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When Sara goes to visit friends in a complex, she nearly drowns and begins to suspect there may be something in the complex pool…
Okay, let’s get this out of the way first. The poster above was released by the film company for Drowning Echo, also known as Nereus. However, forget that image on the poster. If that’s the kind of monster film you expect here, forget it.
That one would have been better.
In truth it’s hard to know where to start with this film. The story, written by director Georges Padey and star Itziar Martinez, is ridiculously convoluted. It’s something in the pool? How hard is that. Instead we get a scene involving a character that looks like it was lifted from a found footage film, though to be fair, it’s probably the best moment in the film. The rest of the story had the potential to be something interesting, but it needed to be told a different way. As it is, people have been vanishing and no-one seems overly concerned and by the end, the audience won’t either.
The characters are so poorly written, you just don’t care for any of them. Sara, has the hint of a mystery around her, which when it is finally revealed makes no real sense to me. The others are a bunch of walking cliches. It has to be said the cast, headed by the co-writer Martinez are not great, which certainly doesn’t help.
Director Padey, the found footage inspired sequence aside doesn’t direct the film well. There’s no tension or surprises, certainly no jump moments. But it doesn’t help when the film seems to make no sense, both in terms of the story and character actions, so much so that even an experienced director would have struggled with this film.
It’s a film that is way too long. You could easily cut maybe 20 minutes from its 107 minutes of run time. I’m not saying it could have saved the film, but it certainly would have made it more bearable to watch.
To be charitable to Georges Padey & Itziar Martinez, it’s a labour of love for them. Between them, the co-wrote, direct, star, produce or executive produce, do the cinematography, the music and other jobs on the film too. It’s clear this was a film they wanted to make. I do respect that.
However, next time, they should get more people involved. Perhaps doing so much spread them too thing and also made them far too close to their own material. Some experienced help may have helped here.
But sadly, because they tried to do it all, they end up (pardon the pun) drowning.
Dull and, worst of all boring, Drowning Echo is not a good film at all.
Rating: * out of 5
