Lord Donald and Lady Nancy reside in the magnificent but run-down Longleigh House with James, their mentally disabled adult son. Nancy has fallen seriously ill and Donald is preparing to sell the house to raise enough money to pay for an operation. He arranges for the family nurse, Mary, to take care of Nancy while he leaves to tend to the sale. However, James wants to prove to his father that he can look after his mother on his own and decides to lock Mary out of the house. It isn't long before James starts mixing his mother's pills and forgetting to take his own medication, and as the stress of looking after his mother increases, so too does the severity of his own condition.
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Such a frustrating disappointment
Highly Overrated But Still Good
The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.
By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.
Simon Rumley's "The Living and the Dead" is the kind of film I would not have expected to come out in 2006. While a drama at its core, the movie is constructed of so many other narrative and cinematic nuances and is so possessed by a kind of punk spirit that it looks and feels like it could have been one of the unclassifiable classics of the 1970s. Although only a few final episodes in the life of an aristocratic English family with a mentally ill son are illustrated, these scenes are enough through which to surrealistically distill the gradual and eventual disintegration of their lives into madness and tragedy. This portrayal of tragedy is one of the characteristics that particularly makes this film so interesting. That's not to say that there is not also the element of comedy in this film. The son's character is one that many would consider humorous, at least from a distance. But Rumley takes us deep enough into the life of the son--his private words and behavior, his relationship with his parents, his drug usage, even his dreams--until our laughter is long left behind for more serious thoughts of sympathy and fear. It is as easy to emotionally respond to this film as it is to think about it on an intellectual level, as the simple yet sophisticated dialogue is brilliantly executed and perfectly compliments the literary screenplay, professional directing, artful cinematography, and everything else that makes this film as worthy of viewing as many of the unique favorites of the past.
You've not seen a film like this one! If you're a strict horror fan you should love this flick. I certainly did. I thought it super horrific and, at times, suspenseful too. The fast-motion "schizophrenic" sequences were terrific, by which I mean scary as hell! The acting was brilliant. The score -or lack of it- fit perfectly. The anti-psychotic drug rituals were unnerving! I, frankly, found myself giggling at how much fun I was having!But wait a moment! A number of the user reviews herein didn't see an entertaining horror show but rather a sordid tragedy, albeit appreciating it much on that level. Such reviewers seem to want to make me feel guilty for having had so much fun with the film. Shame on me for not being compassionate regarding the mentally ill. I apologize to them. I want to help them. Here users, take these pills. Take more. The more you take the better you are. Don't worry, you cannot get sick. Why, you cannot die. See, you cannot even bleed. There (swack) you're not even bleeding. Stand up! I'm the Man of the House! Sawackathupps-ugga-ugga AHHHHHHHHHHH!
I shouldn't even get this piece of waste of time one star. I'm sitting here considering this one of the worst movies i have ever seen - and i've seen some crap in my time.The sorry piece of movie will of course give us all some bad taste in our mouth when they make awkward and embarrassing scenes like seeing a retarded son trying to help his mother when she is seriously ill and crying, scenes where the retard tries to force his mother to eat pills because "the more you take, the better you will get". But that doesn't make the movie better, touching, scary or anything else than a bad taste in my mouth and wanting to seeing this sorry movie. So lets just say that the one star i'm giving is for making me feel bad.The effects are really annoying - fast forward style effects, annoying sound. Mental-patient seeing visions effect look like a joke with a painted guy with something weird on top of his head - i guess he is supposed to look dead (and even with this they fail miserably) and he has got something that looks like a new years party decoration on top his head.Even the ever so faulty and stupid story of the family with a sick son and mother has so many annoying mistakes and just poor judgments in it that i hate this movie. I would never recommend this movie to anyone, not even my worst enemy or as looser-practical-joke recommendation to my best friends... DO NOT WASTE YOUR LIFE ON THIS!
How can you say "pointless" or "don't watch this movie"? This is not a thriller/gore/cheap Hollywood movie! As someone very well said "A psychological study of degeneration and dependency." Ya know... something to THINK about it and not waiting to see computer generated silliness like that RING crap. I have an idea, you who think that this movie was bad: go to apple's trailers page and look for 3d Anime and/or HORROR movies like those with tons of blood and robots and puppies that kill little children (no need to use your brain - is so nice and easy!) and i promise you, you won't be disappointed and please stay away from the actual good movies. These days people go to the movies for totally wrong motives. So sad :(
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