The film is written and directed by Colin Minihan. And, admittedly, the person I'm referring to hasn't made a transformative impact on horror like the aforementioned names have. That news is a bit ominous. The cast is small, yes, but they do a magnificent job in their roles. Needless to say, when outsiders Sarah and Daniel again stumble into the middle of this protracted, brutal conflict, it is to their own great misfortune.
The acting ranges from sorta decent to straight up baaad. The overheated, overwrought script had me asking: are these adults or junior high schoolers? The filmmakers obviously wanted to foreshadow that Jackie was a psycho but her turn to psycho would have been more effective and in line with her character as established if it came out of nowhere. Cinematography, direction, and acting were all professional enough. Considering that What Keeps You Alive boasts a cast of only five individuals — which includes Charlotte Lindsay Marron Between series as young Jackie — this is a film that does a lot with very little. There are tense moments hinting at something wrong with Jackie, but nothing as bad as her unforgivable act of violence and the psychological torture that ensues. The timeline on this film is real dicey too.
Hanna Emily Anderson at first fools us into believing, as does Jules, that this is a sweet and caring woman in love with her soulmate. The foreshadowing is laid on super thick, over and over, and characters behave in according to every trope applicable. Another variation looks filmed under black light, exposing untold splats and splotches of blood on the walls in lurid purple and teal colors. The unsettling truth that even those closest to us can harbor hidden dimensions drives this thrillingly unpredictable, bloodstained fear trip. The film has yet to get an official release date. Married couple Jackie Hannah Emily Anderson: Jigsaw 2017, The Purge series and Julie Brittany Allen: It Stains the Sands Red 2016, Jigsaw 2017 have headed out to a family-owned cabin in the woods to celebrate their one-year wedding anniversary. The cinematography is pretty nice and there are some neat tracking shots, so clearly there's talent behind the camera though there were way too many Psycho callbacks.
It isn't really anything special. Most of the movie looks as if it was filmed on an overcast day. The script is clever and Minihan gives it some nice artistic touches which elevate it from a simple horror flick to a movie with substance, style and some shocking moments, too. From the moment they arrive, Jules begins to unravel previously unknown truths about her wife. Clocking in at 99 minutes in-length, What Keeps You Alive was written and directed by the superbly-talented Colin Minihan Grave Encounters 2011, It Stains the Sands Red 2016.
What Keeps You Alive still. The cat and mouse game between Jackie and Jules is tense and suspenseful and we are riveted when Jules is forced to watch her lover engage in some horrible acts against innocents. Rush Shipping orders that have been placed on our website need to add one 1 business day to the processing time. These days, she can usually be found hiking aimlessly through the woods in her favorite Technicolor sneakers with a Nikon in hand and her rescue dog, Molly, who is a bit hare-brained. Jules and Jackie are fully-realized characters with their own strengths and weaknesses. What Keeps you Alive is set apart just enough from other cabin-in-the-woods thrillers while still capturing the terror of being isolated in a rural maze of unfamiliar forest and topography.
Minihan knows how to build suspense and how to use his camera and shots to create atmosphere and tension. I eventually found myself groaning out loud. That being said, the last 10 minutes are quite good, but that doesn't make up for the rest of it. Psychological horror in an idyllic cabin in the woods— this genre won't give up the ghost, and I will continue to buy my ticket as long as the formula continues to shift enough to be compelling. . What Keeps You Alive is yet another film this year with a pretty cool idea that fails to deliver. What Keeps You Alive is yet another film this year with a pretty cool idea that fails to deliver.
We then watch her slowly turn into the calculated and cunning psychopath she really is and one with disturbing depth, making her unnervingly real. Summary: How much can you really know about another person? How much can you really know about another person? The ultimate black widow, Anderson is also the perfect bird of prey: a beautifully appealing lover on the outside, a dark, cunning and horribly wretched caricature of evil on the inside. The premise is simple, but with enough going on in the background to generate some interest. Sadly it just didn't sustain that interest for me, tonally wobbling between serious character drama and thriller camp. As violence rains down upon their idyllic forest getaway, the women engage in a frenzied psychological and vicious battle that will test the very limits of their instinct to survive. In South by Southwest, Fantasia film festivals. What Keeps You Alive is minimalism at its finest, and, as with all great films, it blends genres fluidly and ultimately defies any simple categorizations.
What Keeps You Alive still. So much heavy handed directing and heavy handed score it was wearying. Jeannie likes to joke that she is little, yellow, blue, and different. At first, they seem benign. It is filmed in a gorgeous location though, with more than a few stylish shots and use of darkness, and the lead actresses mostly do a good job where the script works, particularly Hannah Emily Anderson's emotional shifts during the beginning of the conflict. Almost instantly, a deranged twist falls over this entire tale and the beauty of the natural environment shifts to an all-out struggle for survival in this postcard-perfect forest. Disturbingly haunting yet aesthetically pleasing, this is one Thriller that ups the ante to a whole new level.