Amelia's Children

*** This review may contain spoilers *** *Plot and ending analyzed* Sinister Inheritance Herencia Siniestra (2023) It starts out with some mystery, and definitely has some director Dario Argento Suspiria (1977) vibes running through it. Some babies are kidnapped from a woman's house, and we see her eyes turn white. Then a young man connects with his lost family that is from Portugal. He goes there with his annoying girlfriend, who doesn't think everything is up to par. She has nightmares, hears weird things and talks to a woman whose daughter disappeared when she was dating the father of her boyfriend. The movie loses its steam entirely when the skinny girlfriend suddenly becomes the super heroine and defeats the much stronger twin brother of her boyfriend. It is unfortunate because I was really enjoying the outlandishness of the movie until that point. Had the writers and director continued with the slow intrigue, it could have been a lot better. Then the end is the mother, who is young again, with the twin brother, dancing to a ridiculous song. We are led to believe that they are still alive, or something else. It is unclear. So the whole movie seemed pointless. Almost a waste of time. But just enough interesting things to put it at the high end of average. Grade: C +

I hope you like to hear crying babies if you want to watch this garbage. You'll hear a lot of crying babies. This movie is so boring it beyond dull. For the longest time nothing at all happens and then it's over. What is wrong with you screen writers. Do you really think people want to hear babies screaming and crying. How could you watch this and think this was good enough to release? You are either blind or get entertained by watching grass grow if you thought this was ready to be released. And that's all besides the fact that this story has been done a hundred times and done much better than this.

I have it 3 stars because Carloto Cotta plays 2 or 3 people which I thought was cool. And as much as I hate Brigette Lundy Paine (simply because I cannot get on board with the they them movement while I'm referring to 1 single person) I do have to admit she is a great actress and has done some good things as an activist. So as far as casting they got a star and the story line was okay. But that's about it, I feel like the movie could've been titles "A few Dumb Decisions in Portugal" and it would've spoke to the movie more... "Let's fly to Portugal to meet people we don't know" dumb decision "The cars gps in Portugal isn't working... do you know where you're going?" A dumb question "This contract is in Portuguese so I can't read it but, where do I sign? Do you have a pen?" Mind blowing "I saw a weird creature in the garage I won't run away instead of run away I'll crouch down" why? "Your moms doing your brother and u have crazy information about what I saw but I'll wait until tomorrow night to tell him" why not tell him immediately... "She also went jogging through the woods in Portugal when she's American which isn't safe by any account. Another dumb decision That's just a few of the dumb stuff I saw in the movie but you get the picture... nothing new and not executed well either...

Watched purely because crushing on Carloto Cotta :- ) Well, the wig and the w__ker hipster accent was quite funny. A lot of things seemed funny but I genuinely couldn't tell you where to draw the line on how much of it was intentional. I'm also easily scared so all in all, I was watching it like, okay, this is ridiculous but scary. So the premise that it can be um.. tricky to get on with your family is nothing new - I do indeed have relatives, duh. But the film offered me another perspective: dealing not only with my own family but the family of my (hypothetical) partner. Currently single, I sometimes imagine what it'd be like in a new relationship. You know, you get a nice boyfriend (not with *that* accent but anyway). And he's good-looking, of Portuguese descent, and everything's fine but then, his weird bloody relatives enter the stage... And there you are, complaining to your friend on the phone how you're having trouble cos' they have too much influence over him, etc, etc. Say what you want, that IS scary to me! Overall, if you don't take it too seriously it's a fun film for a one-time watch. Consider it a horror with the elements of comedy. P. S. The accent is not real, as in they used a voice-over actor for it. And somehow the thought that my fave Carloto couldn't physically sound like that gives me comfort <3.

Hidden under poor dialog, cheesy jump scares, creaky floors and doors, and way overdone music that was too loud but tried to be scary, there was a thread of story that might have been interesting. I kept wanting to like this movie but it seemed to have a lot of weird plot twists and things that didn't make much sense. Why did the mom look like she had been getting bad face jobs for decades? Why was the dad still alive at all? Why did the "nice" son still hang around after his girlfriend told them there was incest going on? What was the weird drops the mom was putting in her baby's bottle? Then again in her son's tea? Why did she turn young again with a living baby? Did she already eat one?

If you like films by John Waters, David Lynch, John Carpenter, Dario Argento, and David Cronenberg, you will love this film. But you have to like all of those directors in combination to really appreciate this film. If you fall into that category, I would stop reading any further reviews and just watch the film and enjoy the ride. In those 90 mins I found myself creeped out, laughing out loud, and jumping out of my seat., Despite all its creepiness, the story is well written, poetically balanced, and well filmed. And that MOTHER is one hell of a character! I still can't get her out of my mind. The acting, especially from the female cast, is also good. If you need a reference, one film which can compare to this films creepiness, is: Baker, Butcher, Nightmare Maker (1981)