MovieChat Forums > The Roost (2006) Discussion > My thoughts on the movie (possible spoil...

My thoughts on the movie (possible spoilers)

posted 11 years ago by svalinanikola
2 replies | jump to latest

Ti West definitely improved since this movie, but there are still some things he didn't improve on and are present in every single work of his I watched so far.

Is it me or does his every single movie feels like an 15 minute idea stretched into a full film?

But, let's talk about The Roost. It's about group of people who plan to go on a wedding but they have an accident and decide to investigate nearby barn and get attacked by bats.

I thought the best part of the movie was the whole TV host thing, but that's not saying much.
I was wondering and I still am if it's supposed to be a serious horror movie or not, the TV host show thing seems to imply that it's supposed to be cheesy, but the actual movie seems like it takes itself pretty seriously.

I didn't thought it was scary or suspenseful. the suspenseful moments seem more like padding. I really dunno what to say about the story, since there really is no much story, the characters are not interesting and the plot really depends on them making stupid decisions to move the plot. I think it's pretty ridiculous how the only reason they stay near that barn is because their car was stuck on a rock and only one character tries to move the car and they quickly give up oh and how only one of them has a cellphone and I think it was mentioned how there's no battery but the character still tries to call people for some reason, I think, not really sure.

I won't criticize the movie for its special effects because its low budget. Some people might say that it doesn't want to show more gory moments and how that's awesome, but I don't think that's the case since there are lots of moments where it shows gore, like in the scene where they see a corpse of an animal which I thought was hilarious because of the quick cuts that show the gore and scary music, so I guess they've done that because of the low budget.

Oh and the music is hilarious, especially the one that plays during those really "tense" moments, sounds like something from Scooby Doo. That's yet another reason why I wonder if it's really supposed to be cheesy or completely serious, because the only thing cheesy, campy whatever you call it is the host thing and the silly music, everything else seems serious.

The camera work is nothing special, it gets shaky sometimes and confusing, it has lot of jump scares and the ending is really disappointing.

3/10

[–] essex9999 9 years ago

I pretty much agree with your comments. Not a great movie or even especially fun.

One thing that West could have played up more was the obvious rabies metaphor. There is an epidemic of rabies in bats in the East, including Pennsylvania, where the movie was filmed. Ti West is from nearby Delaware, apparently. Anyway, I think he must have been inspired by that. In this part of the country, it's almost impossible to see a bat, or especially a lot of bats, and not think of rabies. Perhaps he was trying to play on that fear, but he kind of missed the boat by having none of the characters mention it (even though no one who lives around here would fail to think "oh my God, look at all these bats! Get me the shots now!").

[–] davannacarter 8 years ago

I saw this movie 10 years ago. For the most part, I found it forgettable. All I remembered some time after watching it that it featured teens trapped in a barn afraid to go out for fear of monsters. So when I stumbled upon it today, I decided to watch it, not knowing that I've seen it before. I was bored almost immediately. Then halfway thru I thought, "Hey, I've seen this before. And found it forgettable. No wonder I find it so boring."

Just all around stupid things:
--one guy helps push the car out of the ditch.
--only one person packs a cell phone.
--when the two dudes walk back to the car, they walk so lackadaisically I thought, "Looks like these people aren't in any rush to find a way to get their car fixed or leave or anything."
--Why does the one guy decide to go visit the barn? What's so interesting that he wants to go visit the barn instead of trying to go inside and see if there's a working phone?
--why does the cop allow the kids to separate himself and the kids in search of one guy?
--when the kid is on the bridge and he sees the tow truck driver being attacked, why does the kid stand on the bridge and watch?

Also, there was way too much slow walking. The people were shuffling and tip-toeing everywhere instead of walking like normal people. Plus, their reactions to death and violence were more like they were zoning out rather than being scared.