MovieChat Forums > Stridulum (1980) Discussion > 4.4 stars? Is that a mistake?

4.4 stars? Is that a mistake?

posted 10 years ago by Falconeer
8 replies | jump to latest

How can THIS iconic horror/sci-fi film rate so low? "The Visitor" is an amazing, unforgettable viewing experience. The beautiful and bizarre imagery alone makes this required viewing for fans of the occult and horror films of that period. I'm wondering if this rating is based on the edited 90 minute version. Even at it's full running time of 105 minutes, it can be a bit confusing. I can imagine that cutting out 15 minutes could make it totally incomprehensible. This is one film where every minute counts in order to follow the story. But this is one of the greatest films of it's genre.

"IMdB; where 14 year olds can act like jaded 40 year old critics...'

[–] toddh-3 9 years ago

My guess is that many of the scores are the edited version which was probably cut to pieces. For me this is a gem of bizarre supernatural horror. Love John Huston in this.

[–] heelmaster2000 9 years ago

The reason that it's so low is because it's terrible!

[–] toddh-3 9 years ago

It had a extremely small budget. Taking that into account I think it's marvelous.

[–] questar 8 years ago

No it didn't.

[–] GreenJell0 9 years ago

At Rotten Tomatoes it gets a 100% from 12 or 13 critics, fans give a 49%. IMPO it's one of the worst films ever, but even so it's still strangely watchable which makes that very rare for terrible films or even the type that are so bad they're good.
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_visitor_1980/reviews/

Free, uncut, bluray quality.
https://youtu.be/MSdtSkAPHnY

[–] Falconeer 9 years ago

Well I love that film. I think it's a real visual head trip, and hypnotically weird, and beautifully shot. I'm surprised this doesn't have more of a cult following..

"IMdB; where 14 year olds can act like jaded 40 year old critics...'

[–] andybob-3 7 years ago

I liked it too and was rather disappointed to see it with such a low rating, it was surreal, creepy and well cast with kind of a cool (if rather confusing) story, personally I'd rate it maybe a 6 or 6.5.

It's worse mistake was the terrible "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers"-like music that it broke into occasionally, it could hardly have been less appropriate to the atmosphere and was annoying as hell.

[–] [deleted] 2 years ago

It's good fun. It deserves higher than the 5.1 it has at the moment.