The Sisterhood of Night (2014) Reviews

• The Crucible gets a facelift...

  alex-8882015-05-01

  There are many young stars in the making here. This ensemble cast of teens captures the pains of growing up and being heard in a hostile environment known as young adulthood. It has elements of The Crucible, in that the town they live in is on a witch hunt to find the secret belonging to this group of young female outcasts. But the main driver of the story is the pain of growing up and how each of these girls deals with it and its consequences. Great visuals and a pulsing beat captivates you even further. I'm not a teenage girl but I could relate to the world Waechter created. The characters were not black and white. The antagonists had redeeming qualities. The protagonists had flaws. All in all there was complexity here. And there are probably elements in this story - alienation, understanding, prejudice, judgment - we can all relate to, no matter what age we are.

• Extraordinary

  joeywilderjustiss2015-05-01

  This movie really hits one in the gut! I thought it was so simply and understatedly beautiful. There was no pretense in this film. I just can't tell how it snuck up upon me and brought out this rich story of unconditional and uncompromising love! Wow! I thought this would a be a good late night B movie thriller. To my surprise I was captivated within the first ten minutes and just couldn't walk away. If there were ever a movie to present the dangers of hurting others out of fear, envy, and pride...this one does this trick. Not only does the message ring true as timely, but this story will most assuredly become timeless. What is done in darkness will come to light. Truth will set one free and on and on. I found more than one sell-able moments that would teach young and old the valued meaning of solidarity unwavering! Check this one out if you have teens or young adults in the home. Sometimes these films get it right and this one is bang on! Get your tissue box ready for the feelings to resonate under director Caryn Waechter and this precious cast of actors! No doubt one of the best beautifully filmed stories of humanity and strength of the persevering spirit.

• Surprisingly delightful film

  iwillservemypeople2015-04-06

  I volunteered at the Los Angeles International Women's Film Festival and I saw a great majority of the films being played there. Many were great. However, The Sisterhood of Night in my opinion was the best film of them all. It had great messages in it about friendships, adolescence, love, lies, and the power of media. This film is a masterpiece of interwoven fine art. The dance scenes, the music, the visuals, and the location all combined make one excellent display of what great film artwork should look like. I loved how the main characters friendship made me reflect on my own teenage years and brought me visions of my lifelong best friends. I loved the mysterious rituals of the film. The errieness of the dark and unknown. The woods, the serenity, night scenes, and rain reminded me of some of my best high school memories in Washington state. The vide ographer did an amazing job of filming light in darkness. The main character was intriguing and powerful with her unique look and care free spirit. I can not believe this film is not on the big screen. Most of the scenes look much better than large budget films. I came home telling my teenager about it and told her she missed out by not attending the festival. I also told her that I hoped this film would be available on a DVD so she could watch it. Overall this film on the sisterhood of teenage females is long over due. Hats off to the writer, the crew, and cast. This film is meant for the big screen just showing at festivals does not do it justice. Loved it so much had to follow the actors and crew on Instagram. The people that are a part of this production are just as amazing as the film. I plan on sending this film once available to my nieces and other loved ones.

• The Modern Crucible / What-Do-Youths-Do Lifetime Movie

  elainejillc2017-01-19

  I'm really surprised at all the outstanding reviews that have come before me. This is enjoyable, but it is average. It is not as amazing or outstanding as so many of the already existing reviews say. Obviously opinion is opinion, but this is mine. This is a movie with a very specific demographic - young suburban teenage girls in the mid 2010's. One other reviewer said it would prove to be timeless which I completely disagree with due to the specific demographic. It comes off like a made for lifetime movie. The cinematography and acting are two of the aspects that would bring it above average, but the screenplay itself is poorly executed. The plot heavily draws from The Crucible, but it also has the aspect of the modern tech era to negate any theme of an outcast community. The timing is paced weird in terms of whole plot. The way that other girls come forward and also confess that they've been "initiated" with whatever that one individual's mind comes up with when it thinks of an unspoken secret, and the things that people come up with when they come forward is culturally realistic. But then it throws in bullying and suicide in what feels like ten seconds and the fact that this movie did that, makes me actually angry. That a film would just graze over teen suicide in script that's so heavily trying to nudge a shoulder in the face of a crying teen girl, is enraging to me. And the way that the bully/suicide is filmed in like a two scene sequence makes it even worse. It's so close to being right, too. A girl is bullied, molested, filmed during, has nobody to run to that she trusts after it happens, and kills herself. Problems: The shock only lasts like the five minutes it takes to walk from the "party house" that they drag her to back to her own home. The only person that it actually shows her trying to contact is her dad which is to me unrealistic for what's just happened. But as a once repeatedly suicidal teenager with panic disorder, any time that I faced trauma or thought of suicide and actually wanted to talk to anybody afterward or during, I would go to the friend that I thought was most intelligent and that I would know could keep a secret. The whole movie up to this point paints a very heavy picture of trust between these girls and their secrets, and it doesn't show her trying to contact a single one of them. Yes, they're all off Facebook, but it also shows that they all still have phones. In this it's like an accident but statistically teen suicides are based on impulse, or a lack of impulse control having yet developed. It would have been better if she had done it intentionally because that's more realistically how that kind of tragedy happens. You don't just throw a teen suicide overdose in a movie like that and then toss in a literal ribbon street dance of forgiveness at the end just a few days after the girl's funeral. Death, especially young death, the way that other teens feel when they realize that a peer has died, especially that a peer has chosen to die, or the way a young person feels at the moment of attempting suicide, should never be brushed into a story so lightly and then just forgotten like that, like it's just a whisper in the film's narrative. I do like the idea of teens in this generation choosing to "go offline" and make a big deal out of it, but the idea is too heavily dramatized here. Also overly dramatized is the whole concept of "the secret." The way the local and then national media just instantly flock to the town based off one teenager's stated unpopular blog is bizarre. The aesthetic of the online world is extremely outdated. The attempts at sending messages "subtly" are done too forwardly, like the inward zoom of the girl's smile and the shot of her screen showing climbing subscriber numbers. The way that her blog becomes a safe haven for girls who have survived real sexual assault is also just "what? ugh." Not because the idea exists, but because it's just lightly brushed in. There could be so much more exploration with the idea of an online safe haven like that with that specific purpose, and it would probably not be so easy to find and just smash in the headlines of a newspaper. I hated those shots, too. Where it just shows newspaper headlines being slammed down on top of each other, with certain quotes or excerpts underlined or highlighted. Also the narration over the film, like it's being half read from a diary and half read from a news interview, with some shots literally showing the characters being interviewed by a news crew, awful. Just awful. I do believe the majority of this film's flaws lie within the narrative aspect itself, all other aspects are what make it decent enough. The acting is half n' half. Some of the acting is done so well I forget they're acting, others are so bad that I can see them trying not to smile during an awkward scene that's supposed to be serious. I don't know, I'm going on for too long with this. Good movie for a film student, not so good as an overall film, though. This is my first time writing a review on here.

• Amazing! Must see for women of all ages

  coltspagangirl2015-04-22

  This movie is amazing and it a MUST SEE! Young women today are bombarded by so many negative role models and messages and it is refreshing to watch a movie that EMPOWERS young women! This movie tells a story in a wonderful way while showing how important it is for young women to empower each other through the strength and courage of sisterhood! Women of all ages need to see this movie. I'd encourage mothers to see this movie with their teen-aged daughters. There is a lot that can be learned from this movie and it can and has sparked great conversation and unity among young women. It was an added bonus for me that the movie was filmed and the story takes place in a location that is just 15 minutes from my hometown! It was fun to see various locations that I visit on a regular basis. Kingston is a vivid, lovely city that certainly created a hometown feel and backdrop which added to the story itself. I know that all of us who shop/bank/live in and around Kingston NY were so grateful to have a movie produced here. There are many shop owners and store employees who had only wonderful things to say about the cast and production staff.