Filthy Review - 11-11-11: The Prophecy

11-11-11: The Prophecy (2011)

Review by Jude Felton

The latest film from Darren Lynn Bousman to see a home release is a considerable departure, in a couple of areas, for the director. Bousman who has previously brought us the incredibly visceral films, Saw 2-4, Repo: The Genetic Opera and Mother’s Day, has taken a rather low-key approach to this film. For a start you may, or may not, notice that this is the first of his films to garner a PG-13 rating and it does not contain the graphic violence he is probably known for. Instead he has written, as well as directed, a film that goes for the chills rather than the bloody thrills. Is it a successful departure? All will be revealed, so to speak.

The film focuses on Joseph Crone, a successful pulp novelist, who is struggling to come to terms with the loss of wife and son. He spends his time writing in his journal and attending self-help groups, and generally not feeling too great about things. He also starts to see things, or at least he thinks he does, and is constantly haunted by the number 11.

On top of this he receives a call asking him to travel to Spain, where his father is dying and also his brother, a priest, whom he has not spoken to in years resides. Upon arriving there the visions continue and the numbers keep cropping up. Between time spent with his father, and trying to have some sort of relationship with his brother, Joseph starts to investigate the relevance of the number 11, especially seeing as the date is fast approaching the 11^th of November of the film’s name.

11-11-11: The Prophecy does have some good ideas hidden up its sleeves, and I am a fan of films that delve into the seemingly innocent and simple mysteries that surround us. In this film though there seemed to be a little too much dialogue that was superfluous to the main story, and served to be little more than filler, as if there was not enough content to fill out a feature length running time. It is already a fairly short movie, running to 82 minutes, I just wished it had focused on, and dug a little deeper, into the mystery of the number 11. Sure, there is a lot of religious mumbo jumbo, as you might expect, but never enough meat on the bone.

Visually I did like the look of the film, there is a dulled down look to everything, with the color almost drained from the screen, and technically the film is nicely done, although a little tighter editing would have helped.

Overall 11-11-11 is not the sort of film I am likely to return to, unlike almost all Bousman’s previous movies, and I find this a little sad as I do like his work as a director. However, if there was a sequel, that tried to expand on the story, even though the date of the title has since passed, I would be interested in checking it out. There are good ideas in this film, and some cool visuals, but the end product amounts to a slightly above average film that I had hoped to get more from.

11-11-11: The Prophecy is available now on DVD from Big Air Studios.