghosts, because this film was started because of one single secret, the absurdity of which betrays the limitations of the writers, who devalued so much of the hero, who wants to live with his main role.
An interesting point can be considered a play of words and numbers, which reveals Eli the true picture of reality, where the deception lies in the words of the one who most commands his trust - perhaps the only worthwhile meaning of this film, made wide-open eyes and cold faces, flashes of visions and the hidden power of the patient, forgetting about his illness along with the scriptwriters who miss the storylines, making the text of this story unreadable, thinking that their redemption will be the final surprise.
It remains to congratulate Sandy Sink, who received a fee of 80,000 greens in seven minutes in the frame, including one dynamic episode, performing a ritual role of bait in maintaining the “mystery” of the past and future, depreciating as the secrets are clarified, not so much obvious as disconcertingly ridiculous, completing a tumultuous fight on the road to hell, where the creators of this picture go, except perhaps only Charlie Shotwell, who really was not who he claimed to be.
Eli is a child with a rare disease. The bubble guy: water, dust, or air from the outside world immediately triggers an allergic reaction. His parents are struggling to save their son and enlist the help of Dr. Horn, who has healed several children with the disease. Only here with her “clean house”, stuffed with filters and air conditioning, something is wrong: some moaning, otherworldly and all that. Ghosts, of course, can only be seen by Eli, although, as the hospitable doctors assure, these are all hallucinations from taking medications.
Elay, the latest horror film in Netflix Original, relies so heavily on the haunted house cliché that it cannot but exist outside of these techniques. This shows how creative the creators approached the interpretation of the material. From the beginning, Elay emphasizes mystery; everyone has a secret. Whether it's a strange treatment that doctors are discussing, or the appearance of a mysterious neighbor. Perhaps "Elay" would have been better if many questions had not been answered. It seems that the director has gotten too carried away with plot twists; the latest and climactic scene looks virtually a cheap trick. As a result, much of "Elay" is confusing, not frightening. Being perplexed by an unknown devil is not the same as being frightened by mysterious events. Elay's script relies too heavily on the former.
Despite new experiences in the genre (ghosts bring a man who can't leave home), "Elay" never reaches a high level of atmosphere. The details of the plot turn out to be more exciting than the main concept, but at the same time they seem to destroy the whole main idea. Apparently, the creators came to an unexpected turn, not knowing where to start their film. Perhaps they did the right thing - the ending is shocking, does not seem ridiculous (on the contrary, the climax looks organic), but it is not worth it to admire much.
To the credit of the actors, they do better than not. Charlie Shotwell skillfully sighs in pain, portrays horror, and then finds his foothold. In the final, of course, he overplays a little. I was delighted to see Sadie Sink enjoying every scene.
The promising premise of "Elay" is preparing to set the stage for endless horror, but in general, a passing horror movie has come out. Perhaps a game with the position of “unreliable storyteller” or children’s fantasies would go to the picture in a plus, but in the end it all boils down to preparation for the final plot twist. This is disappointing because it seems that the whole film was created for this plot twist, which, however, looks added inadvertently.
5 out of 10
The guy from the bubble, but it's just the first look...
I will tell you right away, overall I was pleased with the viewing. "Elay" is sometimes an original mix from different genres, besides it is a film-turner. At first, it seems to be a drama that flows into a mystical thriller, the final chord of which ends with a real horror, and the unexpected denouement not only turns everything upside down and changes the focus of the narrative, but also leaves a pleasant aftertaste from what you see.
The main character, the boy Eli with zero immunity, his whole life passes behind a plastic cap (why immediately remembered the funny comedy “Bubble Boy” with Gyllenhaal). Parents in vain attempts to cure their son, bring him to a remote mansion to a specialist practicing on such diseases. The mansion is a zone clean of microbes and isolated from the outside world. At first, the child will be able to breathe fully with the hope of a full life, but everything is not as it seems at first glance. Almost immediately, he begins to feel an extraneous presence and calm turns into anxiety. This description of the plot will have to be limited, because further disclosure of details and even comparisons with similar films (after watching you will understand what films are in question), will inevitably lead to unwanted spoilers.
I won’t say that the film is perfectly tailored, but the mystical part definitely turned out. Frightening moments are sometimes quite sudden and unusual, they remind me of the first “Spell”. You definitely empathize with the main character, and this is a great merit of the young lyceum Charlie Shotwell, here he outplayed all adults, very reliably conveyed emotions and panic of his character.
The technical side is high, there is no conspicuously incomprehensible graphics. Lots of original finds, I liked the wordplay with the name of the main character. And the swift final triple massacre surprised, I have not seen this yet.
But the subject of questions traditionally can not be avoided. Logical holes, especially after the picture is formed in the head as a whole, give rise to a lot of “why” and “how”, but oddly enough, they do not affect the impression. Kieran Foy handled the production well, unlike his previous work, the sequel to “Sinister”, which came out very mediocre.
In general, "Elay" in my opinion turned out to be moderately fascinating and sometimes inventive horror, capable of intriguing and surprising. Of course, the line could be drawn more freshly and harshly to the accelerated final. But once again, there were no regrets from watching.
And be sure to pay attention to the unusual final credits, which proved to be the concept of the film. Good to see you!
