The Collapsed (2011)

From my favorite movies..

Yo, there's no way for me to review this film without saying, take your *insert ethnicity + "ass" here* to see this film,like now. You have to see it in order to know what you're really messing with.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

Writer/Director Justin McConnel has brought one of the most powerful post-apocalyptic films ever made to the screen with a stunning creativity and near poetry. This is a motion picture that takes cinema by the throat and shakes it senseless with its intensity. Haunting imagery and stunning cinematography enhance the sense of unease that permeates each scene. Beautifully filmed and magnificently scored, The Collapsed tells the moving and haunting story of a family fighting for survival after an apocalyptic event sends them on a journey in search of safety. John Fantasia is superb as the father responsible for his beloved wife and children and it is the performance of a lifetime, sure to catapult him to stardom. Ann Moule as his wife is also outstanding and gives her character depth and humanity. As the film progresses, the tension becomes almost unendurable, the intense, disturbing environment overwhelming. There is a surreal quality to the Canadian locations and this serves to make an unreal situation even more other worldly. The brilliant screenplay builds the horror until the ultimate in shattering motion picture climaxes. What this small film company has achieved on a minimal budget is astonishing and this films originality and creativity renews one's faith in independent cinema.

The story line was not good really, even though there was some suspense it was obvious that the dad was loosing it.In short my wife was irritated with the mother and son, I'm sure she would have beaten them both up. The daughter takes off to go shave her legs? really! the world ended and you want to go shave your legs! lol what a freaking joke.Then she walks far into the woods and gets all spooked out after she was told.Guns just laying around everywhere, really? Talk about some really stupid writing here.She just seemed so annoying and the acting over all is just horrible. The dad showed no real feeling or suffering.I would not rent this video again nor would I ever spend the money to buy it.

The movie is obviously a very low budget one. That does not mean it has to be a bad movie... if it at least made up for it in other areas.Unfortunately, it doesn't.The result is 4 people trying to survive some unexplained cataclysmic situation, running about in a forest and getting killed by some invisible force controlling people's minds.The actors in the movie do some really stupid things. For example, shortly after running for their lives, away from 2 fat guys with machine guns (AKMS was a weapon of choice for US citizens?) and gas masks (makes for a good DVD cover, right?), a young lady has nothing better to do than wander away to... shave her legs?!! The people split all the time, for silly reasons (well, in the end it becomes apparent that if they stuck together, the movie would end within 30 minutes). Despite being deep into an unknown forest, they always miraculously find their way around.The conclusion is disappointing, there's no explanation about the background of the events.There's no point in watching this movie, waste of time.

In the wake of the end of the world, a family of four desperately tries to survive. Taking to the forest, they soon discover the other survivors may be the least of their worries.My first question is, do we need another post-apocalyptic movie? For the most part, no. The genre has been done to death and very few actually excel. (The same could be said for zombie films.) Want to see a good post-apocalyptic film? Check out "Dead Weight".If this film excels at anything, it is stretching a budget. The film could reasonably have been made for a very, very low sum. There are practically no special effects, no big-name actors and all outdoor settings. I suspect the equipment would be the most expensive part, and McConnell probably had some or most of that from previous films.Where it falls short is dialogue delivery. Some of the lines are bad, but they are compounded by the poor delivery. It just does not seem to come out as very natural. In all fairness, the father and son interact rather well. It is the daughter and especially the mother who fall flat. I am a bit confused why the father has an accent and no one else does, but that is not unheard of.Should you see this film? Probably not. It is not terrible, but is not really all that great, either. The best part is probably the soundtrack. Watch it to learn how to make low-budget film, if you wish, but as for entertainment -- it provides very little.