Lightdeossk Captivating movie !

BelSports 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.

Ariella Broughton It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Deanna There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

rollwithit-35445 Spoilers included here. Im Reviewing another Indiana movie. (Im from Indiana and think its cool that some Indie movies are being made here and getting exposure) This was great to be a low budget Indie. I'd love to know the budget on this. Watched this on netflix a few months ago. Good story. Very slow pacing but that was intentional I believe. Definitely a nod to "Psycho" with the Hitchcock feel, the main character being killed in the middle of the movie. And in the shower no less. Well bathtub. That scene was crazy and almost comical. But really good. If that makes sense. Second half of the movie did drag a bit and got less plausible as it went along. I really didn't buy the lesbian lover character at all. I think as a viewer I'm supposed to think "wow these are some messed up twisted people" and they were. Overall, pretty decent. Not a cookie cutter movie at all. Certainly worth a watch. There's FAR worse on Netflix.

Carlos Idelone This is the thought, that came into my head, immediately after the film ended. Like "Martyrs", it was full of very bizarre characters, and just kept getting weirder and weirder. When I thought, "This character is totally and surprising weird", the next scene revealed , that another character, whom we'd already met, who seemed normal, was even weirder, than the first. It was almost blackly humorous, as it kept upping the ante of unexpected weirdness. This continued right until the end. So if you like a film, that surprises you, even though it's a little repulsive, you should like this one. So it has lots of weirdness and surprises , like "Martyrs". The reason I say, that it is more "grown up", is that unlike "Martyrs", the people here seem very unremarkable and realistic, like individuals, whom you could meet any day. However, down deep, they are just as twisted. Also it doesn't need "over-the-top" scenes with gallons of blood throughout, to make it creepy and shocking. I see the inclusion of constant gore, rather an obvious, adolescent, and unrealistic way to shock. Like a parade of bloody accident victims, I just find it rather sickening, but lacking in creativity and interest. You don't need a bulldozer to flatten a mole hill. Anyway, this film really impressed me with the way it showed the strangeness, that may lurk beneath the facade, of the seemingly-ordinary people, whom we meet every day.

morrison-dylan-fan Talking to a family friend about my plans to view Horror films with an "epic" running time for the upcoming October Challenge on IMDb's Horror board,I got told about an excellent-sounding, 2 hour (!) Horror from the Mumblecore genre that he had recently picked up on DVD,which led to me getting ready to locate the proxy.The plot:Walking to the bus stop after having an ultrasound scan, Esther Woodhouse is attacked by a stranger,who knocks Woodhouse out,and kills her unborn child.Waking up in hospital,Woodhouse is told that she barely survived the attack,and that she has lost the unborn child.Trying to help Woodhouse out as much as possible,the hospital arranges Woodhouse to attend a therapy group designed to support women who have lost a child.Nervously sitting down for her first therapy meeting,Woodhouse begins talking to Melanie Michaels,who is attending the sessions after her husband and son had died in a car accident.Feeling that she is able to open up to Michaels the most in the group,Woodhouse (who apart from a lover has no friends or family) starts meeting up with Michaels outside of the group,for lunch and coffee.Walking round a department store one day,Woodhouse notices Michaels (who has not noticed Woodhouse) asking security to help her find her missing son.Secretly following Michaels,Woodhouse begins to fear that Michaels may not be all that she seems,when Michaels opens her car door,and her "dead" son walks out.View on the film:Keeping the The Newton Brothers expert score humming away in the background,co-writer/(along with Kevin Donner) director Zack Parker uses long,superbly held takes which allow the full unfolding horror to dig right under the viewers skin.Keeping away from featuring traditional tracking shots,Parker keeps the audience firmly connected to the characters by clearly using tracking shots aimed directly at the characters face,which allows for the horror across their faces to be fully displayed and splashed across the screen.Refusing to turn away from the most terrifying moments,Parker delicately gives each major set piece its own appearance,as Parker goes from scattering blood across the screen in an almost 3D manner,to using creaking floors and shoes to create the image of a traumatising act taking place.Opening the film with a vicious hit,the writers skilfully rip apart every perception that the viewer initially makes on the characters,with the writers pressing down on every small, peculiar moment that the characters express,and pushing them all right to the extremist edge.Along with the gradually revealed horror,the writers also slash the film with sharp Mumblecore conversations,which create a brilliant atmosphere,that suggests that something is deeply wrong.Entering the movie getting left on the floor for dead, Alexia Rasmussen gives a raw performance as Woodhouse,with Rasmussen showing Woodhouse's silent grief to turn into unrelenting rage,as she begins to uncover Michaels.Joined by a wonderfully brittle Joe Swanberg,the elegant Alexa Havins gives a fantastic performance which transforms from light & airy to ruthless and sharp-toothed,as Woodhouse begins to discover the proxy.

bob_meg I've followed the films from this group of directors (Zack Parker, Joe Swanberg, Ti West, Adam Wingard, Simon Barrett, et al) for some time now and rarely have I been disappointed. Unceremoniously dubbed "the splat pack", they're known for producing horror and suspense films that are extremely violent, but always well-made and completely off-the-wall. They try things no studio major would even consider, then somehow pull the whole act together with a sheen of professionalism, often corralling actors whom you've never heard of but are more than likely to see again.Zack Parker's "Proxy" is no different except that it might possibly be the most polished and ambitious of anything this daring cadre has yet attempted. It's primarily a psychological horror film whose plot premise and characterizations are eerily reminiscent of early Brian DePalma ala "Sisters" and "Obsession", except where DePalma often tried to diffuse his tension with a fair dose of absurdist humor, the characters in this film play it pretty much straight-on. It only serves to heighten the tension, and make the film all the more fascinating to watch.Like many great films, "Proxy" is going to provoke and polarize audiences. It's a film about deliberate deception and relegation of responsibility that renders most of it's characters repellent, yet they couldn't be harder to stop watching as they chart their poisonous paths.One of the strongest aspects of "Proxy" is it's performances. The film opens with Esther Woodhouse (a wonderfully lachrymose Alexia Rasmussen) who is beaten savagely just two months from her baby's due date (if the opening sequence isn't enough to put you off this film, you're probably good to go with the rest of it). Esther's a reclusive enigmatic introvert, the type of homebound "nobody" who, when asked who she's closest to by a hospital social worker, responds "my fish." She's a reluctant masochistic loner and she finds (who she thinks is) a soul mate in perky sunshine blonde Melanie (Alexa Havins, giving an amazingly versatile and crafty performance) at a support group for victims of violent crimes. I won't spoil what happens next, but it's safe to say you'll never imagine what's coming. The idea and plot of this film are really that original. I couldn't take my eyes off it for the entire two hour run time even though there's little "action" in it and almost no traditional horror gore (the most disturbing bits happen off screen, though it's still not for the squeamish).For a film shot on RED, it's gorgeous. The shooting style and direction seemed oddly familiar until I noticed from his IMDb page that Parker is a big Kubrick fan --- you can see this in spades in "Proxy," from his elegant, often spare framing to the lush deep focus shots (lots of hallways here, folks). This is used to great effect in heightening the tension, as does the inclusion of character Anika (a hilariously deadpan and terrifying Kristina Klebe) who becomes a defacto bogeyman for most of the picture. You (and the characters) spend lots of time just waiting for her to jump out from the shadows.I'd also like to mention Joe Swanberg, who, while being a fine filmmaker in his own right, continues to give quietly compelling "everyman" performances. He has a confessional scene in the last quarter of the film that's way more moving than the script entitles it to be.Parker (and his co-writer Kevin Donner) do a really brave thing with this movie. They manage to effectively take on and lampoon our culture of "I don't want to get my hands dirty" while at the same time producing a work of almost Gothic horror that is far, far too plausible in today's world. I haven't seen a horror film I've thought this much about in a long, long time. This group of filmmakers really earns my admiration. Yes, they're doing what many maverick groups of lens-heads have done before, but it's not so common these days. They've looked out at the current landscape of their genre (horror), said "this kinda sucks...we can do better." And then to hell with the odds...they did it. Kudos, guys. Keep it coming.