Diagonaldi Very well executed

Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

Dorathen Better Late Then Never

Hayleigh Joseph This is ultimately a movie about the very bad things that can happen when we don't address our unease, when we just try to brush it off, whether that's to fit in or to preserve our self-image.

Leofwine_draca THE REEDS is another entirely predictable horror yarn, set somewhat incongruously in the Norfolk Broads (for anyone who's ever been to the broads, you'll know they look nothing like the desolate, atmospheric place shown in this film). The cast are a group of uninteresting youths who run afoul of a dark secret, and the viewer's patience will be tested early on by the sheer banality of it all.The problem with films like THE REEDS is that they copy rather than innovate. So pretty much everything that you see taking place on screen here has been done before, and better too. The lines of dialogue are dull and lack spirit, and the cast give strictly ordinary performances with none standing out. The only person I recognised was Geoff Bell (COMEDOWN), stuck in one of those creepy elder type roles. Elsewhere, the film offers some bloodshed, a lot of screaming, and plenty of stuff shot in the dark to disguise the low budget. It's not very interesting.

hibiki-1 This is a strange film for the wrong reasons. I also can't believe it cost '$1.600,000' to make? There's obviously some regional film fund money in this and it makes me wonder if film funds ever read scripts? It's lacking in horror, and they seem to have taken the approach of improvising some dialogue so it seems more real. Well, it's not a documentary, it's not an art house movie so why go for 'realism' horror and thrillers work when they are stylised and The Reeds lacks stylisation. The reeds themselves are not a spooky setting or at least if they are it doesn't come over on film. The grade is far to jolly to make this environment seem sinister. The group of 'young friends' seem a tad close the thirty or more if you ask me, and there's also a lot of clumsy cutting to get around certain moments such as the spikey thing that comes through the bottom of the boat into the guy. I get the kids were ghosts and the creepy boat hire guy had killed them but it was all over the place. There's better low budget horror out there.

fedor8 This movie had potential, at least from the directorial point of view. Unfortunately, the story is highly derivative. The "story-in-a-loop" shtick dates back all the way to "Dead Of Night", a movie from the mid-40s, and has been utilized – with great success (I don't mean box-office-wise, I don't care about that) – in the excellent 2009 movie, "Triangle". Hence for this movie to use the same damn plot-twist as a movie that was made just a year earlier is pretty weak indeed. "Dead Birds" also comes to mind, and a few others. Fine, originality isn't the key factor when it comes to horror films, but I still expect to at least not be bored with yet another stereotypical ending. As in "Triangle", even a lot of the plot is on water, in a boat, frcrissakes. That's a little too much.Besides, plenty of nonsense is going on here. 1) The old geezer was shooting down dead teens AND driving the black guy around in a boat, at the same time; this doesn't even make sense within the movie's rather chaotic supernatural-loop premise. 2) He doesn't kill Joe at the camp-fire. Why? He seemed perfectly happy to kill everyone else from that group just a little later. 3) How can the main female character not remember that she witnessed all those murders years earlier? She seems mentally undamaged (apart from picking a loser for a boyfriend). 4) That whole almost slapstick-like nonsense when A wounds B by mistake, with a machete, and then B kills C by mistake (I don't remember their names), and all of this occurring within a mere minute. That's what I call a comedy of errors, not a plot-twist.The cast is generally OK. The two "lesser" females (i.e. the ones we knew would get knocked off eventually because they were featured AFTER the main female character) are fairly attractive. The only issue I have is with the black guy who is a terrible actor, at least for horror films. He almost seemed BORED at times, in spite of being surrounded by impaled friends, loony teens, burned bodies, and aggressive apparitions. His performance is so low-key (that's one way of putting it) that I even suspected briefly he might be somehow involved with the horroric shenanigans. As it turns out, the character he plays was just as much a victim as everyone else on that boat – i.e. he is an appalling actor who can't feign being scared. Perhaps he should have taken part in MTV's drama course, "Scream Queens".The usual clichés: 1) the phone doesn't work (this happens TWICE), 2) 3 pairs of young people, though at least they're 20-somethings as opposed to daft teens, 3) the main couple survives, 4) the others all snuff it, with the overly cocky male being the first victim, 5) the main characters that survive are more intelligent, less aggressive, and more educated than the four who snuff it, 6) and of course the time-loop cliché.There are other ridiculous plot-devices here too, but why bother? This movie barely gets the average grade.

Ted Brown The Reed's tells the story of six friends who plan a weekend boating trip through the Norfolk Broads but soon find themselves caught in the middle of the struggle between an old man and the very teenage life's he took many years ago. The spirits of the murdered teen's now haunt the old man and anyone who steps foot on the Corsair Star boat. I want to start off by saying that so far this is my favorite out of the latest batch of After Dark films. As most people know I love movies dealing with ghosts and the paranormal but unfortunately a lot of them are just done horribly. That is not the case with The Reeds which is a beautiful example of a movie based around a haunting. The acting in this film is very solid and the special effects are beautiful all of which appear to of been practical effects no CGI that I could spot so if it was in there it was done well and unnoticeable. The story really blew me away its hard for me to review this one without giving up important parts of the movie because I just loved the story so much and the way it progressed at a very nice steady pace ending in a very satisfying way. The plot twists were executed perfectly. The Reeds does an excellent job of building tension and unlike a lot of today's horror it also delivers at the end. It didn't feel rushed or like they weren't sure how to end it like a lot today's movies seem to be plagued with it was done very well and really left you with a wow feeling as you finish piecing together what you just witnessed. If you enjoy a good haunting movie with a strong storyline beautiful blood and gore where needed all rolled up in a neat package of pure horror enjoyment I highly recommend you pick up a copy of The Reeds. 8/10