Lung (2016)

Great Film overall

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

This movie makes the refrigerator in Requiem For a Dream seem friendly and welcoming. I have never had such a hard time with a film. I literally have no idea why I watched the entire thing. I know that there are likely worse things, but I think I found my limit here. It is atrocious and disturbing. That said, as the other reviewer has pointed out, there is a certain artistic integrity evident in this production. The theme does not waver. It is hideous and discombobulating. It is rabid and repulsive. It is focused and driven and never stops being awful. If Cronenberg, Lynch, Barker, and Throbbing Gristle conspired to make something without hope, something bleak and brutal, angry, confused, and desperate that almost no one could stand to watch, they could hardly have done any better. Personally, I did not enjoy it, but I doubt it was meant to be enjoyed. In the end though, I found it difficult to escape from this wretched thing until it was done, and this says something for it - though I don't know what.

It takes a special mind to achieve actual art through film. It is even more difficult to do that very thing through horror. It is very rare that a person can combine the two and leave you breathless, horrified and wanting more. Phil Stevens has mastered that very skill. The second entry to his FLOWERS trilogy, LUNG II is yet another example of how "Silence is Golden". Confusion and fear takes hold of a man who wakes up in a park without a clue of who he is or where he is. As he struggles to piece together the puzzle of his own strange and obscene reality, he wanders aimlessly through the city streets hoping to find even the slightest of answers. Suffering from horrific visions and dreams, he finds strange signs that they may just be memories of a nightmarish reality. Each clue leading him further down to hell. Was he just a poor lost soul with amnesia? Or something far, far worse... Phil Stevens once again proves that dialogue, a star studded cast and a ridiculously high budget isnt always needed to make something truly special. LUNG II is a confusing film, but only because it's supposed to be. You're meant to be just as lost as the main character. But in the end, you are left astounded and breathless in all the greatest of ways. Most art films come off as pretentious and have the feel that sometimes the director may have tried too hard. This NOT the case with this film. I can not recommend this movie enough to those that have an appreciation for both art and horror. Is it for the average horror fan? Absolutely not, but is another factor that makes Phil's work all the more special.