This is not my son! “Impostor” – film review

Recently, we are seeing a real flood of dark children who are a real nuisance for their parents. Emanating with superhuman strength, speaking in an incomprehensible language and displaying strange, even ritualistic behavior, Chris is another hero from the “Why People Don’t Want Children?” Series.

A mysterious hole in the ground

Impostor (original title: The Hole in the Ground ), Lee Cronin’s debut horror film, tells the story of a mother and child fleeing the past. Once upon a time, a divorced woman, living with her offspring on a poor farm, far from the city noise, while running in a nearby forest, comes across a huge hole in the ground. Soon after this discovery, her firstborn disappears at night, after which – as if nothing had happened – she finds herself. Unfortunately, all the signs in the sky indicate that her son, upon his return, is no longer the same beloved child as before.

Triumph of form over content

The film by Cronin, a fledgling creator in the field of horror, resembles – since we are talking about them – an unruly child who can not even be left out of his sight for a moment. As long as we play with it and keep an eye on it, everything is fine, but when we go to the bathroom if needed, we will find toys scattered all over the room and walls scratched with crayons. The director knows how to build an atmosphere of terror and anxiety, correctly, even in a workshop manner, distributes tension and breaks it down into individual accents. However, at the moment when he gives too much freedom to his own creative invention, trying to play with the viewer, his film loses its effect and becomes another, incoherent picture with an excess of form over content. At key moments, the creator lacks determination and idea. It gets lost easily in the depths of its own convention and instead of sticking to the previously marked path to somehow reach its destination, it deviates from the course and then gropes for the correct path, which unfortunately gives a meager result in the form of the secondary market. Therefore, we will not be frightened by a mad old man who informs Sarah, “He’s not your son,” or Chris himself, who displays superhuman strength or eats insects. The final decisions and the plot of the plot will also not surprise you. Also, leaving an understatement about the causes of the boy’s psychophysical state does not raise the profile of the film. Oh, wasted potential again. not Chris himself, displaying superhuman strength or eating insects. The final decisions and the plot of the plot will also not surprise you. Also, leaving an understatement about the causes of the boy’s psychophysical state does not raise the profile of the film. Oh, wasted potential again. not Chris himself, displaying superhuman strength or eating insects. The final decisions and the plot of the plot will also not surprise you. Also, leaving an understatement about the causes of the boy’s psychophysical state does not raise the profile of the film. Oh, wasted potential again.

However, there are some pluses

Most remembered is the acting of James Quinn Markey, deceptively similar to Haley Joel Osment from Sixth Sense , who plays the role of Chris, and Seány Kerslake as Sarah, whose natural dramatic predispositions can be seen with the naked eye. Their collaboration in the film was at least satisfactory. The use of a lush mountain-forest landscape, recalling many dark legends, adds charm to the photos shown. The impression of a majestic and hermetic space, surrounded on all sides by a dense forest, enhances the feeling of terror. Unfortunately, the pros end there. Impostor remains a horror film that serves as an overview material for novice creators in the field of horror films, in terms of both substantive and workshop correctness, but in the field of convention, it is homework to be done.

We would like to thank the Cinema City network for the opportunity to watch the film Impostor .