One of my all time favorites.

Boring, long, and too preachy.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Since some highly rated reviews here state that "Vinyan" is not a horror film, I would like to emphasize that it certainly is. "Vinyan" is in fact not a slasher/splatter movie, but splatter is only a sub-genre of horror. It has all elements of classical horror in the wake of Hitchcock's "Psycho"or Kubrick's "Shining", as there are, mainly, an unsettling plot and a story set around fear which is also evoked in viewers by cinematic means, including suspense. This being said, I encourage all fans of classical horror to watch this: you will not be disappointed, this IS a horror film, and a very good one. There are also reviewers stating that the story is basically realistic and 'could happen in real life'. It will remain an open question if this actually could happen (I personally do not consider it probable), but the fact is that the director does not let it look like a realistic story. "Vinyan" portrays dreams, thoughts and fantasies of the characters, so that it is often impossible to tell them from 'real' events. It can be interpreted as a ghost story or as a psychological story of grief and madness without any supernatural components; both readings are justified by the clever screenplay and directing. The story line is consistent and plausible; the atmosphere is very dense and getting more and more eerie throughout the film; the whole story has a touching emotional depth; and the cinematography is of an exquisite beauty which compares to the most beautiful films I have ever seen in my life. The visuals are really unforgettable in their atmospheric grace. Watch this! It is a piece of very fine cinematic art - art-house, yes, but of a successible kind.

I got a sneaking sense throughout Fabrice Du Welz's second feature film that much of the "horror" might be of the xenophobic, funny-looking-locals variety, but in the end there's more to the film than that. It's solid in its themes, drenched in atmosphere, and boasts two powerhouse performances.The story concerns a pre-middle-aged couple, played by Rufus Sewell and Emmanuelle Beart, who lost their son in the 2004 mega-tsunami. Jeanne is convinced that Joshua is still alive, in Burma. Paul isn't so sure, but goes along with the idea, out of love for his wife. They soon find themselves being ferried between obliterated coastal villages, funds dwindling, hope dwindling.What ensues is an intense psychological drama, with elements of horror. It becomes clear that Paul and Jeanne have distorted their shared memory of their son. He becomes a corrupting element in their relationship; an object to be possessed, if only one parent can prove that their grief, and thus their love, is greater.Paul and Jeanne, a haunted, mixed-nationality couple, stumbling through an alien culture, never fully emerge from the long shadow of Nicolas Roeg's Don't Look Now, but Vinyan has some ideas of its own. The Lord of the Flies-esque final sequences are particularly memorable and distressing, archetypal in their menace, and throughout Du Welz is imaginative in his manipulation of sound and image to increase our dis-ease.In a sense, this is torture porn for the psyche, rather than the soma. The mental breakdown of both man and wife is protracted and uncomfortable; extreme and occasionally implausible, although never silly. Always, the spectre of grief looms, so it's hard not to feel for the characters - something that many modern horror movies cannot claim.

Well, yeah. That says it.From the description I expected something along the lines of Children of the Corn, but in reality the scary feral children have very little to do with this movie, they just kinda show up at the end to rub mud on a naked woman's body.Most of the movie is about the mundane, anti-climatic journey to the home of these not so scary feral children(who we only get to see briefly) so a crazy wife can have them rub mud on her naked body.You see, a rich couple's son died not so long ago. The mom is obviously not coping well and going nuts as a result. But she convinces her husband to pack a bag with hundreds of millions of dollars so they can pay Asian gangsters and human traffickers to lead them to some forbidden Burmese district, just to make sure their son isn't alive. So for the first hour and 10 minutes people argue, there's lots of rain, someone gets shot, and there's a sex scene. 15 minutes before the closing credits, feral children show up acting kind of creepy, the husband gets killed, and yes I'll say it again... the children rub mud on the wife's naked body. And that's the end.

Having just seen it, i feel like i've been completely ripped off..and i didn't even pay to watch! So here's how this train-wreck of a tale goes..a rich couple find themselves thinking that their son has somehow survived a tsunami after 6 months and is living somewhere in Burma.The opening plot seems simple enough, this is the part where i liked it and empathised with the characters (great casting). The soundtrack was always on point and the style of camera work being a third person voyeuristic p.o.v. seemed to flow well.However, then we get into a repeated pattern of the wife (Emmanuelle Béart) going berserk every 20 minutes at the thought of finding her supposed living son. The following is not a sexist joke but c'mon get off the damn period!! It's not realistic when a woman goes into such a possessed state that you start wanting to reach into the television screen and slap her repeatedly across the face, hoping she gains consciousness. It got to a point where as the viewer i was rooting for her to get chewed up by a mythical squid during a couple boat scenes!This goes on and on, as the forests get greener and the island/s get foggier, totally starting to lose the basis of any storyline...and then it happens: just when you think you've got this movie figured out, the leading man gets cannibalised by thousands of face painted children in a bloody jungle while this idiot of a "soul mate" watches, it ends with her looking up in the air naked whilst being covered in mud by the same messed up kids..smiling.I mean..i know i'm not the first one to scream "WHAT THE F***". Sure the colour contrasting and director of photography give this film an extra boost of emotion but how am i the viewer meant to be coaxed along with a screenplay this s***. Yes i'm ranting on but trust me fellow reviewing reader..you watch this film and you will feel the exact same way.If there is any upside to this it might be the fact that there's a couple tits and ass scenes as well as one short sex scene for a change in tone. On one hand i do agree that it's definitely an original idea but the execution was so poorly played out that during the first hour you tend to lose interest and kinda hope there something better around the corner to save this sinking ship.A Conclusion you ask? not worth the spare time, although interesting and eerie it lacks the fundamentals of good storytelling. Thank You & Goodnight!