knospi | Reading

Was in the mood to watch a movie, so I chose one I'd never heard of before that was on Prime and went in entire blind (save for the summary).

The Painted (2024) promised haunted paintings, and you know what? I enjoyed it. I really liked it by the end despite some flaws, but I'm considering it a win all the same.

I'm not in the mood to do a full review, so here's some bullet points, starting with the stuff I didn't like so I can gush about the good stuff later. There are spoilers, but I'll try to keep them vague. Nothing in this film strikes me as something a spoiler would ruin, so there's that, too. Lol.

Let's go.

The Less Great Stuff

Plot's a mess. The idea, the concepts, and all that is great, but the way the information is presented could have been better.
Info dumping. This movie has a lot of blatant moments where Evelyn (the lead) or a random expert just dumps information, and while I can sort of see why that ends up happening, it's still a shame based on everything else going on.

Can Go Either Way

The Effects. I'm torn on the effects. I think that the CGI looks really good, because they sort of go for a more intentional fake looking effect? The painting effects in particular look really good, and are definitely uncomfortable in a Trypophobia way with the textures, but it gets really repetitive. The paint sequences can sometimes overstay their welcome a handful of seconds (that could have been better spent giving more room for less info dumping).
This film likes topless women. Lol. You should take a shot every time you see a set of nude breasts whether in naughty mags or the paintings. I feel a pinch prudish pointing this out, but it started to feel a little gratuitous after a while.
A few scares are cheesy. I don't mind this so much, but a couple of them definitely missed--noticeable when so many are great.

The Great

Adam. I started this moving going "Did they go out of their way to make this man unlikeable?" but he had actual character development and I was getting teary eyed over him by the end. Great freaking job, movie.
The casting. I liked everyone in the film. The whole family feels real and you can tell that they all love each other under the bickering and stress. Even Adam at his worst in the earlier parts of the film clearly loved and would do anything for his kids, so you know what? Good stuff.
I like the twist on the Haunted House genre. This family spends a couple nights in the house and when the hauntings start...they leave. LOL. They get their asses out of that house and the plot follows them home. I love that.
A lot of the painting moments are genuinely well framed and creepy. Some stand outs are a few subtle movements and the hair cutting sequences. The movie presents some of the scares very matter of fact. The paintings just...move. On screen. No sound effects. They're just alive and it's bright and in the daytime.
Adam researching. I kid you not one of the best moments in the entire film is when Adam goes "I'll take care of this" in a threatening voice that implies violence and then he goes to the library to research and I cackled at that twist. It played up the horror trope of researching demonology in the middle of the film, but gave it to the absolute last person you'd expect.
The contrast of the painting ceremony in the beginning of the film in the rich mansion with items clearly tailored for it and the rushed ceremony at the end in the poorer family home, with everything cobbled together with what they had. A table of mismatched candles in their kitchen with tearing wallpaper was so. Freaking. Good.
I love the ending of this film. I don't care what anyone else says. I think it had just the right amount of action, tension, anxiety, and feelings.
The cinematography and framing are all well done. It's a good looking movie.

And that's what I've go. I went in blind, had a fun time, and I'd recommend it to others. :D