'Photo for memory ' as for me, is a great title for a horror movie. The filmmakers could easily do something original. Let go of your imagination, let go of it. But, as in most cases, Russian cinema is about copying, pasting. Just like this. The film is very similar to '. Smiley'.
By the way, the second is much better than the first. The plot is not so simple, the actors play normally, there is no cabin in the woods.
In general, if you analyze the film 'Photo for memory', then this is what happens:
Cons:
1) It's an old story. This is what we see in the movies: Last turn (accident in the woods), all sorts ' Wolf Pit', 'Operation: dead snow', 'The Walking Dead', 'Friday the 13th'and other horror stories with a cabin in the woods. Here, of course, Zenkovic tried to bring his highlight, but he failed badly. Why? Explain.
Young people gather for a party. This is unusual and can be applauded. They don’t know each other, but naturally they become friends during the trip.
Everyone is here, it's time to leave. Here comes a girl and flaunts in front of everyone's grandpa's cool car. The guy volunteered to drive someone else's car, to which the owner says: 'Pff, no problem' - and gives him the keys. What kind of owner is able to hand his ' swallow' so easily to a stranger? I don't know.
The trip started, there was an accident. And here it begins! Blood, shards of glass in the body, panic, broken legs... Children are separated: someone is looking for a home, someone is looking for help, and someone is sitting in the car and doing nothing. In general, everyone runs tudemo-shudemo like scalded. In the end, no one helps anyone, although that was the original goal. Holding my head from the fact that everything is illogical, stupid, stupid, uninteresting so still and played.
2) Editing sucks. Except for the beautifully filmed nature. Anton did his best. Only here the semantic load of the landscape did not carry, unfortunately. I think if the film was about the forest, I would have put the score higher. The visions aren't clear. The murders are fake. There is no effect of the reality of what is happening. Even the blood isn't real. Is it possible to wipe dry from the face with a clean towel? Pfft! You can! The movie shows you how to do that! It is a pity that there is no teaching lesson.
(3) Actors don't play well. First, the replicas of the heroes well, just like from poems or artistic stories. Long, with lots of turns. It’s especially funny when someone dies.
'I don't think the camera is capable of killing', 'You photographed it' Strangely, the film did not contain the word 'photocard'. I'd give him one after that.
In addition to actors, emotions are zero. Did a man die in the woods? 'Oh my God! Let's split up, I walk through the woods, and I'll go back to the hut, and you in the car & #39; 'Who killed him?''Not me' This is how the movie is about the dead.
(4) Deaths are not scary. Not even the music or any effect 'BABAH'. There is only hysterical laughter, nothing more. Either they died by chance, or they died too quickly (not even noticed), or they didn’t show death at all, and we only found the result. In short, unspeakable.
(5) The company is the main character. Everyone is important in the story one way or another. But the accents in the film are wrong. One person, I won’t spoil it, appeared only at the beginning and at the end. The girl in the car was forgotten. I had to crawl to the cabin myself. All of this is ridiculous.
The bottom line is that there are only 5 locations in the film. Three of them flash frequently. And that’s because the heroes don’t know where to go. There is no sympathy for the neighbor, actors appear and disappear. A horror story that has nothing to fear. Perhaps established such a genre, as in the film a lot of blood and one dismemberment.
Pros:
1) Landscape. Just like in 'Twilight', only more snow. Beautiful nature.
2) The single most frightening death has to do with dogs. Look at it for yourself.
(3) The final, although unexpected, seems to be logical in places, even the story was able to compare with the nonsense that was going on for 60 minutes, but still not WHY.
(4) Well, okay. So be it. Some heroes are pretty on the face. It was nice to see them.
Anton Zenkovych, a faithful cameraman of the Andreasyanov clan, proudly carries the banner of his mentors in the debut film, without departing one step from the rule “Take off and do not worry, nothing good will come out anyway.” No matter how much modern filmmakers try to raise the domestic horror industry from the bottom, from year to year this niche continues to spit out either very average works, or frankly terrifying (unfortunately, not in a good sense horrifying). To save the genre is not yet possible.
What are we seeing here? The tale, taken from old books with teenage horror stories, before our eyes takes on the shape of a nightmare, which is usually dreamed by more honest directors when they begin to doubt themselves very much or even stop making films. Zenkovich in an unknown way manages to resurrect in this nightmare everything that scares when creating a plot, setting up a camera or conducting a casting. Every scene, every shot, every editing decision makes you want to hide – get out of here, get out of the mess, run, oh, wretched, these doors will not just show you WHY NOT, these doors will risk completely depriving you of the certainty that normal cinema even exists.
Let's get to the heart of the story. There's an old-fashioned killer camera (don't tell me the idea is new, in fact even Stephen King has used it somewhere already). There are heroes who are only partially familiar with each other (what’s the point of throwing a party with those with whom you have nothing to do, and even outside the city, if it’s not some depraved orgy?). Brave "sheep for the slaughter of death" have all the signs of a lack of thinking (correctly, because natural selection will not turn on itself) and the instinct of self-preservation (there is dangerous - hurrah, I will go there!). There was also a drunken cameraman somewhere in the back – perhaps we won’t talk about him. Oh, wait a minute, that's Zenkovic himself! I decided to sit on two chairs, but broke both.
All of the above is not a brief retelling of the story. It's a series of shameful triggers raping screen time in every possible way.
The authors are afraid to be no worse than their colleagues from abroad, but it is not clear how to achieve such a comparison. Come up with a set of inventive deaths? You can, but not enough. To stir up the legend of the emergence of evil? Interesting, but not spelled out properly. References to the mystery of the camera look like random finds that do not have much meaning. The carnival of tricks is still brought to the fore, based on who, where, when and how will press the ill-fated button to release the “bird” outside. The lens is a separate hero, and you empathize with him more than with representatives of young people who wandered into the wilderness for the sake of incomprehensible entertainment. That's not a pity at all. And can characters whose characters are not drawn by a single stroke of a script pen, whose interactions with each other or with danger cause bewilderment in the most extreme degree, whose reactions and actions are truly unique because of the complete lack of thoughtfulness and logic? God, guys, let's die slowly, you're not needed here.
And the guys do die, but out of desperate stupidity, because none of the authors is interested in exploring anything but stupidity, because in this case it should lead to entertainment, which ... oops, does not happen! There is no motivation for entertainment to appear where there is only an ideological void. Even in the most disgusting form of entertainment, there is always at least something that can hold the viewer, scattering his personal time on sand shards. You can't wait here.
The absolute amateurism of Zenkovych and his team generates a frankly insignificant copycat of the genre “slasher”, which is not able to make even the slightest competition to other films, because if you do not see anything in animals in the slaughterhouse except meat, then in the end the process of killing will be only routine, and what do we do with routine? That's right, we ignore it. No one wants to do things that are not interesting.
If you create an overly poorly written plot in which you place a handful of idiot characters in space and circumstances that are not suitable for survival, but at the same time take away their last opportunity to adequately withstand the horror that arises on the horizon (let’s be honest – stealing their brains), then no additional ideas will save you. You can’t make a movie, so why go back and forth where you can’t? Even monetary interest does not justify such vain zeal, because it is not only idiots who go to the cinemas. You didn't? What a pity.
Photos are things to forget. Another spit in the face of domestic horror. Another attempt to do something by adding zero to it. Another insanity that does not even lead to madness - only to sleep. Deep and dark sleep, in whose palaces only one kind of nightmare is born - the inability to resist the degradation of oneself and the genre as a whole. Is it possible to escape from there? Anything is possible. You just have to want to.
Something kept me watching several Russian horror movies in a row, I don’t even know why. Perhaps by the age of 26 I began to turn into my father, and cinematic jingoism began to break through in me, but after "Photo for memory" his frail sprouts were safely eradicated. At least because it's one of the dumbest horror movies I've ever seen, and given the amount of thrash I'm absorbing, it's about something.
When the only plus of the picture is a modest duration, the only thing left in the review is that there is nothing to do to suck the numerous minuses. Let me start with the main thing – the local scenario can be considered a psychotropic weapon, thanks to its brain-burning stupidity. From the first scene, you start to be irradiated with waves of idiocy, and by the end credits you may well forget how to breathe. The filmmakers filmed it as an argument, or as an exercise in creativity — say, you have a bunch of walking character traits, and by the end of the day most of them have to die because of the Soviet camera. Try to fill the hole between these two plot points with a rationale for their demise. Well, as they could, and substantiated - one character naturally ran his head into the horn hanging on the wall, and the other caught the trap with an adage. And do not even remind about the death due to a small computer spider, Mikhalkov would cry.
The dialogue and logic of the characters lame on both grotesque stumps, and the motivation of their actions is sometimes simply stunning by its randomness. It would seem that in any of the billions of possible universes, none of the characters in the film should have died because of a camera lying peacefully on the table, but here you go. Listening to the hysterical debates about who photographed whom and who is to blame for everything, the main thing is not to break your forehead with your palm - get a concussion, start shooting Russian horror films, God forbid. Here I would also mention the amazingly poor acting, but, in this case, I do not even want to talk about it – no one would be able to give such stupid remarks at least in any way believable.
As for the technical part, the kinzo looks exactly at all three pennies that are declared in the budget. A couple of decent shots from the air and more or less beautiful forest locations are balanced by ridiculous makeup and excessive bluish color correction in night scenes. I want to note that when the characters, at the very beginning of the film, snuck into a stuffed moose standing in the middle of the forest, I almost choked on tea with laughter, which scared me much more than anything else kintz. As for the music - it, at times, drowned out the quarrels of the heroes, and allowed at least a little distraction from the senselessness of the current nonsense, Loys to the composer for this.
And in general, it is, of course, a funny idiot, but still, an idiot. You can laugh at it as much as you want, but you do not want to encourage this.
After reading all sorts of reviews, the film began to watch with a preconceived feeling that the next piece of junk will appear on the screen. Numerous unsuccessful attempts of domestic filmmakers to imitate American horror films are well known. Doesn't make our movies like that. And it is even good that it does not pull, because it is valuable to someone else. But the stubborn desire of domestic filmmakers to copy what was created by others and add to the treasury with the words: “This is it, ours”, sometimes strikes and introduces into a stupor.
Well, a young promising cameraman Anton Zenkovych decided to try his hand as a director of this box office, but long-suffering genre. Apparently, for a long practice of working as a production operator, he was able to find approaches to producers so that he could be trusted to shine as a director.
Yes, to be honest, it is not bad for the debut (from the camera point of view). You feel a well-positioned frame, a successful work with light, a beautiful flowercore. The hand of the master, in a word. He owns the staff. Oh, here's the director, limp on both legs. There are two undeniable proofs. The first is the inability to work with a deliberately weak scenario. Still, it was possible to redraw it under the director’s vision, hide numerous kleshes and correct the stupid actions of the heroes. It hasn't been fixed. On the contrary, carefully emphasized. And the second: the inability to get the actors to play. Some in the frame regularly replay, as in student KVN-e. And others do not play at all, but only try to remember their lines, read recently from the sheet. And this is all very noticeable.
Perhaps Anton will take these mistakes into account in the future if he plans to work as a director and director further.
The plot of the film is very primitive, predictable and, in some places, ridiculous. Genre: The thriller, the message to which is given in the description, does not smell here. Question: What kind of camera is this? Who invented it or when did it appear? For what purpose? Why did he keep working for so many years? Is there an answer to any of them? No, of course not. The subject is not fully covered. It's just there. This is an evil, perpetual camera. It lies like a magical artifact that appeared out of nowhere. It turns out that in front of us is not a thriller, but another terrible fairy tale in the spirit of the already exhausted numerous parts of the American & #39; Destination Points'.
Before us there is another group of young people in which no one is sorry. For heroes as real people, in the plot, are not revealed completely. No characters, destinies, interests, aspirations. There are some cardboard men who at one point begin to be cut one by one. And they do not empathize, because already in the initial frames of the film it becomes clear - these characters are introduced into the plot with one goal: to be killed. One can only guess: who will be killed immediately, and who will be allowed to live to the end.
Anton Zenkovych took this primitive path in his work. Why burden the viewer with intricacies of fate? It is easier to immediately trap in the head, and splash more blood to cause the audience delight.
And someone was really excited about what they saw. Not for nothing in one of the interviews was heard happy with the spectacle of the exclamation: ' Finally, our learned to make horror movies' Strange reaction. Did they? Or was it another... not even a blank shot, but ... a fart from a causal place?
And we will answer this question with concrete examples taken from the plot. After watching among the heaps of inconsistencies, three very significant plot blunders came to the first place, with which I can not reconcile. I don’t know who screwed up here more: the screenwriter, or the debutant-director who did not notice this nonsense.
And the fact is that the 8mm film copies had no sound recording! On tapes like lying in a safe in the house, there were no soundtracks in principle. Therefore, the voice of the scientist Abrikosov could not sound from the screen. It just couldn't be recorded. And not to know about this professional cinematographer, simply, not allowed. Well, since the plot was rushed to release a picture with a sound, instead of film, you could safely put a video tape. It wouldn't even be too time-sensitive. Since in the early 90s, video recording as such was already widespread. Well, instead of a movie camera, would put in the frame VM-12 - also a very rare thing. It turned out to be nonsense. For which I wanted to slap Mr. Zenkovich a juicy underhead.
The second thing, perhaps even dumber than the first, is trying to get away by boat in winter. Was anyone in the creative group too bad with fantasy? After all, it was necessary to come up with a story in the conditions of a harsh winter, and then offer: ' Let's go by boat' It is easier then on the sled ... from the slide.
And the third, and in the course of the story, the first. Entering the house, our suffering heroes see a photo of their car. Well, then they've all been shot, and they're automatically doomed, according to the plot of the film. They were in that car, weren't they? The car's in the frame. So what's the question? What’s the point of shooting each one separately? Apparently, just to get the timing. Or does an evil camera only work on individual portraits? Well, then the cops who at the very end of the plot posed at the scene of the crime, too, nothing bad shines. An evil camera will not put everyone at once, otherwise the plot will begin to contradict itself. For a moment, I will dwell on this phrase: The police are posing at the scene of the crime... nothing strange. Opera groups are always photographed on call. This is a tradition: first everyone take a picture, and only then start the investigation.
And then you can continue to talk about disgusting acting, about inappropriate behavior of characters about idiotic dialogue, etc.
But I would like to conclude with two positive points: I really liked the music and camera work in the film. After all, Anton Zenkovych is a classy operator.
Russian filmmakers have long been willing to keep up with American cinema. “Defenders” was a pathetic attempt to recreate the superhero movie, “Metro” and “Crew” of the disaster film, “Personal Number” of the action movie and the list can go on and on. If in each of the attempts there are a couple of more or less successful examples, then the genre of horror films is not given to domestic filmmakers in any and this film directed by Anton Zenkovych was not an unnecessary example.
The success of The Queen of Spades, The Bride and The Mermaid proved that Russia is rich in numerous legends, myths and fairy-tale characters that can easily become the basis of successful and popular paintings of the genre. However, the creators of the tape did not step on the proven track and again decided to go the way of S.S.D. and Dislike in another unsuccessful attempt to adapt American trends of horror films to the domestic audience.
Not only that, the creators of the tape dullly copied the plot of such films as “Destination” and “Truth or Action”, as well as the stories “Lethal Photo” by R. L. Stein. So, combining them on the screen, the creators of the tape came up with an extremely stupid and frankly ridiculous story that absolutely “does not feel” when watching this tape. The potential of history may be there. But the further the plot develops, the more strongly the creators of the tape begin to spit on it from the high bell tower. Persecuting the audience with frankly stupid plot twists, absolutely illogical and stupid actions of the main characters, as well as terrible dialogues that cause only laughter and a desire to instantly erase what you saw from your memory.
“Photo in memory” became the directorial debut for “Anton Zenkovic”, who is “better known” as the operator of such films as “The Queen of Spades”, “The Route is Built”, “The Mermaid”. Lake of the Dead and the coming Yaga. The nightmare of the dark forest.” Hence, it is not surprising that the lack of directorial experience makes itself felt throughout the film. The film catastrophically lacks a strong atmosphere of tension and suspense, which in this tape does not smell and close. Moreover, the spectacular scenes of deaths seem absolutely boring, and the film itself seems frankly long even with a modest timekeeping of 77 minutes. One of the joys is that the film is quite pleasant for the eyes. Here the operator experience Zenkovych made itself felt in full.
The cast was not impressed at all. Some actors are completely underplayed throughout the tape. Others willingly overplay and this mess even more lubricates the impression of what they saw on the screen.
1 out of 10
A souvenir photo is another pathetic and ridiculous attempt by domestic filmmakers to master the genre of horror films. Not causing horror from the events taking place on the screen, but from the fact that the creators of the tape are trying to call it a feature film. Frankly boring, absolutely ridiculous and stupid film, which is catastrophically difficult to watch to the end.
The operator of the films “The Mermaid”, “The Route is Built”, “The Queen of Spades: The Black Rite” Anton Zenkovych decided to try himself as a director. The result was a clichéd parody of either the foreign "Polaroid", or the genre itself.
It all started not so bad – in the beginning an intriguing story about a strange camera invented in the USSR, changing reality for the worse. All this is seasoned with a pleasant color scheme and the only positive aspect of the film - the soundtrack.
This is followed by an absolute bacchanalia with ugly developments, stupid deaths and disgusting acting. "Photo for memory" - mediocre, one-day nonsense, which should not be released on the big screens at all.
P.S. If anyone knows where to find this heavenly soundtrack, let me know.
Of course, I am in some ways pleased with the direction of our cinema with an emphasis on a variety of horror films. Over the past few years, there have been enough paintings of domestic production in this genre. It is worth noting that among them there were even a few good ones, although of course most of them were completely lousy and I would even say disgusting quality. However, for our cinema this is absolutely not surprising and our crooked filmmakers successfully shoot as a rule only niche junk for housewives. I think that you should not expect from the operator such masterpieces ' as ' Santa Claus: Battle of the Magicians' and also ' Friends of Friends' at least something worthy. But on the other hand, Anton Zenkovych managed to work with Podgaevsky on 'The Queen of Spades' and even take part in the production of the film 'The Route is Built' which are also generally horror films. Alas, but past mistakes are clearly not taken into account, besides, Zenkovych took little from his colleagues.
A group of young people goes to a small country house for rest. But an unexpected accident in every sense destroys their plans for a decent vacation. The thing is that the road jumps out of nowhere taken deer, which immediately dies under the wheels of the car, and the young people themselves are left without a means of transportation and are forced to save themselves. After a while, they get to a hut near the scene of the accident and find a strange camera there, which turns out to be quite a sinister thing.
To be honest, it's really hard for me to start with anything good, because there's really nothing good about it. The film was disgusting in literally every aspect. And the problem here is not even in the plot, or rather not only in it, although it is simple, but with a decent implementation of the story it would be possible to pull at least something watchable. And in fact, the script, dialogue and even the acting of most local actors limp on both legs. Literally all the characters behave like real idiots, they do absolutely illogical things and thereby produce some kind of epic nonsense. You look at all this action and you don’t know if you need to laugh or turn off this obscenity to hell, because in some places it’s just something worthy of an episode from the Benny Hill show.
Probably for a long time you should not count on something really high-quality in the genre of horrors from our thrashadells, but I can not deny myself the viewing of another obscenity. Just because I love the genre and still want to see at least the first good horror film from our manufacturer. But this desire is likely to remain at the level of some completely unattainable fantasies. 'Photo for memory' turned out to be a complete obscenity and you should probably watch it only in a state of alcoholic intoxication, well, just to get at least some satisfaction from viewing. In the end, only Irina Temicheva pleased, banal because a beautiful lady, and almost the only one who more or less adequately played in this theater of the absurd.
2 out of 10
I try to evaluate films based on the correspondence of what is happening on the screen to the genre to which this film belongs. If "Photo for memory", more simply, belonged to the comedy and detective genres, then, perhaps, this picture would deserve a strong "four". But call this 'masterpiece' a horror movie, and even a thriller... I won't say anything. . .
2. Actors
Up to this point in all the reviews I tried to evaluate the performance of the main actors of each picture and give them some assessment. In the case of this 'a masterpiece' I don't even want to look at the item 'Starring' as the faces on the screen don't deserve it. I know that two girls of this "#39" thriller & #39; were noticed by me in low-grade sitcoms from TNT ("Deffchonki" and a faithful friend of Serge Gorely). I suspect that the Armenian character Gagik is also a native of this steppe. What can we talk about here, if comedy representatives are taken to the cast for such a genre?
No acting! It's just zero! Think about the spider situation. During this 'action' I, as they say, ' went into the Vostoyan' Oscar to that crumb! Bravo! With this point I will finish, or I am afraid that I will not finish the review because of laughter.
3. Plot
He's so original. Joke. Stamp on a stamp, cliché on a cliché, pattern on a template. And all this is seasoned with the illogical actions of the main characters and their stupid dialogues. In the nomination 'The most unadapted character to life' the main prize I would give Gagik. His version of the talk show made me pause and laugh. The prize for the second place I would give to the pussy. God, I don't even want to paint this. Just know that these two characters are the most infuriating and the most remote objects on the screen.
And also pissed off the moment with the decision not to show the viewer fate ' Deffchunky'. Well, why? Really, why? The creators, apparently, wanted us at least once in the whole film to use our gray matter and think it over.
Result:
A low-grade film that doesn’t give a damn. This is a ridiculous black comedy. And the funny thing is that laughter is caused by moments that the creators did not make comedic accents. But the moments that the creators wanted to make funny (jokes about fat people, jokes about people of Caucasian nationality) cause only the desire to bring a hand to face with shame. It is one hundred percent ' unit'. No other way.
The Russian person due to the fact that he is not pampered, no Motherland in life will not bring to his knees.
We are not afraid of turning off hot water in the summer for 2 weeks, which is why at the time of repair we pre-install flowing boiler water heaters so as not to water ourselves from a watering pot or from a basin.
We are not intimidated by the quality of the Russian automotive industry, which is why we buy foreign cars.
We will never have enough jitters because of the curved roads, because we prefer SUVs with high suspension.
Russian films are rarely released (1 cinema & #39;made in Russia' average 15-20 films 'made in U.S.A.'); and we watch our films even less often. In rare cases, we decide to take a risk and not spoil the evening.
But the evening is ruined. I didn’t expect much from this movie, but it came out even less. I have not waited so long for the film to end.
In Russia, the business of shooting high-quality films is lame. Let us not be optimistic, patriotic, ready to swallow any broken bottle and step on any landmine. “The Adventures of Shurik” are brilliant, although they are many years old, films about sports are shot with special love, about space – with the pride of Neil Armstrong. They try to feed us every 3 months from all guns with films about the war.
But, thrillers and horror films - not ours, so to speak. Although there was, there was one movie... "Traveler." It's just amazing!
But back to this movie. These 70 minutes are filled with faces on which emptiness, stupidity, lack of those emotions that should be in people who are threatened by an invisible enemy and chased at the speed of a cheetah unstoppable death.
Take facial expressions as an example. No fear on the faces. Only a slight panic, incomprehensible confusion, fear, but not that soon you will say goodbye to life, but rather the moment when the actor forgot to pronounce the text of his role, which all night crammed until morning in the kitchen, and now is afraid to screw up in front of the director and not pass the acting tests.
Replicas pour waterfalls from the lips of the heroes, like verbal diarrhea, meaningless speeches, stupid, not adapted to the current conditions in the picture.
Again, an example: the police, who arrived out of business, just horrified by the bloody massacre, and then happily exclaims: “and let’s all take a picture in one shot”, asks for a photo as if this is not a service associated with the investigation of bloody brutal crimes, but a graduation evening, a meeting of old fellow soldiers.
In general, the screenwriter did not reveal his genius, and the actors did not even try to play the roles at least slightly satisfactory.
The selection of actors is so very lame. There is no character even outwardly disposed to give him sympathy and worry for him. The case when you wait without a drop of pity to kill all the characters in this dull film, turn off the computer and go with the dog to walk outside, get some fresh air.
Although the camera predictor of the future is something new, but only in the idea.
In fact: neither the operator, nor the screenwriter, nor the actors could reveal the essence of the idea and bring it to the viewer. Just like the beginning of the film: the characters do not know each other, go in the same car to nature, wild, straight to Taiga, Siberia, no less. Question: How and where did you meet? Where were you going? Why? The subject is not disclosed!
I want the movie to end as soon as possible. Fear and horror do not wait, here rather a stupid comedy and a thousand-year longing intertwined.
After all, there were American thrillers of high quality: “wow a ride”, “the Blair witch”, “fever”, “cabin in the woods” and many others.
The conclusion of my review: even domestic cinema will not break the spirit of the Russian people!
3 out of 10. Just for the idea of a camera. Otherwise, the unit is too high for this kinz. As my bitch-teacher at the institute used to say: ' The troika is also an assessment, and it must be earned'. Oh, God judge her. . .
The real horror is a boring movie, with no backstory, logic, an interesting plot and at least the slightest hint of horror.
3 out of 10
“Photo for memory” is another quiet horror from domestic directors, every month issuing a new “horror”. What has long been traveled far and wide abroad, is actively implemented here and is done so incompetently that from the first minutes you say to yourself: “I do not believe!”
A company of people, a trip outside the city, a broken car on a deserted road and, of course, the typical behavior of those doomed to death, when the group is like sheep scattered in different directions and looking for adventures in one place. In short, modern horror films, and especially domestic ones, do not bring anything new to the genre. Except for new types of deaths and rare new episodes. There are, of course, horror films that stand out from the general canvas (“A Quiet Place” or “Away”, for example), but there are few of them.
As for “Photos for Memory” – its plot is built around the very templates described above: a company of people (and it is not clear on what principle this group was formed, because exactly half were unfamiliar to each other), a trip out of town and breakdown. Seven people in the van – three girls and four guys. If some of them are connected by family and personal ties, then some of the rest raise questions. How did they get into this company – on a university ad, like Emily Blunt’s “Ghosts” or Brad Pitt and David Duchovny’s “California,” or were invited by someone who was organizing a party out of town? Then why, if someone invited them, collected them first in a cafe, and then sent them to his cottage, and not immediately waited for each of them there?
Everything that happened next, immediately after their journey began, began to look like an absolute farce in which 1. Each step of the heroes is predicted 2. In the emotions of the characters do not believe a minute, because the acting leaves much to be desired 3. Some deaths look incredibly wild in terms of realism and objectivity.
How bad everything here can be judged by the episode with a wild beast knocked down on the road, which did not cross the road, but simply stood still. Well, make the beast at least turn its head in the direction of a moving object, which will make the frame more dynamic and spectacular, well, do so. That at the last second he sees a car coming at him, makes an attempt to jerk, but does not have time to bounce to the side! Due to this, it would be possible to achieve a positive effect, and instead it turned screaming from a cut on the hand Gagik.
The only thing for which I can note “Photos for Memory” from the positive side is the death of the first hero (unusual) and a fresh photo on the wall in the house, which makes it clear to both the viewer and the heroes that some damn thing is happening in this forest. The film is very bad.
The utterly idiotic behavior of survivors amounts to distrust of each other, not a collective search for salvation. And the way out was very simple - to push the fucking camera on the shelf and forget about it. Why would you bring him anywhere and everywhere with you? Why try to scare off rocked animals with the help of a camera, because you can save a person with a simple stick that can warm a beast along the ridge, which makes him remember for a long time that it is impossible to bite a person! Really! The actions of the characters are illogical and stupid. I don’t know about Muscovites, but there’s no way I’m going to go through a dark Siberian forest to shorten my way to my destination. Even if you get to the other side of the thicket, it is not a fact that along the way you will not break your head against trees, stumble on protruding roots or fall into a hole, or fall on the broken glass left by negligent mushroom pickers! How do you come to the conclusion that if you go into the woods, you can get to the house where you went faster, because the house is somewhere straight, not to the right or left of the car.
Why return to a house that has already brought you trouble, why again tempt fate and risk being devoured by some cannibal à la “Turn the wrong way”?! Why sit there in the dark when it is clear that there is light in the house - for fear of being caught by a maniac? There were no preconditions for the appearance of the villain! The film does not answer the basic question: why was such a camera created? What did he do when he created the devil? How the space-time continuum compresses space, bringing the person in the photo closer to death and why this death becomes so cruel, perhaps an evil spirit has invaded the camera (then this is understandable).
The top of all the thrashing is the final scene, translating the previous 65 minutes of the film from the category of “horror” into lyrics, where the survivors, psychologically broken from the horror experienced, should be in a state of shock and stupor, and they ask idiotic questions about the possibility of taking a photo, and someone else smiles as if nothing had happened. Special note deserves and law enforcement officers, freely photographed at the crime scene and even with witnesses.
But look at you. I do not impose my opinion on anyone.
2018, to my pleasant surprise, became very rich in significant domestic premieres in the genre of thriller and horror. The pioneers come and set their vector in this direction. Take, for example, Svyatoslav Podgaevsky’s Mermaid and Nadezhda Mikhalkova’s Lost Place. At the exit, we get quite original ideas that will find their viewer anyway. The spoiled viewer’s eye is not dazzled by houses with ghosts, spiritualistic sessions and other template themes (except for the film by Evgeny Abyzov & #39; Guests & #39); It’s not a good idea, but it’s a good idea!
So, a memory photo. There is an idea and there is a realization. Uncomplicated backstory, a little acquaintance with the main characters and a simple plot line. Well, that's all. Here we go! In the literal and figurative sense of the word. On the way, as usual, they get into trouble, then seek shelter, the net naturally does not catch, stumble upon an old house in the middle of the forest and rushed. There is not quite logical behavior of our main characters in different situations, and emotions are quite tolerable. You really believe and feel this shock. Next is an unpredictable, but not unremarkable, turning scenario. Well, after all the dynamic action follows a strong ambiguous finale. So what does this simple picture take in terms of its event series?
The fascinating atmosphere of a quiet winter forest, which seemed to be frozen in time, the oppressive entourage of an old dilapidated house that stands alone in the wilderness and a beautiful compositional work. Plus to all of the above, a great idea and a lively action that keeps you awake and keeps your pace throughout the entire duration.
7 out of 10
In 1992, the book of the popular children's writer in the genre of horror R. L. Stein was published under the title "Deadly photo". The book was about young people who found a camera that could predict the future, but in a very interesting way: from Polaroid you could get pictures of the consequences of injuries with those who were not lucky enough to get in the photo of the ill-fated device. In 1996, the book was filmed in the format of an episode of the children's series "Goosebumps". Interestingly, it was played by an unknown and quite young Ryan Gosling. It is not known whether the creators of “Photo for Memory” drew inspiration from Stein’s books, the series, etc., and I do not want to somehow accuse our filmmakers of blatant plagiarism (especially, I admit that the theme of the killer camera could have been before Stein), but parallels can be safely drawn. With one remark: "Photo for memory", despite all the creativity (and secondary) of the idea, made quite gaggy, boring, strange, and the performers are far from Gosling, even if the boy's age.
And the point here is not that the idea of death due to an incredible coincidence was used earlier in other works (primarily in "Destination") in itself. And not even that against the background of existential dramas, low-quality comedies and patriotic blockbusters, our creators turned to the most difficult, in my opinion, genre for Russian cinema - horror. Just “Photo for memory” is made so spitty that even the status of “first pancake” (ah, how many there were) Russian horror does not save. Weak script, stupid characters, bad dialogue, actors throwing jagged lines at the camera, plot holes ... the list goes on. The package includes a nomination for the most shameful deaths in Russian cinema, a bad green screen, sterile scenery and, of course, poorly written characters.
The main drawback of “Photo for memory” is still, I think, not all of the above, and not even secondary. The fact is that the timing of the picture is a little more than an hour, but the horror is incredibly long. The atmospheric series from Goosebumps conveyed the same plot in 20 minutes (and added a plot twist with an atmospheric ending). As for “Photos for memory”, most of the scenes in the film are added for merciless stretching of timekeeping. The same scenes (!) are repeated several times (yes, the video segment is unchanged), and from the material that is presented in the picture, little is clear.
The second main drawback of “Photo for memory” is the primitiveness of what is happening. I mean that 10-15 years ago, such a project could have taken place, but given the fact that the tendency of recent years to give out something socially relevant behind the mask of horror (“It”, “Out”, “A Quiet Place”, etc.) similar ' just horror' can hardly have the right to life. And taking into account the fact that “Photo” is made at the level of, well, almost a student project, I just want to hope that further representatives of “Russian horror”, preparing for release in 2018-2019, will not be an example better.
3 out of 10
Russian plagiarism for 'Destination Point' 'Turn the wrong way' 'Sinister 2'
In the Instagram profile of Anastasia Zenkovych saw parts of the film and was interested in watching in the movies. I came and saw such absurdity, which can be seen in any Russian cinema.
1. Acting. Unfortunately, she's gone. Why is it so bad?! I saw actors in other movies and TV series and they played there not bad. What's changing here?! I don't understand. It seems that the director does not know how to work with actors.
2. The atmosphere. The atmosphere was reminiscent from afar of the film 'Sinistria'. Sound accompaniment can be found directly from the notes. But it's also very bad. If you wanted to keep the viewer really at bay or at least in a slight fright, you had to work harder on the atmosphere of the film. To add the sound effect of each rustle ... in general very sad here
3. Plot. You can see it from the beginning. People who like to go to horrors will understand everything from the beginning. It's a stupid move to twist the plot like that and then reveal the hero in seconds. No matter how you try to transfer the cards to another person, you failed. . .
4. Shooting. Not bad general views, but at the same time, when the action begins, everyone spoils the silent scenes or the transition to a black background. . Why?! Not clear.
Of the pluses, I can highlight some moments of the game Nastya Zenkovic ... I liked the game at the end of the film ... the beginning: as K. S. Stanislavsky would say - 'I don't believe'
A very cool idea, a concept, but why you try to copy from Western films plots, music, and other pieces that do not fit into the film is not clear. Create your own... Do you have enough ideas, it is not difficult to implement?
To sum up. Pretty much everything's bad. Horror didn't come out. There's not one normal scare. There's no such thing as action. BUT: There is a good concept, there is a story that somehow comes to an end.
3 out of 10
Plus, the picture itself is not disgusting. The flower is normal.
Em. The rest of the minuses... For this “something” cannot be seen without sticking your hand to your forehead (if you understand me). It is better to avoid it altogether.
Acting. It's a celebration of mediocrity. I don’t know any of the actors and I thought they were recruited in the yard and everyone was playing for the first time. It's disgusting. Everything is so fake that you can see everything from the beginning. After the first episode from the past, everything falls below... and below... the plinth.
Music. I can't remember. There are no interesting melodies or creative approaches to immersion in the atmosphere.
Screenplay. That’s probably the worst thing about this movie. I haven't seen so much shit in a long time. Every 2 minutes, if not less, you sit there and sigh, saying, ‘How come you’re kidding me?’ The stupidity of what's going on is overwhelming. All the actions of the heroes make you catch facepalm. And it happens all the time. People will never talk like that. They will never react that way to what happens. And if it were a couple of conventions that you can close your eyes to, but no! It happens in every scene, in every character reaction. And yes, idiotic screamers will make only the one who came to horrors for the first time in his life shudder. They are very bad and not inventive.
In the end, they somehow try to make a denouement of the plot, however, no one is going to explain what kind of camera, where, etc.
Technical issues. First, there has never been such a camera. (If that's the creators' fantasy, well, okay.) Then at least act logically. That photo they appear in a second, then they wait and wait. And they're indoors. On the street they appear according to science, as if. Longer. I’ve even talked about it a couple of times.
Their iPhones would have died long ago in this cold. Much sooner than they talk about it.
Jacket! Leather jacket! In this weather?! Seriously?! Are they going out of town in light clothes?!
In the context of the plot, it was mentioned that the nearest settlement is 20 km away. However, behind the house on the lake you can see that there is life on that shore. Lights are on, etc. This is at least 3-5 km.
And also no character development, no arches, no suspense (especially).
Ah! They're also making progress. No way. Thanks. That's enough.
2 out of 10
I watched the film 'Photo for memory '. I think we should put in a few words for him. I’ll give you a good estimate, because I like that the national cinema is trying to create something. Let’s be fair to him and remember that in the West the percentage of bad movies is much higher.
Now for the movie itself. It didn't work. From a delicious and juicy trailer, I expected to see the atmosphere. The Soviet Union or its echo. Even in the series 'Chernobyl' it managed to do better. There was also a house littered with Soviet rubbish, which directly shouted with a deer’s head that he was from Samo-Reimievsky & #39; Evil Dead'. A clichéd country trip, unnatural actions of the heroes. I am not an actor and I have nothing to do with this path, but it seems to me that first of all, a talented professional, in addition to acting out a talentless script, needs to be able to bring something of his own to the role, to animate it with intonations and perhaps even successful improvisations. In this movie, the actors talk as if from a piece of paper, scattering well-learned, but poorly written dialogues on timekeeping. The monologues stagger with their Sherlock Holmes-style conclusions: 'I saw the hook, so he's a fisherman, so he has a boat!' My computer has headphones at home. So I'm a radio operator and I have a radio station in the basement! An amazing deduction!
Despite everything, the girls in the frame look great. Irina Temicheva and Anastasia Ukolova please the eye and slightly pull the ribbon. No, not one that should manifest itself and correct distortions in the space-time continuum. Irina sometimes replays, but the finale forgives these flaws, explaining them to some extent by the peculiarity of the plot. Big and fat plus! In addition, her character managed to remind me of such an old horror movie as Mushrooms & #39;. Anastasia Ukolova the whole film is simply magnificent and very similar in its role to Chloe Moretz, looks organic and there are no complaints about her behavior in the frame. Bunny is good too, but she needs to work more on herself. The death of her character looks ridiculous, but rather terrible.
Also, the film does not show adequate reactions to 'shot'. All photo-heroes immediately begin to water the photographer with mat. It's a bit unnatural.
The final is great in itself.
Otherwise, the film has a kind of underatmosphere. The vintage isn't real, you don't believe in it. Huge questions for the composer. And the budget of the picture is very strange, if you evaluate the scale of the film crew. Maybe not bad for an indie project. Like an ordinary Western horror film pro ' Mushrooms' or ' Turning the wrong way' pulls and takes place. Thanks to the film, which showed for me such actors as Irina Temicheva and Anastasia Ukolova - it will be interesting to watch their further career.
I will not advise anyone – let everyone decide for themselves. Personally, I supported the picture with the ruble and I think it is right - the guys still tried. If someone has the opinion that he can shoot better - I will gladly go to the movies to see his masterpiece. Thank you all!
To be honest, I went to the film out of despair, just because my friend got bored and she dragged me to the movies, and this week there was nothing interesting for me. I expected the worst, as many people did, because the room was almost empty. We even came to the beginning of the session and sat in the wrong seats. But suddenly I liked the movie. Not a bad movie, with black humor, albeit slightly lame logic. Someone accuses the film of plagiarizing Paraloid, but, first of all, it is science fiction, and the aforementioned film is mystic. And if, frankly, Pararalod can turn out to be even more logical and absurd, because this is mysticism, which means more delirium. Seconda has a much more pleasant and understandable backstory than an American camera. At least, because mysticism is in horror. Even if there are coincidences, it is adaptation, not plagiarism. And adaptation, better than many other Russian.
A little bit about the camera. I'm not going to tell you too much, I'm just going to say that the Second was a nice addition to the culture. Photography is an important part of our culture. And then, it is enough to recall the tales about the red film, and end with the belief that the photograph is the imprint of the soul. And a second fits perfectly into the story. It's part of our culture and it's nice.
As for the characters, they are pleasant, behave quite adequately, except for some moments, but it does not reach facepalm. By the way, one such moment was taken away by the film itself. The actors played well, but in some places clumsy. As for the logic of the film, it can be worse.
The black comedian was very pleased. She's a bit, but she's not stupid. What the final scene is worth.
As a result, Photo is not a bad entertaining film, better than some of its colleagues in the genre. There are no screamers here, and this is already a plus. You can watch it, you can watch it.
When horrors truly frighten and fear takes root in consciousness itself
Somehow unnoticed in the new cinema-Russia, a galaxy of young directors has developed, trying the genre of “horrors” or “hard fiction” on the tooth. It is not for nothing that almost every year the audience is offered a variety of examples of paintings for people with strong nerves. “Bride”, “Courier”, “Lady of Spades”, and even the new-fangled “Draft” has an element of “suspense” inside a fantastic story.
While you do not specifically think about it, all these films seem to stand apart, but even if you just start watching the trailers of “horror movies”, it is immediately clear how many of them have become.
Especially noticeable in this sense is the “party” that develops around the already famous director Svyatoslav Podgaevsky. Here is his constant collaborator, the operator, related to such projects as “The Queen of Spades” and the future “horror” "Mermaid", decided to try to remove his own project.
The film is a classic concept of an enclosed space and an abandoned mysterious house, where a company of young people accidentally falls. Of course, all of them will soon begin to die – and here, in its surprise variants of their deaths, the film may even rival the famous Destination. But the “chip” with an old camera, playing the role of a mystical force is a purely domestic witty fiction.
Personal experiences. Of course, without bloody moments nowhere, and the film is not for the faint of heart. But you can’t say that it’s so scary, and it was impossible to watch. You don’t feel like you’re afraid of everything, like sleeping in the dark. Nope. The film is very interesting and very intriguing, but for the strong nerves of the audience.
Adults can recommend “Photo for memory” as a very good example of a movie of a certain genre, and with the appropriate attitude, you even need to watch it.
8 out of 10
For a long time, the domestic manufacturer did not please good horror, and each of these rare specimens is another attempt to find something worthwhile. So I decided to try - it didn't work. . .
The plot tells about a group of "teenagers" who go, WARNING, it is unclear where, because nothing specific on this score the author will not tell us for the whole film, but only hint about some reality show. During the trip, of course, everything goes wrong, and the guys find themselves in a hunting lodge, where they find a camera. What would you think? They start taking pictures. . .
“Photo for memory” amazes with its stupidity in absolutely every plot detail. Separate hello to the writer! It is impossible to comment in detail, because there will be spoilers, but I can not share my impressions either. Everything here is so ineptly drawn by the ears that you involuntarily ask yourself the question: “And what am I not a screenwriter?”, because even my ordinary sick imagination is enough to write such nonsense... Each of the characters behaves as illogically as possible, which is very striking. Well, the final scene with the final dialogue generally causes severe diarrhea. You just have to watch it.
To be fair, despite the fact that every character in the film is a complete moron, most of the actors I liked. Operator work, in my opinion, was also done in good faith. And of the pluses, perhaps everything...
Verdict: "Photo for memory" is a "destination point", wrapped in a thick impenetrable package of wild delirium, with the absence of any logical chain. I just don’t have the words to fully describe it without spoilers! And who would know my indignation at knowing I paid for it? Fortunately, there were only three people like me in the room.
P.S. If “Kinopoisk” did not forget to indicate that one of the producers is respected Mr. Andreasyan, and we are convinced of this when watching the opening credits, it would hardly be possible to drag me to this session. Don’t watch this movie if you value your time. But if you are a lover of absurd horrors, in which the main characters do not escape, but, on the contrary, do absolutely everything in order to go, then I ask you for mercy. .
I really love the horror genre and try to watch all the best representatives of the genre. But going to a Russian horror movie is always a kind of lottery - you never know what you will get. It can be a terrible thrash, and maybe a great picture better than many Hollywood. With the same feeling, we went to watch “Photos for memory”. Strangely enough, this time the movie did. If I didn’t know, I wouldn’t have thought the film was Russian.
The plot is really interesting. The killer camera is something new. Reminds me of my adored Destination and Call. There, too, a lot of horror was associated with photos, but here the evil from them comes directly. Polaroid photos give such a pleasant retro-taste. The main characters go on vacation, but they do not suspect what troubles await them ahead. Accident, misunderstanding where you are, the inability to call for help and as a result - overnight in a remote abandoned mansion, you will agree, it's still trouble.
And then the comrades get into a strange house and let's explore the area. Finding an old house nearby, they decide to find out if the chito is in it and, once inside, realize that it is empty, since it was abandoned many years ago. After searching the rooms, they find a camera inside and take photos. Only no one knew that after this, the boys and girls will come to death!
Here we are waiting for a good old house with creaks and sounds, surrounded by a dark sinister forest. In short, the most beautiful setting for a strong horror. The atmosphere of fear, cold and hopelessness is created perfectly. You don’t have to watch the trailer to realize that it’s not a good idea to touch old things like an old photo.
But I imagine myself perfectly in the place of these guys - well, who would resist a photo with such a technique? And then, according to all the laws of the genre, capetz begins in the best traditions, when the heroes are mowed one by one. It is worth saying that the creators manage to create tension. You sit on the edge of a chair and wait for who's next and what happens next. Very pleased with the ending, which really gives a taste of surprise. The creators really enjoyed it.
The actors coped well with their task, although sometimes they actively overplayed. Who didn't have any questions was Sanjar Madi. He's a pretty guy, but he turns out to be quite talented. Not so long ago, he was completely criticized for one single role, but in “Photo for memory”, as for me, he was completely rehabilitated. At least in horror, he found his place and played on a level.
Overall, I’m very happy that I didn’t resist allowing myself to be dragged to the cinema. I think it was more fun than Astral 4. It's nice when the movie turns out to be better than you expect, and the trailer for some time does not lie. I highly recommend this movie to everyone who likes horror stories about houses in the forest.
8 out of 10
Promising trailer 'Photo for memory', admittedly intrigued. Very few domestic films of this genre are produced and this film promised to be good: a beautiful picture, an interesting idea, a large-scale PR company and the name of the director played a role. And so on X-Day I went to the cinema to witness this ' masterpiece ' cinematic art.
The plot of the film tells about a group of teenagers who decide to make a party in an unknown hut. However, ' higher forces' against and throw deer young people. Without noticing the animal, the driver knocks it down, flattening the windshield, and thereby causing injuries and fainting in friends. Does that ring a bell? Yes, the film just shines with clichés and predictable twists. But wait, this is just the beginning. When they wake up, they decide to share: one group goes to the forest to look for a hut about which he knows nothing (of course, such a life situation - what else to do at night in the woods??), the second remains in the car, and the last man goes to the track to catch a ride.
At this point, all my expectations fell to dust. Then I started looking at the movie as a second-rate horror movie. Yeah, a little about that. The film positions itself as a thriller, but in fact it is a regular slasher. And with particularly detailed scenes of murder. I don't know how he got a 16+ rating. To look at the massacres was really disgusting - to gag reflexes.
But back to our sheep. The guys find a house, and in it a camera, which, as it turns out, knows how to kill. God, what nonsense goes on. So many inconsistencies, so many questions: Why? Why? How? Why are there so many police cars? The character knew nothing about what was happening. Why did the girl break down the door? Why would she do that when she could just open it? I won’t write them all because they are spoilers. But writers 'respect' make fantasy work.
A word about realism. More specifically, her absence. The wound is 10 centimeters long, bleeding through the palms for exactly a minute while they pull out the shard. But after a while, the character with the same hand carries things and no trace of blood is visible. Mm, beautiful, right? The Guinness Book of Records cries for him. You can go on about realism endlessly - because it simply does not exist here.
Acting. Everyone's playing disgusting. There is not a single person I would like to appreciate. I. Temicheva is simply terrible in her role: I have not seen such falsehoods for a long time.
The point of acting is usually the most unfolded. Alas, there's nothing to say. It's very, very bad.
The musical accompaniment is monotonous and boring. In the beginning there was a promising track, but it quickly disappeared and did not live up to expectations.
The only thing you can put a fat plus - operator work. Really beautiful landscapes, atmospheric picture, rich shots, good color correction. In short, everything is super.
Bottom line: in general, it was a good idea, but the way our domestic writers and directors shot it is only disgusting.
For landscapes, the idea and work of makeup artists deserves only
The horror genre cannot make its way to Russia. Every year, Russian filmmakers issue another attempt to take a vacant place in the category of horror stories. I think the beginning was laid with the Dead daughters of Pavel Ruminov, who copied the fashionable at that time thread in horror on Asian girls with black long hair. But he could not scare or interest the viewer. Interestingly, the creators then trumpeted in all the media that allegedly their masterpiece American studio will shoot a remake. But it's been 11 years and silence. Though maybe they're preparing for this shoot like James Cameron for Avatar. After that, there was the dullest Possession 18, Route built which, in principle, do not deserve attention. A thrashing and clichéd pseudo-slasher Dislike, which I can’t take seriously at all. I don’t see any point in listing all attempts. A little better on the background of the others looks the Queen of Spades and Bride, but still just as dull and most importantly not scary. And here we are again 'A very scary movie' - A souvenir photo.
A group of young people is invited to a house. On the way there is a terrible accident and in search of escape from a deserted road they find themselves in an old shack. Where to their surprise no one lives, and on the wall hang terrible pictures of dead animals. And here in one of these pictures they see their broken car plus the old camera is defiantly lying on the table. So who's the killer? Camera or is it all a coincidence? . .
The main problem of the film is its incorrect positioning. Horror, a horror movie, has nothing to do with it. It's a black comedy. During all the black moments, the whole room laughed. Throughout the 73 minutes, the smile and positive attitude did not go away. Everything here looks comical. The impenetrable stupidity of the characters, some actions and dialogues are so ridiculous that you involuntarily begin to forget that this is so horror. Play actors are amazingly bad if they starred in a horror movie and crazy comic if it is still a comedy. I single out Irina Temichev, Sophia Zayka and Stepan Yurpalov, some episodes with their participation went straight to hurrah. Although this picture is more like a thesis of a student of the filmmaking department, it looks very easy and you really wonder where this idiocy will go next. Separately, I want to note the last couple of minutes of the film, this is probably the best piece that gives the right attitude to the whole picture. A memory photo is a funny movie. You don’t have to watch it, but if you have to, you’ll laugh. Rating as a horror film 0/10. Like a 4/10 black comedy.
We are so used to photographing ourselves and everything around us that we completely forgot that this can lead to real trouble. Our ancestors for a reason endowed the art of photography with mystical properties and treated with special respect the capture of themselves and relatives on film, considering this action special, trembling and purely personal. Take at least the fashion for “post-mortem”, which was quite popular a century and a half ago and depicted dead people made up as the living. Some theologians and mystics still consider this fascination with games with death itself.
Agree that this topic is incredibly exciting, although seriously frightening. And now, thanks to the efforts of the director Anton Zenkovych, the domestic horror film “Photo for Memory” is released, which forced me personally to reconsider my attitude to the thoughtless click on the camera’s filming button, because something truly terrible can lurk behind this hobby.
The main characters of this story are young people who went out of town. But as it often happens, on the way with them happens a small incident and now the guys have to stay for the night in some abandoned hut. Exploring the area and not finding anything special, the heroes are located inside and find in one of the rooms an old Soviet camera “Second”. Having nothing against a couple of extra photos, they did not expect that everyone who got into the lens would put themselves in mortal danger. And now the guys need to figure out how to avoid the curse and where did this damn camera come from.
To be honest, the film turned out to be atmospheric, and after all, Russian horrors have never been anything special. “Photo for memory” creates a feeling of penetrating cold and gradually heating tension, which at a certain point reaches its climax. I do not dispute that logic suffers in some places, the actions of the characters are not always adequate, but this is a kind of law of the genre. In the same “Astral” or “Spell” there are also rash aspects, leading to very sad consequences.
A special feature of the "Photo for memory" is a live intrigue with an admixture of a detective. We will be long tormented in anticipation of the disclosure of all secrets and not all home-grown detectives will be able to reveal all the secrets scattered by the authors of the plot. But most importantly, the ominous camera goes through history and becomes no less significant symbol than the Necronomicon from Evil Dead or the mask of Jason from Friday the 13th.
My bottom line is this: “Photo for memory” definitely arouses interest and scares well where it is required. The film is able to maintain interest in its plot, and although the characters do not always justify the hopes placed on them, it is still easy to feel sympathy for them and worry about the outcome of their unintended stop somewhere in the cold wilds. So it will be interesting and scary, you can and should watch.
7 out of 10
The laws of nature always work. And the law that sooner or later, quantity passes into quality, including. It is very gratifying that despite all the burden of angry criticism of viewers on Russian cinema, creators like those burlaks on the Volga are pulling their strap. Overcoming all the difficulties and despite many obstacles, we are slowly getting used to such a popular genre as a horror film. The first samples of the pen in this field were far from their overseas counterparts, but for a year in a row, a worthy Russian horror film is released. I'm talking about "Photos for memory."
The plot, of course, is not very original. How many movies have we seen where a group of young people get stuck in the wilderness and, finding a strange refuge, pay for such an oversight with their lives? Too many. But it is also surprising that this scheme works over and over again. It worked this time. The director of the film, Anton Zenkovych, filled his hand in the cinematography on such horror films as “The Queen of Spades” and “The Mafia”. Therefore, it is no wonder that his directorial debut came out so entourageous and spectacular. The atmosphere of fear and inevitable reprisal is inflated with every minute, and the fact that all this is happening in our country and with our guys adds to the film the mood necessary for perception.
Ever since childhood horror stories, all stories about urban legends have been scary. And the fact that one of them comes to life on the screen is very exciting. When I was a schoolboy, I remember my friends talking about strange cameras and photos. We scared the girls, snapping them from the camera and intimidating them that now they would be chased by spirits. In the film, all this is very harmoniously played out and shown.
Many viewers will, of course, find similarities with Destination, but let’s consider it an alternative Russian view of such things. The main thing is that this whole series of ridiculous deaths from an unknown dark curse is shown on the screen at a fairly high and high-quality level. There is enough excellent computer graphics and there are some interesting scenario moves that do not inspire hope in happy ending. Also, the film adds a terrible atmosphericity and “not busy” actors who played here. Yes, of course, we know Temicheva from “Kitchen”, and Yurpalov from “Game” and even more so Zenkovic from “Deffchonok”. But they look so harmonious on the screen that there is no connection with their previous roles. The whole action unfolds here and now and the bloody showdowns that occur on the screen, believe and really they keep you in suspense.
In general, the film did not disappoint, and vice versa. Let me remind you that this is a domestic representative of the horror genre, which we have in the formative stage. And the more such pictures will be, the better quality horror stories we will watch in the future. It is good that our country is rich in all kinds of history, legends and legends.
8 out of 10