Gaia

Half forest monster eco-horror, half pretty bizarre art. The casual viewers, I guess, won't completely get it, as evidenced by the already plummeting ratings on IMDb, but fans of weirder genre films should be satisfied. The film is a visual masterpiece, set in a beautiful and exotic South African forest, and the filmmakers conjure up some downright beautiful shots with those strange mushroom mutations. The look of the monsters is also great, maybe only last year's Underwater or the couple of years older The Hallow can compete with it. From what I've read, their likeness is slightly ripped off from “The Last of Us” video game, but I'm not familiar with it, so I didn't mind it. I'm not going to lie, I probably would have preferred a purer, suspenseful survival genre film, but I liked this treatment just as well. (27/06/2021)

The anticipated Gaia has been my dark horse since the first trailer, and while I am mildly disappointed as this is nothing revolutionary in the genre revolution, nor is it a candidate for horror movie of the year, it is still an above average film that will probably be appreciated by a more marginal and genre-savvy audience. There is quite a lot to praise. Gaia is stunningly shot (it looks better than all the American horror films of the last year), it has an original idea (quite possibly in the last couple of years), which is again welcome. The main character is gorgeous and shows up full frontal naked three times (again, I haven't seen nudity anywhere in a horror film in the last two years!) and she can act decently. I also liked the look of the monsters (there is a nod to “The Last of Us”, but I doubt they even know this game in South Africa, so it's more of a coincidence than a copycat), and of course this is probably the first horror representative from SA, which again deserves recognition, applause and praise. There are a few things to criticise. There could have been more monsters, it could have been darker, creepier, more action-packed and more brisk, then it would have been a five-star movie, but there are other qualities to appreciate. The mushroom mutations are rendered very unpleasantly (the final transformation is downright nasty), and I liked the hallucinogenic elements that were definitely more impressive than in In the Earth. I don't know if I'll ever watch Gaia again, but it's a pretty essential eco-horror film that I'm sure will be talked about in the future. Story 3/5, Action 3/5, Humor>No, Violence 3/5, Fun 4/5 Music 4/5, Visuals 4/5, Atmosphere 4/5, Suspense 3/5 7.5/10, (27/06/2021)