Lost Things (2004)

Fresh and Exciting

Excellent but underrated film

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Plot - The plot was better than average and keeps you watching. As an advocate of the found footage genre I enjoyed watching a movie that would usually be filmed in that style but in this case was done normally. The movie also keeps you thinking about it once it is over (and in my case the next day). The end of the movie looked like it suffered slightly in the editing department which I thought added to the mystery. If you like movies with an interesting and slightly different plot, that leaves you thinking about it after wards then this one is worth watching.Summary - Keeps you interested, good plot and leaves just enough to the imagination which makes you keep thinking but allows you to ultimately work it all out in the end.Acting - Fairly solid with the exception of one of the male leads who is a bit wooden but it does not affect the watch-ability of the movie.Location/Cinematography - Loved it. They used the location to their benefit. Camera angles were used along with the sparse location to highlight the mysterious nature of the plot.Music/Soundtrack - Different and spooky. They did not use sounds to produce scares which was refreshing.Sex/Violence/Swearing - F word is dropped by characters in times of stress. One small sex scene. Very little violence if any.

Four teenagers with the end of school on the horizon head up the New South Wales coast for a weekend of surfing,drinking and sex.The boys have told their parents they are going alone.It's only when the stranger appears and weird time anomalies occur on the beach and in the camp that they start thinking.Admittedly the premise of "Lost Things" is quite interesting,but hardly original.The film actually in many ways reminded me "Dead End".The acting is sub-par,but I must applaud the excellent work of cinematographer.The lonely beach indeed looks creepy and atmospheric and such details like the mannequin buried in the sand put the smile on my face.The climax is satisfying of itself,but is undermined by too many unanswered questions.Give it a look,however if you want to see seriously eerie horror flick that will make you think afterwards rent or buy "Session 9".6 out of 10.

Two guys and their girls head out for a surfing trip for the weekend along a lonely beach line. Things start getting very weird and nightmarish when they encounter a strange scruffy man living nearby and certain actions and surroundings seem quite familiar. It's like they have been through it all before.Every once in awhile you come across a film that's quite unique in its own way, compared to the norm. That's how I feel about "Lost Things", although it's not a film everyone would get into. Giving too much away in the plot outline can definitely spoil this flick, but certain people will know where this film is heading and pick up on the plentiful cryptic messages, the loop and major twist. But if that is the case for you, it's still able to keep it really intense and quite compelling. It does leave you hanging there. The first time I watched this haunting Australian Indie flick it just happened to be an accident. I didn't know what to make off it back then, but with my recent viewing it has kinda hit the mark. Still it had me thinking, "Well that was just bizarre!" This is one strangely fascinating, psychological journey of one coming to terms with extreme fear and death. What makes it quite mind-boggling is that it takes on an enigmatic, supernatural spin to its cerebral material. It's about who's watching whom within a certain space and time. Things seem to fall into place quite naturally, despite some irritate factors involving ragged editing, which gave the film a convoluted feel at times and confusing spots in the script. The largely spaced out and closed up feel that surrounds the film emerges from the beautiful, but extremely eerie backdrop and the otherworldly music score that's strongly effective in that unsettling and alienating manner. Trumping in were some jolting images, illusions and sounds effects that hit you from all sides. All of this action mostly occurs during daylight, but still manages to touch a nerve by trapping you in. During these weird going ons, there's the usual teen antics one would associate. None of it distracts, but gives it a sense of realism and a more then believable rapport between the characters. The young cast involving Leon Ford, Charlie Garber, Lenka Kripac and Alex Vaughan gave fair, but likable performances, though it was the punctuating performance of Steve Le Marquand as the very freaky Zippo that made real headway.Interesting, ambitious and spiralling film-making comes together in this little complex and uncanny fare. So do you know, who you are?

At first sight, "Lost Things" appears to be just another Hollywood-wannabe horror film with Australian accents, but there is more here than first meets the eye. This film is more "supernatural horror" than "teenage slasher". Although I pretty much guessed the general direction the plot was going halfway through, the ride to get there was still edge-of-your-seat stuff. Out of the four central characters, the two girls are unconventionally pretty and wonderfully full-figured, and the two boys are fairly likable (although, as someone else already mentioned, casting two young blond actors who look so much alike was perhaps a mistake). The guy who plays Zippo (no, not Zeppo Marx) is well-cast. On the whole, "Lost Things" is a film that makes you interested in seeing more work in this genre by the same people. (***)