The Mover was invited to the Cinematic Club’s pre-screening of its short film “Reverie.” Three critics offer their reviews of the highly-anticipated student-created picture in this compilation article. Reverie hits home By Martina Javier
The SISC Cinematic Club’s first-ever short horror film: Reverie, is about an educated young girl named Castro. The film is an outcome of hard work and over-flowing effort from its makers. Reverie begins with a hooking start, keeping you interested until it finishes. It leaves you with not just questions, but the need for answers.
Its visual effects are top-tier, it feels as if you’ve been almost transported into the film’s setting. In the movie, Castro steers herself into a dreadful spiral, as we watch the plot unfold. The movie’s pace is slow but its firm content makes up for it. The scene transitions are seamless, yet powerful. Cinematics did not waste a single second to add only purposeful scenes in their film. Each scene holds impact, story, and its own importance. The rising tension build-up as the climax hits is a rollercoaster of nerve-wracking and fist-clenching experiences. The plot in itself is clear and concise, making it easy to digest, yet somehow makes you dig deep into thinking.
The acting is unmatched, Gabrielle Hermosilla (actress of Castro), showed true professionalism and experience in her skill. The cast’s acting is chilling, it feels almost unreal. Reverie has the ability to glue your eyes to the screen and push you to the edge of your seat. The audio is clear and audible, with every pitch sending chills down your spine. Despite Reverie being a horror film, it’s surprisingly relatable to the student body. The length of the film, albeit rather short, changes and enlightens a person's perspective. This film serves as a tribute to students around the globe. It has aspects of reality, with a symbolic twist. If you haven’t thought of watching Reverie yet, I urge you to reconsider. Reverie is not just any horror film, it hits home, and you find home in the most unexpected places.
Wake up from your pleasant daydream, it’s time to watch Reverie!
“Reverie”: A brief review
By Alisa Han
Reverie is an excellent horror with well-thought-out themes, editing, and ambiance that really conveys the emotion felt by characters.
Martin Kim, the maker of the movie, has been able to lay down the foundation of the film through the experiences of the person featured. At first glance, the short might seem like a cheap horror movie with nothing more to it, but as the plot unravels, it is quickly revealed that there’s an underlying symbolism for academic pressure; and monsters are manifested out of the main character, Castro’s, fears and trauma. The film keeps you on the edge of your seat from start to finish.
The bottom line of the focus of the movie is on how Castro is affected by the academic pressure put on her by school. The realistic and relatable nature of the premiere makes it incredibly powerful, to say the least. It has touched on the silent struggles a student may go through in school and how they are affected by it.
Despite the brilliant audio quality and editing shown throughout the movie, sound effects added in post-filming could have been synced better with the characters’ movements in certain scenes.
Viewers are left with several questions unanswered after the film ends; it leaves great room for theories and keeps the audience intrigued. Any confusion that arises is seemingly very purposeful to the story. It makes the audience compete in the narrative to interpret or find what the film is trying to say. The ambiguity is intentionally there for making it more frustrating but to also fascinate viewers into looking at it at a deeper level and makes them think about it beyond after seeing it. However, the film focuses entirely on one character all throughout the plot, and the only other seemingly significant character, Kevin, is given fairly scarce screentime and his significance only somehow makes sense after you’ve long thought about it.
Reverie: A Riveting Allegory
By Matthew Cabiles
A fantastical daydream can be the desired escape from the strains and stress of school, but what happens if it devolves into your ever-haunting nightmare? The Cinematics Club, in their very first stint as young filmmakers, boldly get into the underlying impacts of pressure and trauma with their short picture “Reverie.” More than just a campus-filmed horror, it is a spectacle that strikes the students' hearts.
“Reverie” starts at a leisurely pace; plenty of exposition preludes much of its horror aspects. Once you bear through the slow burn, however, you will seamlessly feel the rising tension exuded by purposeful camera work and a nerve-wracking screenplay. Making it through the climax, you’ll realize that the wait was all worth it. The movie’s sequences are well-conceived—one can feel their heart race as each scene segues into the next. Evocative acting complements this; so much is conveyed through expression alone. You can feel through the characters’ faces: an embodiment of fear, a feeling of claustrophobia, and a sense of limit. From a slow burn to a quivering picture, it ultimately evolves into a tale that resonates deeply with its audience.
More than anything, “Reverie” must be lauded for its themes; it's a riveting allegory for the troubles and hardship of student life, an allegory for academic pressure and longing for elder approval. The picture is itself highly figurative, symbolic, and clever in its presentation. Amidst all the tension, one feels relatability with the situation faced by the film’s protagonist, and how that turns into a horrid nightmare that persists even into the light as a daydream—a reverie. The film concludes on the note that reveries are ultimately something we have to endure cyclically. Can this ever be resolved? That will be left for you to decide.
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