Synopsis
The Pond is the story of an anthropologist on the verge of an apocalyptic discovery who begins to descend into madness, as his hallucinations reveal something sinister is after him.
The Pond
Director
Producers
Writers
Editors
Cinematography
Executive Producer
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Releases by Date
Digital
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USA
25 Jul 2022
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UK15
Physical
25 Jul 2022
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UK15
Releases by Country
UK
25 Jul 2022
- Digital15
25 Jul 2022
- Physical15
USA
23 Feb 2021
- Digital
Popular reviews
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This doesn’t make much sense until the last five minutes and the way there is too confusing and meandering to grab you.. the acting was also very stiff and it’s cliche riddled.. it’s about a scientist studying patterns and figuring out the universe or maybe he’s just lost his mind ... speaking of patterns this film goes thru a check list of indie horror patterns ...
Grieving a loss and trying to rationalize- yes
Quick cuts Creepy mini montage- yep (oh this is the real horror STOP)
Moments of clarity & and a greater of the universe - also yes
Talking about religious stuff- yes
Menacing neighbors - yes
Hallucinating about people’s faces looking scary or doing something violent - yesJust boring , nonsensical & derivative
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#45 – Serbia from March Around the World Challenge 2024
Horror Edition - Progress: 45/30
"The Pond" was (extremely) cryptic, heavy on symbolism folk horror and... somewhat "vibe"-ish.
The first movie that came to mind while watching it was "Hagazussa", though totally unrelated but boy did it remind me the struggle lolThe plot... I definitely didn't crack this one lol There's the symbolism, the circles (some "Uzumaki" vibes there ^_^), a few "hints" and a whole lotta of "bonkers" events lmao (this kind of movie should come with a walkthrough, btw, just saying :D).
The location is really neat and there's some accomplished cinematography.
The plot is uberly-vague, should be totally symbolism related and despite some... "exposition", I was… -
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Although the visuals were impressive, they lacked coherence and became increasingly strange as the movie went on and became weird.
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This had good atmosphere and was well acted. Set a creepy ominous tone early that led absolutely nowhere in the end. Damn.
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Ostensibly a story about an anthropologist noticing and researching connections in the natural world that point towards the apocalypse.
Slow burn usually canotes that something eventually happens. Not here, lots of drab colors and minor chord progressions do not make a movie deep or emotionally engaging. The film fails to contruct a reasonable narrative and therefore cannot produce a reasonable resolution.
Two things good about this are the cinematography, which is gorgeous, and that boatman's sweet pillow hat.
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Visually compelling movie chock full of allegorical imagery. However, without the characters, plot, or coherency necessary to establish engagement, it feels less like a rich tapestry and more like a cipher with no key.
Full video review here: youtu.be/p7N5kMlMAyY
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A visually luscious slow burn with some genuinely freaky imagery. Takes its sweet time gelling & establishing tension, but once the plot begins to cohere it becomes taut. Not sure how I feel about the last ten minutes, but at least it’s something I haven’t seen before!
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I'm sure this will be another one where I'm the sole guy loving it while everyone else checks out, but I don't care. I have specific itches in film that I rarely get to scratch, and this is one that did it for me. It captures the surrealist, dreamlike feel and pace wonderfully, while setting it in a location that feels ethereal and menacing in ways that you can't quite put your finger on. That air of oddness and unexplained uncomfortableness feels right at home in your most haunting dreams, and even the stiff and languid at times delivery from the acting feels like a natural extension of the feel of the film. Certainly not for everyone, but if you can get into its groove, it's a nicely oppressive slice of dreamy folk-horror.
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THE POND raises the question: can bad acting be saved by good writing, and can bad writing be saved by good acting? Then, as the film progresses, it poses a different question: what if you have neither?
I have not had a film string me along, slowly making me more and more annoyed that I have been duped, than THE POND did this evening. One take is that the new film is like a foreign film somehow made in English, but while all the words have the correct meaning, strung together they are absolutely senseless.
The acting is bad, but I think the writing is much, much worse. By the time you get to the inevitable switcheroo ending, you're just…
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Seems stuck in one gear and never puts together the pieces in a timely enough manner to make a difference. Decent visuals and style, but wooden acting.
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I like slow-burn horror, it always has an eerieness even in the normalcy of man's everyday life in the world and their eventual interaction with its insanities beyond it, that speaks to me.
Our protagonist starts like many in these films, living in less than ideal circumstances and alone. The world is quiet and the use of the sounds of nature help set the stage. We get the theme and philosophy of the film about 10 minutes in, am I the center of the universe? Our protagonist seems wary of the answer.
The visuals are intentionally drab, the acting is solid, and the story knows where it is going, until it doesn't.
You feel the creeping darkness that is building…