Apparition - Dunkle Erscheinung

Ziemlich standardmäßiger Gruselfilm, der sich hauptsächlich dafür rühmt, ohne digitale Effekte Angst einzujagen (mit Ausnahme des unnötigen Schimmels vielleicht). Und obwohl The Apparition eher Verwirrung bis Spott hervorruft, werde ich ihn diesmal nicht vollständig verurteilen. Der Film schafft es nämlich gelegentlich, Spannung durch die ganzen sich bewegenden Möbel, die Blicke in dunkle Ecken der Räume und ein ziemlich gutes visuelles Erscheinungsbild zu erzeugen (die Szene mit dem Bettlaken sieht wirklich gut aus). Und es stört mich überhaupt nicht, dass die Sequenz in der Garage mit dem kriechenden Geist stark von dem japanischen Film Ju-on abgekupfert ist. Die Laufzeit ist auch ziemlich kurz, also habe ich mich wirklich nicht gelangweilt. (04.12.2012)

The ideal flick for midnight. It’s short and striking, just the way horror movies should be. However, I felt really sorry that despite the atmosphere it created, it ended in disappointment. The ending was really useless. In fact, it was as if the creators cut off the movie at its best moment. And that’s a lot to say, because from what I’ve seen it wasn’t a cheap movie either. A budget of 17 million dollars for such a small-scale film is quite a lot. (18.05.2014)

I’ve watched it twice. The first time, I wanted to go to sleep after ten minutes and I didn’t care at all how it would end, which clearly tells how much The Apparition managed to engage me. A derivative ghost story without ideas and scary scenes, and quite stupid sometimes (scaring with a dry cactus), plus the utter incompetence of the creators (how to explain what is going in? With a voiceover, of course). This is just a futile effort and a waste of the money the studio invested in it – it would have been better spent on a party for the big shots, at least it would have made them happy; this film can’t make anyone happy. (16.11.2012)

"Revelation" in itself is not a revelation at all. It is a completely typical horror of contemporary production that hopes that a few beloved stars will save it, but they won't, especially when everything else is done poorly. This is a film that hopes that scary scenes alone will ensure that the viewer is scared, but without the necessary progression and structure of individual scenes, it simply cannot turn out well. This is just a jumble of everything without order or coherence. (09.04.2014)