I couldn’t with this one.
Xen
The Overview
The slow, awkward pacing, poor acting, and odd visual aesthetic choices made this film unwatchable. Oh, and the cheap props. The corny mask in the second jump scare was all the foreshadowing needed to realize the producers would never deliver Oscar-ready makeup effects.
The Acting
Andrew Roth tried to connect with the audience, but even on my silver screen, this writing was strained from start to finish, and his performance couldn’t carry us into believing the horror being.
As Alison, Rachael Lubarsky delivers stiff, predictable dialogue with little spark. The lines were admittedly difficult to bring to life, but her intonation still falls short, leaving the performance flat.
“Every actor has to make terrible films… the trick is never to be terrible in them.” — Christopher Lee
Arguably the best acting in the film. Those pearly whites and that accent, the lighthouse, and those glasses.
Corinne Britti as Claire does a good job of pulling us back into the fold of how we should be feeling. A medium in a haunted house is the obvious vehicle to take us to the exposition of the paranormal life inhabiting the house. Claire holds up a mirror to Roth’s Mason and pushes him toward the realization that the salesman must atone for his self-centered strut through life.
The Writing and Production
Gravitas Ventures films can be hit or miss when it comes to character dialogue, and that inconsistency carries over into the sometimes shaky performances delivering those lines. Some characters are clearly meant to come across as awkward and foreboding, but the acting from a few of the house viewers—particularly the second couple—is especially lackluster.
The screenplay team of Jordan Friedberg and Christopher Schrack does not have a sizeable number of credits to draw from. Their streaming delivery of this film isn’t an impressive notch on the belt.
Take a look at the trailer on YouTube