The Lost Tree (2015)

Overrated

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

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

"The Lost Tree" throws together a large pile of clichés from the horror film genre, and the overall look and sound of the film is amateurish. It was as if this were a film school exercise, as opposed to a final, polished feature film.In the film's opening scene, Emma catches her husband Noah flirting with a co-worker named Jenna. After the emotionally distraught Emma races out of the office, she is struck and killed by a car. Noah feels enough guilt and remorse to take time off from work to go to a cabin outside of L.A. Even after Noah leaves town, there is an ongoing flirtation with Noah and Jenna, with Jenna closing her texts to him with "Love." Noah makes a faint-hearted attempt to reject Jenna's overtures, yet does not do so with a profound sense of bereavement. The cabin turns out to be haunted. Noah recognizes that the place is spooked, yet chooses to remain, against the advice of both Jenna and his dad. It was a bad decision to stay, Noah.The film suggests a paranormal encounter with Noah and Emma, who seems to be present at the haunted cabin and around the supernatural oak tree on the premises. The filmmakers string out the paranormal world of the cabin for too long. There is not enough suspense while Noah is wandering through the cabin talking to himself and not enough payoff at the end.The use of flashbacks and the labored pacing of the film were major drawbacks. The score consisted of canned music and added nothing to the suspense and tension. The special effects were cheesy, once again reeking of film school experiments. One of the key props was the necklace worn by Noah that includes Emma's ring. The necklace, which at one point is stolen, figures in Noah's desperate attempts to "attack" the tree to try to recover the ring. But the prop of the necklace was poorly handled throughout the film. So, when it finally figures prominently at the end, the audience really doesn't care.At one point, a frustrated Noah asks the following question about the cabin and the tree: "What the hell is with this place?!!!" The question could be slightly revised for the audience to ask, "What the hell is with this turkey of a movie?!!!"

I don't know what the previous reviewer's are talking about because this movie what doo doo. Couldn't even read the messages on the phone. They were too small and only showed it quickly along with the newspaper articles. Not to mention, the music was absolutely horrified. Was like music from 1950s horror flick. I'm extremely disappointed in this movie.

I got suckered into this by some reviews that people were clearly paid to write. That and I figured if it was bad at least I could watch cute little Lacey Chabert for 90 minutes. Sucker! Chabert had maybe 5 minutes of screen time. As a matter of fact, only a handful of scenes featured anyone more than the main character, and most of those were awful flashbacks. This movie seemed like something that would play in network television on a Sunday afternoon in the 80's. Awful picture quality, several times I started to curse at my WiFi connection for 240p resolution and then I remembered I was watching a disc. Seriously, there were times you couldn't even make out facial features. Then there was the overdone musical score. Do you know what puts me to sleep during a movie? Long stretches of music with no dialogue. Guess what 90% of this movie was...that's right, I was drifting in and out of consciousness from the 10 minute mark. It didn't matter though because whenever I was awake the main character was just wandering around a barren landscape. The acting when there was dialogue was awful, as if they were reading straight from the script. As bad as the opening scene was I was really hoping it would get better because it had good reviews. When the guys wife gets hit by the car it was sooooo poorly done; no sound effects like a screeching car, collision, or screaming. All of a sudden he walks up and you see his wife in the street wtf. Absolutely dreadful! The last 30 minutes (which is how long the movie should've been) the action finally picks up but by that point the movie is hopeless, and even the "climax" was pretty senseless. It's as if someone had this movie sitting in their closet for 30! years and decided to reshoot some scenes to include texting and iPhones to modernize it. Don't waste your money renting this and furthermore, when it makes it onto a free service, still do not waste your time unless you need something for insomnia.

I had no clue what this indie movie was about or anything. But after watching it, I fell in was really surprised. I kept thinking about the film throughout the day. But what really got to me was the feeling I had going to bed. It just kept sticking with me. What I enjoyed most is this film goes for the creepiness under your skin, not the super quick shocks that alot of movies have today. It was more of a slow burn than anything. The camera direction was nicely done. The shots were gorgeous. Some of the scenes such as the lakebed scene are breathtaking. There are some dark shots that were grainy but it didn't really bother me because I was invested in the characters. It won't be everyone's cup of tea though. Sometimes the acting seems a little funky. There were a surprisingly large amount of effects in this indie film. They were pretty good for the most part. I was happy that the filmmakers went for a climatic ending. The music is very haunting and beautiful throughout. I wish I could get a soundtrack of it to just listen to in the car. Pacing started out very slow and calm, but by the third act, it was moving very fast. The director, Brain Metcalf managed to keep the film interesting while focusing largely on only one character by showing lots of different environments and lots of creepy things happening.I give the film 9 out of 10 stars.