Lemon Tree Passage had so much potential. And I'm not completely certain that it still couldn't be fixed. It would require a lot of editing but it could be done. I really liked the premise and I'm interested in learning more about the phenomenon. However, the movie fails to really capitalize on it and resorts to a rather convoluted supernatural revenge story. There will probably be spoilers as it will be hard to explain where the movie mistepped.
The American tourists, Maya, Amelia and Amelia's brother Toby, bump into the Australians - Geordie and Oscar, on the beach. They all decide to party together and, of course, start telling ghost stories. This is where the tale of the motorist comes into play. They all go to see it, then spend the night with the Aussies.
This leads to various supernatural shenanigans happening. And this is where it gets weird and convoluted. We start getting flashbacks to an assault committed by three unknown men. This ghost possesses Maya (for some unstated reason), kills Amelia and Toby (again, for unstated reasons) and wants to kill Geordie to get back at Sam, one of the men that killed the girl. Fairly simple, yeah? If they had kept to this story flow it would have been so much better.
But, then you add in the original urban legend with its accompanying story of the killed motorist and a random male ghost that pops in briefly and it all starts to get very muddled. And the male voice is definitely not the voice of the female ghost as it specifically calls her by name. Who is it? Who knows. It could be the ghost motorist but there's nothing to tie the two deaths together.
The dialogue, pacing and character interactions are pretty good. They are stuttery and a bit awkward but that makes it a bit more realistic to me. Events and reactions make sense to the scenes they are in. Then they go back to Lemon Tree Passage and the movie falls apart. Oscar goes missing and the Americans go to look for him while Geordie, who, you know, lives there, sits in the car with Maya. Now, maybe I'm just not ballsy enough to go traipsing around Australia after dark but knowing some of the animals they've got there you couldn't pay me to step two feet from that car at night. After that the story starts to go to pieces and starts losing focus.
I think that if it were trimmed down to keep out the extraneous driftwood it would be decently enjoyable. I thought the actors did well and despite some unrealistic dialogue later in the movie, seem to give it their all. The emotions they portray feel right for the scenes. Even if their actions are...odd.
I felt like they could have done great in keeping to the original motorbike crash that was the urban legend. The "ghost gets revenge" has been done a lot better and felt almost like an afterthought.
All in all it was ok but it could have been so much better.
The American tourists, Maya, Amelia and Amelia's brother Toby, bump into the Australians - Geordie and Oscar, on the beach. They all decide to party together and, of course, start telling ghost stories. This is where the tale of the motorist comes into play. They all go to see it, then spend the night with the Aussies.
This leads to various supernatural shenanigans happening. And this is where it gets weird and convoluted. We start getting flashbacks to an assault committed by three unknown men. This ghost possesses Maya (for some unstated reason), kills Amelia and Toby (again, for unstated reasons) and wants to kill Geordie to get back at Sam, one of the men that killed the girl. Fairly simple, yeah? If they had kept to this story flow it would have been so much better.
But, then you add in the original urban legend with its accompanying story of the killed motorist and a random male ghost that pops in briefly and it all starts to get very muddled. And the male voice is definitely not the voice of the female ghost as it specifically calls her by name. Who is it? Who knows. It could be the ghost motorist but there's nothing to tie the two deaths together.
The dialogue, pacing and character interactions are pretty good. They are stuttery and a bit awkward but that makes it a bit more realistic to me. Events and reactions make sense to the scenes they are in. Then they go back to Lemon Tree Passage and the movie falls apart. Oscar goes missing and the Americans go to look for him while Geordie, who, you know, lives there, sits in the car with Maya. Now, maybe I'm just not ballsy enough to go traipsing around Australia after dark but knowing some of the animals they've got there you couldn't pay me to step two feet from that car at night. After that the story starts to go to pieces and starts losing focus.
I think that if it were trimmed down to keep out the extraneous driftwood it would be decently enjoyable. I thought the actors did well and despite some unrealistic dialogue later in the movie, seem to give it their all. The emotions they portray feel right for the scenes. Even if their actions are...odd.
I felt like they could have done great in keeping to the original motorbike crash that was the urban legend. The "ghost gets revenge" has been done a lot better and felt almost like an afterthought.
All in all it was ok but it could have been so much better.