The Pool (2014)

The greatest movie ever!

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

Well, there's a surprise; another Dutch movie that only receives a mediocre rating on IMDb (5.8 on the day this review was posted). It is quite a fact that everything which is Dutch and not directed by Paul Verhoeven has a tough time in the cinemas. 'De Poel' (The Pool) received quite some positive reviews and was hailed as proof that Dutch horror movies can work; however, advertising for the movie was predictably lacking, so this movie probably only saw the inside of a few cinemas for no more than 2 weeks, with only a handful of moviegoers and some copy pirates as its sparse public. But you would at least hope that a good movie, even a commercially failed one, ultimately gets its due credit here, like The Shawshank Redemption. Alas, no such luck.Did most people who rated this movie take the time to actually watch it? I kind of doubt it. There has to be an audience for this movie, a rare type of Dutch film that takes its matters seriously, and doesn't feel like a low-budget, low-scale imitation of a better American original. It is not that Dutch cinema has a rich tradition of horror movies. 'De Lift' (The Elevator', remade as 'Down') is a rare example from the 80s. Not much worth mentioning was made in the 90s, and in the zeroes, a few attempts were made to revive the genre with 'Doodeind' and 'Slachtnacht'. However, these two, although enjoyable, were obviously made from the archetypical American example, the slasher horror (or 'Dead Teenager Horror' as the great Roger Ebert liked to call it). The Pool, however, seems to take its inspiration from (IMO) one of the best British horror movies of the last decade: The Descent.The Pool has the same basic premise: a couple of friends venture into a forbidden area, but a succession of adversities slowly turn them against each other. And while the psychological tension rises, a hidden evil that dwells in the surroundings starts to pick its victims, one after another. In this case, experienced camper Lennaert (one of Netherlands' finest character actors, Gijs Scholten van Aschat, who also co-wrote the screenplay) goes on a camping trip with his wife, sons, his good friend and the friend's daughter. He convinces the rest to stray from the beaten path and enter a forbidden area to camp in, next to a giant pond. It doesn't take long before a succession of events, ranging from strange, unnerving to downright disturbing, convince them that there is something terribly wrong with the place. Of course, Lennaert gets the blame for this, which causes his relation with his family and friend to take some turns for the worst, with dire consequences.The great difference with 'The Descent' is that the outside threat does not come from a few cave-dwelling monsters, it has a more supernatural origin. However, the biggest strength of the movie is that it doesn't lose itself in exposition. No time is wasted on endless explanation; it is almost like the makers rely on the audience's familiarity with supernatural movies like The Grudge, The Ring and The Shining; we only see glimpses and images of what may be visions, hallucinations, memories, feverish dreams, or reality, and the audience has to fill in the blanks for itself. I saw a few deleted scenes on the BluRay disc that explain way too much and kill much of the mystery, so the creators were right to cut them out. It also helps the movie to pick up a pace unusually fast for the genre. Within 30 minutes, we are in the second act, and after one hour, it turns into the highest gear, so the mere 85 minutes of run-time certainly don't feel short.The absence of monsters doesn't mean a lack of gore. The visual horror scenes come sparingly, but are all the more effective and visceral for it. The special effects look really great, given the low budget of the production. Still, the movie remains evenly balanced between character scenes and gore, right to the end. I would have hoped for a climax that had me gasping for air, but unfortunately, the ending is quite tame compared to the rest of the movie. The actors, with leading man Scholten van Aschat up front, have no problems being convincing without being flashy or going into hysterics, which adds perfectly to the tension. I've heard people say that the dialog is bad, but I think that is because Dutch simply doesn't sound as cool as English (both our words and sentences are longer, which makes it hard to make cool-sounding quotes).You could say that the movie is assembled from parts snatched out of other (sometimes better) movies, but I feel that you can make a fresh new dish from old ingredients, as long as you don't snatch it from one recipe and flavor it enough. The stew created for The Pool is good for my taste, so I certainly am hungry for more. I wouldn't be surprised if it starts to make money when Hollywood is eager to buy the remake rights.

The Pool is a deliciously tense movie. Contrary to what people have come to expect from Dutch horror productions, this is a little jewel both in its storyline as well as the high level of acting. Gijs Scholten van Aschat and his companions show not a solitary moment of weakness in their craft, and thus make a relatively predictable camping-in-the-wild story into a edge-of-your-seat experience. You know beforehand that people'll drop like flies. But that you'll care about these two divided families, and will bite nails till the end, that's a pleasant surprise. Not just that, but the quality of the sound, which in Holland is usually more horrific than its movies, is absolutely sublime: you won't miss a word. The little eye-rolls, irritations of a marriage that's past its prime, and creeping madness have been brought into frame with a deftness which can't usually be expected in a horror flick, much less a Dutch one. Subtlety and maggots, humor with a mourning band.

Two Fathers go on a camping trip and take their families in tow , when they set up camp in a restriced nature reservation at the side of a small pond (poel) things quickly start to unravel. The premise of this movie is simple and the way it is brought is also simple. The Netherlands are not known for their stellar horror movies , where de lift( remade into down) was the most known one. This is the first movie from the This is not a problem tough, the movie assumes the viewer will piece things together that is a nice change from the overly explaining and " See what i discovered" things that plague most horror movies. When the movie was over the people in front of me left after saying "What a vague movie" but i did not find it vague at all, in the end i pieced together what had happened and the only trouble i had with the movie was explained to me later by the creators on their facebook. The food got spoiled or destroyed, and the puddle would not let them leave, something that made me wonder why. but the most clear answer is simple, the puddle did this to get them to go desperate. The story starts as a slow burn but sadly shows the evil of the puddle a little to soon, a little more guessing would have been nice Sure what would happen could be guessed while the movie was playing,but this is a first movie from the house of nether horror, and for a first attempt this is a great movie. And if this movie is the quality of movies that they will keep making all i can say is the future of dutch horror looks promising.I certainly recommend this movie, but how much i liked it , the movie does not feel like a cinema movie so if you do go to see it see it on DVD, stream or even on demand.

A nice try for a horror movie. There has never been a dutch scary movie that actually was scary. Compared to the rest of them, this movie is a masterpiece. It almost gives you a scare and its first 35 minutes are entertaining minutes. Then it unfolds to be a'the shining' wannabe. All the characters become unlikable. The motives are weird and unprovoked. The movie becomes predictive. And after an hour of watching you start to lose interest to see the end. It's just follow-up of nice shot scenes, but no overall story. The acting isn't that bad. I wouldn't recommend this movie for anybody looking for a entertaining evening. Because there wasn't any nude in the movie, something that we dutch always find functional, I can't give this more then a solid 4. Not really bad, but still far from good.