User Reviews

I didn't know what to expect going into Stillwater, it was yet another pick & mix film and I assumed it would be a horror. I can assure it isn't.

Playing out like a thriller/mystery it tells the story of the reuniting of a group of friends for a camping trip but it all goes horribly wrong when one is later found dead. This causes the friends to turn on one another as the fear & paranoia sets in.

Stillwater is very dull in places, very lifeless which is a shame because it does have a lot going for it. The cast are 50/50, the cinematography is passable and overall though not the most original film it manages to remain fresh.

I don't know why I felt it was so underwhelming, something just didn't sit right with me and I was left feeling that Stillwater should have been better.

There are worse ways of killing 90 minutes and for what it is it's a passable affair regardless of my criticism.

The Good:

Decent twist

Well enough made

The Bad:

Very drab in places

Weak delivery of a good enough story

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

We never did find out how you can kill a person with foot cream!

The synopsis for 'Stillwater' reads: 'A weekend camping trip among six old friends in Northern Minnesota's "Boundary Waters" turns tragic after one dies under mysterious circumstances, triggering further turmoil as they attempt to unmask the killer within their own group.' Not often these days I'll watch a film with no actors or film makers behind the scenes that I know, but that plot was just too tempting for me to turn down. I quickly checked out the first 15 seconds of the trailer and decided it was made with enough quality to be watchable even if it wasn't as good as I had hoped. So was it everything I wished for? Not quite.

The film has a lot of flaws. Some of the writing is shotty to say the least. A lot of moments of dialogue are just bizarre and completely out of place. Also the characters were not unique enough. It was tough to keep them separated in your mind, which isn't ideal in a whodunnit type film. Then there were the emo characters. Whoever had the idea to include them in the film needs to take a good hard look in the mirror. It was a bizarre choice. A film set in the middle of the woods, with three emos seemingly being the most comfortable ones out there? Not in this lifetime.

The film also gets off to a very slow start and frankly the pacing throughout was less than desirable. The film really feels like it's dragging up until about the final ten minutes. There's also a scene that was put there almost entirely so that one of the actors had a reason to take his clothes off and show off his body. The 'test' done in this scene also made zero sense and held almost no logic when you think about it for the briefest second.

So why after all this did I give the film a '6' you ask? Fair question. The answer is that I'm a sucker for a good ending. I can honestly say first of all that I did not pick it. It hid itself very well. Secondly, it's almost the most logical part of the film in a way. That's not to say it entirely makes reasonable sense, but I can at least sort of see it happening. 'Stillwater' is a tough watch that is made partially bearable by a decent ending. If that sounds like something you'd like to buy into then this one is for you. If you're more about the journey than the destination then probably give this one a miss.

After a few minutes you get a sense that this is a very low budget movie with mostly almost amateur acteur. Most of the time I get bored by mid movie and either stop it or fast forward to see the ending if I'm curious enough. In the end I watch the whole movie even if I was infuriated most of the time by the stupidness of the characters decisions. But at the same time I was amuse enough and curious enough to continue watching. This is the kind of movie who should work (and I'm sure a lot of people would feel thtat way), but for me it was interesting enough to found it fun.

I have a high tolerance for problems in independent or low budget. If it has one or two good elements be it premise, cinematography, directing, dialogue or acting, heck even costume, I will accept problems inherent in low budget.

But this film is outright terrible in EVERY aspect. It is a 'don't quite your day job" example for everyone involved, director, actors, writers etc.

And the pitiful upshilling, obvious in all the accounts created just to uprate the film with no other IMDB activity just tells you how bad even the participants in the film know it is.

Tried to watch. Just kept getting less and less plausible with every scene.

Is this story write by someone who never went to camping?? if your friend collapse in the ground, in the jungle, die or not, u will not leave him alone. I repeat, nobody will never leave their friend collapse in the jungle alone.

If they stay with his sick friend, nothing will happend, the story will not exist.

The movie starts out Ok but slips up now and then and just when I was about to stop watching something happens and that kept up till the END which i for sure did not see coming as the bitching among characters completely threw me off. worth a watch with friends.

Created an account just so I can review this pile garbage. Annoying characters and dumbest wannabe script.

The characters make decisions that would leave you in awe. They keep making them time and again...making you hate them even more. In a real life situation, people would just call the cops and get help. Instead they all stayed back another night to try find the killer, not knowing if there was even one.

It's bizarre how one of the reviews gave this a 10/10, calling other people trolls. I could even forgive a weak storyline, but a storyline that doesn't emulate real life situations and decisions? Now that's just lazy and disrespectful to whoever is watching.

I went into this thinking I was going to get the usual "whodunnit" film but set in the woods. I will say that, coming out, it was a lot more than I expected.

Pros: The ending takes it. I can usually call these types but I couldn't in this one. The cast does a great job overall. The lead actor nails it, and overall everyone was believable. The setting of northwoods Minnesota in the fall is beautiful, and that contrasts the downward spiral that the characters take. And for a thriller, the movie touches on some heavy issues with some of it's dialogue.

Cons: Some of the dialogue felt stiff, especially in the opening. There were slow moments, again mostly in the beginning. The one scene with the dummy doesn't really add anything, and could have been left out.

Overall: I despise unoriginality--the constant churn of Hollywood sequel after sequel--and I thought this was an interesting and original concept on a familiar tale. For that reason I gave it a 9.

The college bugs go on a trip and some weird guests show up. When the sun rises and foul play is discovered, the whodunnit ensues - but it's mutilated by a terrible ending.

I'm so glad I watched this movie before reading IMDb reviews. Now I see what people mean when they suspect that a lot of reviews on this site are made by trolls just being trolls. Just one example of many: One reviewer described a bunch of "deadbeats" going camping. First of all, one is.a podiatrist, one is a children's book author, one owns his own business with a wife and children.... So many reviews of every movie on this site are not only misleading, but many are out and out lies regarding the facts of storylines, pace of movie, and acting ability. This film had great acting, did not move slowly, and did not give me any urge whatsoever to fast forward. I truly have no idea why IMDb has the credibility that it (apparently) has, much less any credibility at all. I pay no mind to the review numbers quoted from this site, especially mediocre numbers, and have yet to been proven wrong in that decision.

Great cast and a well written story set in Beautiful Minnesota! This film left me wanting more!! A must see!

This thriller is more than your average who-done-it!!

The scenario rings true and the film was shot beautifully. I appreciated the character development and consider it very well written. Though it moved a bit slow at times, I enjoyed the pockets of hilarity and the action packed thrill ride more than made up for it.

The ending was the highlight of the film. Just when I thought I figured it out, I was thrown right back into the chaos. I can usually figure out a surprise ending, but this one had me thinking long after the credits ran. Bravo Stillwater, endings like this are hard to come by!

This is definitely an "I loved it" or "I hated it" kind of film. I grew up in a circle of friends like these guys where our conversations were mostly just trying to one-up each other so I was on board from the start. And was pleasantly surprised to see that the humor continued when the bad things start happening, the characters still feel like themselves even when they were going at each other "Lord of the Flies" style.

No surprise then, the comic relief character stole the show for me. I could have done with one less character but that's pretty minor. When the movie was over I immediately wanted to watch again to see what I missed. For me and this type of movie thats the #1 sign it was a success.

An average thriller movie with poor script, but good in camera directing... There's nothing about Mystery, Failed: they just looked the man and never proved if he really died, they didnt even heared his heart pulse....!!

Anyway Interesting is how drugs and alchool always destroys everything in society and creating some stupidity problems.

Suggestion about society..!!

One gold quote says: Your biggest enemy is never a stranger, but it's your closest ones.