The Yellow Wallpaper (2012) Reviews

• Awful!

  Foxpup82-79-8841832012-11-11

  I just can't understand why everyone loves this movie! The acting was comically wooden, with the exception of the sister and the psychic. My husband gave up on it after 15 very painfully slow minutes, but I persevered with it. The story by the the way has NOTHING to do with the short story "The Yellow Wallpaper" other than a reference to the "rest cure" and place of women in Victorian society. And as mentioned by another reviewer, the main character is named Charlotte, a reference to Charlotte Gilbert, who wrote the short story. Oh, and there's an attic room with yellow wallpaper that the wife sometimes retreats to, but it's existence is Pretty arbitrary. THe plot was very broken up, and half the scenes take place in very dark rooms, making it difficult to see what was going on. The ending was a bit of whatever as well - it didn't seem to match the rest of the movie. it was an interesting premise, too bad it just didn't seem to flow. This could have been a good movie if: 1. They didn't call it The Yellow Wallpaper. False advertising! Why not give it it's own name? 2. The plot had some kind of flow to it, 3. better acting! Especially the male lead, who gave the most wooden performance I have EVER seen. Sadly, these elements were not there, making this clunker a discombobulated boring mess.

• Well you can forget the story

  deadnancy-364-7892272012-05-07

  What was this? It sure wasn't The Yellow Wallpaper. This dull poorly acted and horribly written film fails in nearly every way. The short story The Yellow Wallpaper was one of my favorite short stories. It is a tail of madness and isolation in its purest form. This movie missed the point entirely. I knew from the first 30 seconds that this movie was a fail because its narrated from the husbands perspective which is wrong in so many ways. The first problem with this is that this story is supposed to be an exploration of madness from inside the mind of the person going mad. It is NOT a tragic tail about the husbands problems nor is it about a dead girl. I realize that ghost stories are trendy right now but there is no need to cheapen a great work of literature by even hinting at a supernatural influence. After watching this film i am left with one big question...Did the film makers even read the short story they made this movie from? The only positives i can give this movie is that its beautiful. The setting is perfect.. The mood and atmosphere is set so perfectly that this COULD have been a great movie.The lighting and staging puts the viewer on edge and really makes the viewer feel the melancholy isolation and tension. It is a shame that the film makers missed the point entirely and failed to explore what this story was really about. They didn't even get the perspectiv eright. missing the opportunity to put madness into a visual medium. Way to ruin a great work of literature.

• "Days of Heaven" this ain't

  Deep-Thought2015-04-02

  "The Yellow Wallpaper" is a 6,000-word short story by the American writer Charlotte Perkins Gilman, first published in January 1892 in The New England Magazine. It is regarded as an important early work of American feminist literature, illustrating attitudes in the 19th century toward women's physical and mental health. This film adaptation of the story was directed by Logan Thomas, who has done mostly short films. And since the estimated budget is reported as $1.5 million, I'm prepared to be generous in my critique. But even a charitable attitude can't lift this film out of the cinematic doldrums. It is limp, shapeless and draggy. The scriptwriters have drained the story of its blood. The writing is stilted and flat-footed; the plot has been transformed from that of a woman gradually descending into madness into a fairly plodding ghost story. Any perceived feminist message is gone. The yellow wallpaper with which the female protagonist of the story becomes obsessed is definitely there on the walls, but it hardly figures in the film at all. The film perks up a little at the end, but only a little. Speaking of being generous: Calling the acting turgid and barely above amateurish IS being generous. In fact I thought that the 3 leads were amateurs until I looked them up. The female lead, Juliet Landau, is the daughter of Martin Landau and Barbara Bain. In this film her character Charlotte is supposed to be deep in the throes of despondency and PTSD after witnessing her daughter being burned alive in a house-fire. But in her performance no suffering is apparent; she's either very morose or a little less morose. She looks like a young Greta Scacchi after a serious illness. Aric Cushing projects no energy at all; he's just unkempt and phlegmatic in the extreme. Of the three leads, only Dale Dickey has any luster whatever on screen. Michael Moriarty shows up at the beginning of the film for about 3 minutes, and Veronica Cartwright has about 10 minutes of screen time near the end. The film's setting is lush: A house set back in the woods (somewhere outside of Atlanta), but compositions lack focus, not to mention clarity. The sound is poor; the dialogue mostly is distant and muffled. The fact that most of the dialogue wasn't looped and the sound remixed as should have been done may reflect the low budget. If this were a student film, I'd give it about a C-plus.

• Beautifully shot, a Days of Heaven type film

  davidacting2011-08-10

  I saw this film in a private screening of 30 industry professionals. Producers came out and said, they understood if we didn't like it, no problem. I guess they have been laboring over the film for a couple years. Do not expect your typical horror film from this one. A few people looked a little stunned after the film. Since I had never read the story -- I guess it is required reading in high school and college - - how the hell did I miss that? ... probably from being a total deadbeat in high school... I went into the film unaware. It is a period film, which is pretty cool, and set before 1900 or something. . . I can say one thing about the film... I never guessed the ending. You actually have no idea was is going to happen in the end. This is a breath of fresh air, when it seems like everything nowadays is just a remake or some stupid idea that has never been fleshed out correctly. Because the story is famous, I am sure more people will hate it because it doesn't adhere to the story exactly. I don't know much about the original story, but what they did with the the film was pretty unique. it has a dream-like. I think this is what movies are supposed to capture. Good job Mr. director.

• Excellent highly original Horror time piece

  Indifferent_Observer2012-04-29

  I was highly skeptical after seeing the trailer for this and all the 10 star reviews, but I have to say it was definitely worth ones time. The Yellow Wallpaper definitely had budget restraints, but that didn't really matter here. The acting and overall ambiance gradually drew me in deeper and deeper to these people's lives. The movie really had an old feel to it that a lot of Hollywood films lack. I actually felt like I was watching these people. With that being said, The Yellow Wallpaper is a bizarre movie that has some shades of Lovecraft in it. It strays from the original short story into a full feature that stands out on its own. Im glad it took the direction it did because so many people were talking about the short I figured I pretty much already knew how it was going to end. I'm glad I was wrong. This film is a bit of a slow burn, but it carries itself well. Its creepy, bizarre, and bleak. I recommend this to anyone who likes time pieces and Lovecraft stories. Solid 7/10