I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. Coming from a literary background, it was interesting to see the use of the narration.
I gave it a 6 because its seems like an excellent student project, or an inexpensive B movie and also because some of the element of the story don't make much senses.
We follow the young Scarlet who started off a bit like an "edge lord", but I started to like her character when she met the Witch. She showed great maturity and seemed like she could be someone's genuine friend.
This compare to some lines of dialog threw me off when she apology to the Witch for being such a horrible friend to her. I really did not get that : she refuses to use the power the Witch is offering her ; she does not want to be the Witches friend for what she could get from her.
You really get the vibe from the Witch that she is up to something but then you are lulled into a sense of false security when years passed and nothing happened. Knowing it was a tale, I kind of expected her to be one of the good guys.
The things I dislike were the element of urgency in the end. Why was it so urgent for her to pass the curse as soon as possible when her predecessor took 36 years to do so ? (The movie was released in 2014 and the Witch stated she was cursed in 1978.)
Also, why is everybody out to get Scarlet while any other person could have been "it" ? Scarlet's favorite professor, Greg and the Witch are all out to get her but another kid got away in the past...
Why did Greg lied about Meghan's suicide ? What was the point ? I believe it was to make Scarlet upset but Scarlet should have known better that Meghan would commit suicide after 2-3 days of her roommate disappearing... I believe it would have work better if Greg admitted to murdering Meghan because she was getting closed to something, no ?
How did Meghan found the cabine without being invited to it ? Just this break the rules set in the movie. I do have an hypothesis, but I'm not sure... I think it's because Scarlet did not embraced the power of the wand and is not in full control of this aspect of her life because she refuses to even try to pass the curse. I think it shows when she tried to reach out to her father but could not reveal herself to him. (But then again, it is just an hypothesis...)
Another thing I did not like is how everybody seemed to have used the wand in this freaking town ! When Scarlet breaks it and everyone just drops dead... Ok for Julia, Greg and the Professor, but many random people in the street ?!? Really ?!?!
I really like how they make fun of "the Wand" in-movie ! "It's just a twig..." I thought it was meta and fit really well with the narration. I also like the interaction between Scarlet and the Narrator. I think it would have been great to see a little bit more of that. It could have been the "Red Mage" alluded to in the english subtitle... because yeah ! The subtitle are different at some point then the character's dialog !! Greg and Scarlet have a whole segment of the movie that got remove where they talk about the Red Mage and how Greg just knows a little bit about it, just enough to be really scare and to know that Scarlet does not want to know more, that she should just pass the curse and move on with her life.
I wish we knew more about the tree, the Red mage, the Curse as well ! What was the price that no one wants to pay ? What is this cumulative interest about the curse ??!!
Last but not least : the dream sequence. I really thought they were going to let us down with the "lame" reveal that Scarlet is just a new transfer english major student who was writing a short story. When she go out of her room to introduced herself to a group of students who introduced themselves back as being Meghan, Julia and Greg, I just got the creepiest of vibe from Scarlet ! I really though she was the biggest stalker in the world ! But then, she wakes up from that and find herself at the cabin were she broke the wand ! I really like how the "it's just a dream" trope was reversed on it's head like in Descent, 28 Days Later and Repo Men.
To me, it was a big "f*¢k y0u !" by Scarlet to people who manipulated her to contract the curse as she just wiped out a millennial religion, everybody that got involved with the wand, and allegedly had magic dried up from the world. I just wish they could have shown the shift in Scarlet's attitude.
All in all, if you manage your expectation, I am sure you will enjoy this movie. Understand that it is a movie with a limited runtime. I think it would have work better as a mini-series to show the evolution of the character and explained a bit more about all the "wibbly wobbly sorcery-wimey stuff" because they did a wonderful job at getting me interested in the reality they created !
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