Watch Temple For Free

Too much of everything

One of my all time favorites.

How sad is this?

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

While I admit that the Japanese setting for "Temple" gives this movie a little freshness, it's nowhere enough to disguise the fact that we have not only seen this kind of horror movie before, we've seen it done a lot better before. How many times before have you seen a tale about outsiders in a strange place deciding to check out a spooky place shunned by the locals? But you've probably seldom seen it as badly accomplished as this version. The complaints by other IMDb users that the movie is slow and uneventful are true. It takes over half of the movie for the characters to reach the title place, and then we have to wait until 75% or so of the movie is over before the characters realize they are in serious danger. And when the danger does start to rear its head, it is not particularly spooky or scary in any way - it all seems by the numbers. Also, by the time the closing credits crawl, you'll realize that there are a number of plot threads that haven't been resolved in a complete and satisfying manner. The movie feels unfinished instead. Even if you haven't seen this kind of horror movie before, you'll certainly see all the same that this go-around isn't particularly well done.

American filmmakers seem to have a huge problem with making horror films set in Japan, despite the attraction of the country and the wealth of folklore and atmosphere it brings with it. First we had the disappointment of THE FOREST with Natalie Dormer, and now this film. It sees a trio of young people heading off to Japan to research temples as part of a thesis, filming segments for their video blog along the way. The first half of the story is all set up and has a handful of eerie moments which work rather well. The performances are routine but there's an air of mystery surrounding the characters which makes you interested in them. Sadly, the second half falls apart in an aimless array of CGI ghost scares and too-dark photography, as the friends end up stranded in the wood with sinister forces at work. You've seen it all before from this point on and it becomes a huge disappointment.

Honestly im utterly convinced my 8 year old daughter could offer a better effort than this pile of garbage ! ... how do these movies get funded and put together when they are simply awful ! ... doesn't anyone involved have the awareness of mind to think , wow we really are making the biggest pile of horse manure imaginable ! ... This turd of a film makes no sense and it thinks its being so clever with an utterly bizarre conclusion ! ... Hang you heads in shame all those involved in this shockingly bad effort !

That was an hour of my life that I can't get back. Excellent photography, but that doesn't make up for the confused and confusing plot (assuming there even was one). For me, there's nothing like a good horror story to keep me up at night. Unfortunately, this was nothing like a good horror story. Give it a miss.