ChikPapa Very disappointed :(

SparkMore n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.

Mandeep Tyson The acting in this movie is really good.

Marva-nova Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

GL84 After a small Danish school class receives a strange substitute as a teacher, the students quickly discover she's an alien researching humanity and when their cries to their parents go unheeded, try to stop her plan from coming to fruition.This was actually a lot of fun and quite entertaining. One of the more enjoyable aspects here is the fact that this one features a rather simple premise that gains a lot of credibility because of how it goes about keeping that a secret from those that matter. How this one builds up her identity, with the fake name, the strange photograph where objects keep appearing based on the revelations made by the group and the strange mind-control properties and the connection to the chickens make for great fun, and when it gets to the confirmation sequence, it's unbelievably suspenseful and generates a great shock, as well as the science-fiction centered finale that ends this one with some fun times. There's some mild flaws here, mainly in the fact that the target of this one being centered on kids, and middle-school children even, there's going to be no deaths or even gore opportunities involved which is fine but definitely keeps this far more tamed than it should. The bigger one, though, is that this one gets revealed so early on that the amount of time taken to convince others and spread the warning to the disbelieving parents feels more like a plot device to keep the movie going rather than any sort of truthful realness had this happened in real-life, but this is still a rather fun effort.Rated R: Graphic Language, Violence and children-in-jeopardy.

Wendy Black (wendylblack) The scariest part of this movie happens in the first 3 minutes to a farmer's chicken. After that we are introduced to a dubbed Danish film with poor voice overs. The acting, the plot, the dialog and direction are like watching some poor Japanese Anime. I watched this as part of the "Ghost House Undergrouund" series and really felt like it was the poorest of the series. Most children will find Scooby-Doo scarier and more entertainning. All the little girls voice overs sounded like adult females trying to sound like a little girl. I honestly couldn't tell the difference between the little girls and little boys in this film without substance. I am really surprised there wasn't the cliché giant robot fight.

hamhand Finally a film, for both children and adults, which takes the kids and their thoughts seriously, with no exception whatsoever. Great storyline, superbly executed. Several climaxes and tear-dripping ending. I have now been able to watch it several times and I keep trying to hold back the tears at the end, where the "lost" son finds his strength through the grief of loosing his mother, now hugging his father with great affection after having stopped the alien's attempt to steal the children's born compassion and empathy for each other.Ole Bornedal shows new modernistic storytelling in a classical and highly professional level, bringing psychology and uniqueness to his own story. Scandinavian film has been small, very small, until this artist arrived with "Nattevagten/Nightwatch" and he kept on going. Thankyou for bringing and showing a great touch of the professional heart into film-making; finally. Bringing together the European psychology and the American classic storytelling.I'm happy.

demonictaco When I first saw the trailer for this film, I knew it was something I had to watch. I can't remember any Danish sci-fi movies off the top of my head, and I knew that a director like Bornedal would never just tack on such a genre for no reason. It also seemed wonderfully crazy, and Danish black humour does work very well on film. When you actually go see the film, you realise that the fantastic elements of the story are only cosmetic, and that the film isn't about aliens with strange powers, but rather about what our society is changing into.The film's acting is spot on; the kids have been cast very well, their characters seeming genuine. The main character, Carl, is particularly well portrayed, and his emotions all seem perfectly sincere and authentic. You can't put a finger on the acting of any of the supporting roles either; Ulrich Thomsen does a very effective father, and Ulf Pilgaard seems delightfully mechanical in his portrayal of the "education minister". But in the end, with all due respect to all the other actors, Paprika Steen really outshines everyone else. She is frighteningly effective in her role as Ulla Harms, the Substitute. Constantly condescending towards the students in an effort to turn them into the best children possible, so they can compete in Paris with other students from various parts of Europe, Ulla Harms is a fantastic villain. The way she doesn't show any remorse at all towards the students she insults, the way she'll stop at nothing in her quest to discover what love is (which she, of course, tries to do in totally psychopathic manner).One of the few flaws the movie has is that it doesn't really flesh out certain characters who, while not actually very important to the plot, still get a lot of screen time and thus should be made more clear than they were. This makes some of the characters seem a bit shallow. The important characters are dealt with as they should, though, so it's not a very big problem.Another thing I can complain about is the ending. The final scene starts out very calmly, with a bit of narration from what I think is Ole Bornedal himself, and then suddenly explodes into a loud and very energetic series of credits. It didn't really fit in, and it seemed fairly pointless.All in all, the Substitute is a very entertaining movie; part social commentary, part black comedy, part horror. With stunning performances by virtually all the actors and a very effective script, the Substitute delivered everything I thought it would and much, much more. I can recommend it to all fans of Danish film-making.