Muse (2017) Reviews

• Decent, but not really a horror movie

  horrorgasm2018-03-11

  There are a few brief moments that resemble horror, but Muse is really more of a supernatural thriller or a dark adventure. It's not going to be anyone's favorite movie of the year, but it's still a pretty solid production, with good cinematography, cast, and characters. The big issue here is the core premise, which is actually really interesting and filled with potential, but ends up feeling a little underdeveloped. I wish there would have been more backstory on the individual muses and that we'd have gotten to see more of their interesting powers. I have to give the movie credit for at least making me that interested that I wanted more of what it had though. Overall it was still a good, enjoyable film that kept my attention the whole time and I didn't regret my time spent on it.

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• Good...

  darlalatour-584552018-10-01

  My first niggle is, as other reviewers have pointed out, that this is a supernatural thriller, not horror. Not a bad thing at all, IMO, but a smidge irritating that the genre is miscategorized. It was good, but really could've used another half hour to flesh out, so to speak, and be what it should've been and deserved to be. I'll be looking for longer cuts on DVD. The almost non-existent and very rushed bonding of the two leads needed more development to really be effective. Really, I would love a sequel, but only if given more character and story development. There's that word again: development. Too hasty - didn't really sink its hooks into me like it could have and should have. Visually - wonderful. Very well done. Actors & acting were, to me, perfect.

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• The Seventh Muse

  claudio_carvalho2018-04-11

  The popular literature professor Samuel Solomon (Elliot Cowan) is a great friend of Professor Susan Gilard (Franka Potente) in the university and is secretly in love with Beatriz (Manuela Vellés), who is one of his students. After making love at Samuel´s home, Beatriz asks Samuel to promise that he will love her forever. Then she goes to the bathroom and commits suicide. One year later, Samuel is no longer teaching and has recurring nightmares with a woman that is brutally murdered. Out of the blue, he learns that a woman called Lidia Garetti (Leonor Watling) was found brutally murdered at home and he realizes that she is the woman of his nightmares. He decides to sneak into the crime scene to investigate and he stumbles upon a young woman, Rachel (Ana Ularu), who claims to have the same nightmare. They snoop around and Samuel finds an oval object hidden in a water tank and a photograph hidden in a photo-frame. However the police arrive at the place and Samuel and Rachel need to flee. Rachel takes the object with her and disappears. Samuel identifies the men in the photo and soon he learns that he has entered in the uncanny world of The Seven Muses, cruel supernatural women that have inspired and destroyed writers along the centuries. Further, there is no way out unless he destroys the Seventh Muse. But who and where she is? "Muse" is a little gem with a melancholic and complex storyline about the muses that inspire writers throughout time described as insidious and cruel supernatural women. The viewer needs to pay attention to the screenplay that has many details and references. Viewers that had the chance to see the spooky 1988 "Spellbinder" will delight with the underrated "Muse" that has the same style. My vote is seven. Title (Brazil): Not Available

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• Balaguero gets his Argento on

  udar552018-07-13

  English professor Samuel Solomon (Elliot Cowan) has spent a year in depression after a student he was having a secret affair with committed suicide in his apartment. He is rocked from his lethargy when he begins having dreams of a ritualistic murder for a week and then finds out it really happened on the news. He travels to mansion where the murder happened and runs into Rachel (Ana Ularu), an Eastern European woman who also had the same dream. With the help of his colleague Susan (Franka Potente), Samuel discovers a group that worshiped a coven of witches called the "Seven Ladies" and he goes to seek out the last remaining member of that group. I've been a fan of Spanish director Jaume Balaguero ever since seeing THE NAMELESS (1999) years ago. That Ramsey Campbell adaptation was bleaker than bleak, establishing a constant thread of nihilism that flows throughout Balaguero's subsequent work (DARKNESS, FRAGILE, REC, and SLEEP TIGHT). The only misfires for me have been his REC sequels (he co-directed part 2 and handled part 4 on his own), which seemed to have no idea where to take things. This is a return to form after the disappointing REC 4, but might actually be guilty of having too much plot. Balaguero, who co-wrote this with Fernando Navarro and José Carlos Somoza, seems to have been heavily influenced by Dario Argento. Not in terms of style, but in terms of plot dynamics as Solomon's quest is similar to what David Hemmings had in DEEP RED (1975) and the "Seven Ladies" definitely echo Argento's "Three Mothers" coven. The first hour builds the mystery well, but there is throws way too much into the mix in the mid-section. Yes, I'm complaining a horror film has too much plot (the mixing in of classic lit authors element really could have been excised). Cowan is quite good in the lead and Ularu is really good. Also, Joanne Whalley is excellent in her first feature in years as one of the witches and Christopher Lloyd (!!) show up in a few scenes as a dying old man. Definitely worth seeing, just make sure you have a notepad ready to suss it all out.

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• Great little gem

  shawninaugusta2018-03-20

  Great acting, interesting story line and cinematography. I am confused on the low score on this movie it was a great watch