Tedfoldol
everything you have heard about this movie is true.
SpecialsTarget
Disturbing yet enthralling
Juana
what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.
Cassandra
Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.
genowhirl
Just watch the opening sequence and you know you're in for a treat. This movie (1:30 long) is one of the most playful and enjoyable anthologies I've seen in a good while. I think what sets it apart from others is that it doesn't take itself too seriously and it knows it. All the stories are cleverly produced with rather good acting and effects, camera angles, etc. The only drawback is that, while it is very entertaining all the way through, it isn't necessarily entirely filled with horror. The up side to this is that we're given a wide spectrum of horror, suspense, and thriller so that it doesn't grow stale over time. There are 5 tales and they each feel as if you're being given a gift to open and enjoy. Pretty packaging, full content, and the stories are enthralling to say the least. It's easy to get into the stories and look forward to what's coming next. Even greater is the fact that they are all tied together with subtle clues as to how they are connected. But these subtleties are important enough to make you feel the connection in a very roundabout way such as in "Cabin in the Woods." I'll go into a brief synopsis of each tale so you can get an idea of what to expect (skip this if you'd rather know nothing going in, but I've kept it bare minimum):1. Smell - This tale is about a man who is down on his luck but picks up a special aroma that turns his life around, but at what price? As an opener, this one doesn't quite set the stage for what's to come. It's possibly the most playful of the 5 tales, but the ending is pretty funky fresh haha. This one is often considered a weaker tale, but I enjoyed it quite a bit. It's full-bodied and robust *see what I did there?* =D 2. Sight - This tale is about a lonely man who works as an optometrist and uses his machines to extract memories from his patients in order to enjoy their memories. He's a stalker basically, but when he finally takes certain matters into his own hands, trouble ensues. This one is rather short, but the build up is great and the finale is very enjoyable and somewhat psychedelic. It is chilling, gory to a degree, and creepy. The approach of sight on this one is very creative and engaging. 3. Touch - The best tale in my opinion, this one is about a blind boy who seeks help for his family after a car crash. This tale is amazing and feels so real and almost empowering as the boy makes his way through a rather troublesome environment. It's further strengthened by the boy's intelligence. 4. Taste - If you've paid attention to the clues throughout the film, this is where they lead you - what ties the tales together. This tale involves a young man who is offered a job for a strange company. Upon his arrival, things get a little. .. .distasteful. You'll never see this one coming, and it's a bit funny while also a tad gruesome. 5. Hearing - A found-footage attempt, this film involves a crew who's task is to compile some found footage into one film. The film involves a song that has lethal effects on it's listeners. This one is possibly the weakest. It is a great idea, but it lacks in proper execution. It's neat little way to end everything though I suppose. Not unenjoyable, but not really super enjoyable either. Keep in mind that these were filmed in roughly 4 days per tale, so the window wasn't large, but they did amazing considering.
Foxbarking
"5 Senses of Fear" had a marketing campaign that gave me a lot of hope that it might inspire a resurgence in anthology based horror. Although there have been a lot of horror anthologies in the past decade, most have been rather lousy. The directors on the ads for "5 Senses of Fear" indicated they were hoping this would be the movie to put the new spark in anthology horror. I really hope that they are wrong.The reason horror anthologies work are because they are able to present the most important elements of a scary story without having to include any of the fluff. But I think that a lot of young directors don't understand that. They treat this movie as if an anthology is easier to make because there is less work in making a short movie. A short story often requires more work than a long one because it does not have the time to tell the story and must concentrate on the central theme. There is really almost no point to this movie at all. None of the stories has an interesting plot and absolutely nothing makes any sense whatsoever. As I sat and hoped each following story would get better, the movie just descended into the ranks of pure and utter stupidity. What each story lacked in plot, it more than made up for in cheap gross out tactics. The most common device is poking out eyes.The first story was about smell and it probably had the most story in it. A man is giving a bottle of cologne that makes him utterly irresistible to everyone. He tries to use it to get his wife back, but quickly finds it brings him the favor of anyone who smells it. The rub is that it slowly transforms him into a monster as it dissolves his life and flesh away. The shocking twist (and I use this term exceptionally lightly) involves his remains being used to make more of the cologne.The story about sight has an eye doctor who has the power to induce the power to see through others' eyes by potions he makes from his patients. He uses violent scenes to try and make a patient's boyfriend stop beating her, but it ends up empowering the boyfriend to murder.Touch involves a blind boy trying to find help for his parents when they are injured in a car wreck. He stumbles upon a man who doesn't like to be touched. This is the only somewhat interesting story in the entire anthology and it is due to the performance of the actor playing the blind boy. He is the only protagonist you can get behind, but this is not enough to save this movie.Taste is remarkably bad. It involves a lady who offers people a job and them violently kills them when they refuse. She puts on a big stupid mask and the stupidity flies off the screen.The last film takes the form of a found footage film; the most overused and highly misused form of horror film today. It involves a composer who composes a song that makes people commit suicide. It's idiotic and annoying to watch.This is one of the most disappointing movies I have ever seen. The plots are thin and remarkably bad even for a horror movie. It relies on gross outs displayed by third rate special effects. You'll find yourself wondering what the directors like so much about poking people in the eyes. As I mentioned in the beginning, horror anthologies can whittle a horror story down to its bare bones. By cutting the fluff out of the story, a good anthology can present really good stories. This is not one of those movies. It, in fact, does the exact opposite. There are no stories here, only fluff supported by attempts at gross outs. This movie is a remarkable failure and you should save yourself the time of watching it. It is pure and utter crap.The one star I gave this movie is way more than it deserves.
jdickson84
Saw this at The Art of Brooklyn Film Fest's Dark Side program. A great, original anthology. It's refreshing it see a horror movie that focuses on characters and story and not just blood and guts (although there are some great squirm-inducing moments in this that made a few audience members quite queasy). Also, the stories are all loosely tied together, but it's not easy to pick up all the connections on the first viewing. I'm excited to go back and watch this again to look for more details.I'm hoping this gets a DVD/BluRay release, because it definitely deserves multiple viewings.My only complaint is that I would have liked a bit more of a wrap-up at the end. It seems to finish pretty abruptly. But, maybe we'll get more in a sequel!
HorrorHound1313
Saw this at the Art of Brooklyn Film Festival last night. This is a very cool concept for an anthology film. There are five segments, each one representing a different one of the five senses. I thought all of the shorts had a very unique "voice." Each segment had an unexpected take on the sense that was portrayed. I enjoyed the look of the films. We were told that Claudio Rietti shot most of the segments. The only segment that looked "different" was the "HEARING" segment, but that's because it was found footage, so it worked. Surprisingly, each story had a very different tone, which was cool.A few notes on each segment (MINOR SPOILERS): SMELL: Had a bit of dark humor throughout. The director said he was inspired by Tales From the Crypt, and it felt like a lost episode of that show. This was a pretty intricate story with a lot of cool elements. Mixed funny/gross/dramatic in a fun and weird way. Great music. The director and the main actors from this segment were there for a Q&A afterward. Fun to hear them talk about doing the gore effects.SIGHT: I enjoyed the performance of the "evil boyfriend." This segment also had some cool "vision effects." I felt the ending was predictable. However, the concept was very original. Cool sound design.TOUCH: Great performance by the little boy. The villain is the same actor as the "evil boyfriend" in SIGHT. Not sure if it was supposed to be the same character? That was a little confusing. Overall, though, cool story with good tension throughout. Cool camera work and "blind POV" shots.TASTE: This one looked really cool. Neat location, interesting setup. Drags a bit in the middle. I was antsy waiting for what was going to happen. The main character is going to an interview at a strange corporation. We see characters from the other segments that presumably work for this evil corporation, but that's not explained very well. Cool, bloody ending.LISTEN: Nice play on the found footage concept. Felt sort of like a horror version of the Dharma Initiative tapes from Lost. Good chemistry between the two leads. The ending felt rushed or poorly executed and didn't quite work for me. But it was great until the finale.After the five segments, the film just ends. I was disappointed with the ending. We never get any explanation of how these shorts are tied together. We see characters from all the shorts appear at the evil corporation in the TASTE segment. Also, we hear about the "Watershed" company. But, it's never really explained how the characters or worlds fit together or what the intent of the evil corporation is. I would have loved one last little segment at the end to sort of wrap it all up and give us some answers.Overall, I think it was a solid effort by everyone involved. We were told that each segment had only 4 days to shoot and a very tight budget. Considering those facts, the quality is EXTREMELY impressive. There aren't that many "scares" in the movie. Horrific things happen, but overall it's more suspense/thriller with some gross-out gore moments. I think SMELL and LISTEN stood out the most, maybe because they were first and last and had the longest running times. However, I really liked all the segments. Most anthology films have one or two good segments, but every segment in this film had an interesting story, good characters, and great production value. Also, I'm glad I got to see this on the big screen with an audience. It was a crowd-pleaser.NOTE: 5 Senses of Fear was produced for the Chiller Network. I never watch that channel, because it's not HD, but I might make an exception to watch this again on May 31st.