Such a frustrating disappointment

Purely Joyful Movie!

Disturbing yet enthralling

It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

These people leaving reviews probably are being paid to leave them because anyone whose actually seem this movie, would never say its good. Its horrible. Like Freddy got fingered horrible. A 22 yr old does not a convincing 15 yr old make....The acting is so awful that the plot is lost. If this was your labor of love Ms Fries, please choose a different medium. This is going on the black list for me.I have to leave more words here because my review isn't long enough yet so again i will say this movie is terrible. Oh and the cinematography is horrible too. The characters are unlikable. Im going to try to save this now.

I saw this movie by chance at a horror film festival recently. I had no idea what to expect. Two things give me the creeps bad- one is colonial people, and the other is hardcore hippies. I could not move in my seat through this entire movie, it was so intensely realistic. I was a few minutes into it when I realized it wasn't actually set in the '70s, because it really had that look! I couldn't understand what kind of mother would let her daughter go away to a commune with her creepy, deadbeat, hippie dad. The characters were everything you don't want to meet at such a place. The casting was perfect. Chauntal Lewis stars as the unfortunate girl, Jenny. This story was so very disturbing...then all of a sudden, there is David Lago- 'Raul' from 'the Young and the Restless'! He is so pretty it's hard to look! That calmed me down for a minute, anyway. But then the horror continued...for all the sunshine and pretty scenery in this film, it still manages to give you the chills all the way through. It kind of reminded me of 'Crowhaven Farm' and 'Race With The Devil'. I urge you to see it for yourself. It's like a fine early '70s 'ABC MOVIE OF THE WEEK'! (That is a high compliment, by the way). I haven't seen anything like this in a long time, and I was really missing these type of movies. Thank you Elisabeth Fies! Again- SEE IT!!

First, I'm not even sure if I should call this movie a "horror" movie. Yes, it involves a few horrible acts, but when I think of a "horror" movie -- especially by today's standards -- I picture some PG-13 crap with a bunch of teenagers running away from an unstoppable killer for 90 minutes. This isn't that kind of movie, not by a long shot.And when I say it's an indie film, I don't mean it's indie compared to Transformers 2. I mean it's indie in the truest sense of the word. It appears to have been created by a bunch of like-minded people motivated by their love of movies and devotion to the story they wanted to tell, not by profit. I have no idea what the budget was for this movie, but I'm guessing it was pretty small. And yet that doesn't come across on film. It's a "small" movie, in that there aren't a lot of locations and the cast is small and there aren't any special effects. But it never feels like a "cheap" movie. It's well-shot, the sound is good, and the music was particularly strong.The story involves Jenny (don't call her Jen!), a 16-year old girl forced to spend time with her estranged father as part of a custody agreement. Her father's some kind of hippie guru and lives in a weird commune. Jenny arrives at the commune and we initially get a lot of fish-out-of-water / culture clash humor. But the humor's offset nicely by an undercurrent of creepiness to everything.Jenny soon meets Puck, a kid who lives in the nearby town. They strike up a friendship, and spend more and more time with each other as Jenny is continually creeped out at the commune.I won't spoil the rest of the film. As I said before, it's not what I'd call a "horror" film, per se. Maybe more of a psychological thriller. But it's also got strong elements of black comedy. It's my kind of movie, in that it slides quite comfortably back and forth between genres.I found the high point of the film to be at the beginning of the third act, in a prolonged scene between Jenny and Puck. Elisabeth Fies, the writer / director / co-star, establishes a really intimate, genuine, raw moment between her two characters.If you're in the mood for something different, and want to support truly independent filmmakers, check out The Commune.

The Commune is a film with a vast array of themes: sexual discovery, what it means to be a woman and, subsequently, come of age. But the film also deals with the loss of innocence and how those in power, namely your parental figures, can abuse it for their own self-serving needs. Overall, the film delivers in a way that recalls the slow burn of films like The Wicker Man and Rosemary's Baby. And along with it, comes a stellar building of tension and atmosphere.Our story starts with a young girl named Jennifer. Fresh out of school for the summer break, she's forced to spend time with her fairly non-existent father. You see, her parents divorced when she was little and her dad left and started a new age-y type of commune with a group of followers.From the time she first arrives, an eerie sense of foreboding permeates. As the film evolves and the creepy on screen antics of the characters escalate, Jennifer discovers that her father has been hiding a lot more than she thought. This coupled with a scene in which the father subtly makes a pass, your are led to believe that he has less than favorable intentions for his daughter. After a few childhood flashbacks and a revelation that the daughter is not as pure as originally thought, we are brought to a shocking and brutal climax to our film.The Commune is a fine first effort from filmmaker Elisabeth Fies. The film truly lives up to its tag line: 'Every Girl's Worst Fear.'