A waste of 90 minutes of my life

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.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

I first saw this at the Bram Stoker Film Festival, where it won "Best International Feature", and purchased the DVD there (which speaks for itself). It stands up brilliantly to a second viewing, I have to say, and works as well on the small screen as on the big.The Commune is a good, slow creep in the manner of The Wicker Man, the subject area well researched so that little bits peek through in ways the audience might not always appreciate on a first viewing. It's one of those films where the more you know about the setting the more frightening it is, unlike a lot of horror flicks. The intense colour palette gives it a dissonant quality that enhances the unsettling feeling the film inspires. I feel the climax could have been a little bigger in terms of set pieces, but as it stands it does give the film a more personal feeling.

The Commune, like its lovely heroine, is between a rock and a hard place in a world of delusional, narcissists. It doesn't fit neatly into some prepackaged genre category that Pod People can easily consume sans participation or reflection. This film is an experience best accompanied by active thought and post-viewing discussion. Michael Bay fans may wanna stay clear.That said, one would not be wrong to call it a horror film. Like Wicker Man (as many before me have aptly referenced) and many of Polanski's darker films, it ventures into territory far too horrific to suggest it is any other genre. However, the movie I watched was more of a post-modern "coming-of-age" turns "psycho-drama" with speckles of dark humor and surrealism inter-woven throughout. Part Alan Ball, part Samuel Fuller, and a whole lot of the delightfully twisted Lis Fies, The Commune is a wonderful achievement in making a low budget look high, making human ugliness look gorgeous, and making us leave the theater with that same sick feeling in the pit of our stomachs as did American Beauty, Happiness, Blue Velvet and Stepford Wives (the original, that is). The Commune reminds us that while life might sometimes appear to be in pretty Technicolor on the outside, one must never forget to look below the surface where the scariest monsters most often reside.Kudos to any independent filmmaker who strives for intelligence as well as artistry, without being held back by limited budgets. Double kudos to Lis Fies for succeeding.

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.'