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Movies / On DVD / The Broken
The Broken

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The Broken (2009)

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Reviews Counted:26

Fresh:8

Rotten:18

Average Rating:4/10

Consensus: A British chiller lacking in strongly drawn characters, The Broken feels unfinished and undercooked.

Rated: 15

Genre: Horror/Suspense

Theatrical Release:30-01-2009

Synopsis: Lena Headey (TV's TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES) stars in this disturbing horror film as a woman who glimpses someone who looks just like her. In her search for answers, she comes to the... Lena Headey (TV's TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES) stars in this disturbing horror film as a woman who glimpses someone who looks just like her. In her search for answers, she comes to the startling realization that her loved ones may be involved in this sinister mystery. THE BROKEN is directed by CASHBACK's Sean Ellis, and it also features Richard Jenkins (THE VISITOR) and Melvil Poupaud (BROKEN ENGLISH). [More]

Starring: Lena Headey, Richard Jenkins, Ulrich Thomsen, Asier Newman

Starring: Lena Headey, Richard Jenkins, Ulrich Thomsen, Asier Newman, Melvil Poupaud, Michelle Duncan

Director: Sean Ellis

Director: Sean Ellis
Screenwriter: Sean Ellis
Producer: Lene Bausager
Composer: Guy Farley

[See More Credits]

Reviews for The Broken

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1 - 20 (sorted by comments; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 >> >|
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

The Sneak was left wishing another film would break through the screen.

Full Review Source: Sun Online | comment Comment
01/30/09
Sun Online

A cerebral horror that’s more creepily unsettling than out-and-out scary.

Full Review Source: Total Film | comment Comment
01/30/09
Total Film

With a nod and a wink to Edgar Allan Poe and Hitchcock he has created a slick, supernatural thriller set in a cold and disquietingly quiet contemporary London.

Full Review Source: Little White Lies | comment Comment
01/30/09
Little White Lies

An extremely stylish, emotionally aloof film that lacks a strong enough story to create a great horror yarn.

Full Review Source: Daily Express | comment Comment
02/05/09
Allan Hunter
Allan Hunter
Daily Express

This unbelievably ponderous British chiller keeps priming us for some shocking revelations – oodles of "scary" incidental music, ominous shots of the London skyline – and signally fails to deliver them.

Full Review Source: Independent | comment Comment
01/30/09
Anthony Quinn
Anthony Quinn
Independent

This chilling moodpiece is both psychological thriller and ghost story, with each holding up a mirror to how the other half lives.

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
01/30/09
Anton Bitel
Anton Bitel
Channel 4 Film
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Mr Ellis has some visual flair. He builds up a menacing atmosphere, and there are a few nasty shocks. However, he seems to have no sense at all of pace or humour. His screenplay is terrible.

Full Review Source: Daily Mail [UK] | comment Comment
01/30/09
Christopher Tookey
Christopher Tookey
Daily Mail [UK]

This is hardly a horror classic because it takes so damn long for anything to happen. And when it does, the ideas aren’t built upon, leaving you with the feeling the script is two or three rewrites away from a final draft.

Full Review Source: Daily Mirror [UK] | comment Comment
01/30/09
David Edwards
David Edwards
Daily Mirror [UK]

Here is a film from a director with a little more imagination and skill than story-telling sense.

Full Review Source: This is London | comment Comment
01/30/09
Derek Malcolm
Derek Malcolm
This is London

A slick but unscary spine-chiller.

Full Review Source: Sunday Times (UK) | comment Comment
02/05/09
Edward Porter
Edward Porter
Sunday Times (UK)

The tedium is almost as annoying as the sound effects.

Full Review Source: Times [UK] | comment Comment
01/30/09
James Christopher
James Christopher
Times [UK]
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Writer-director Sean Ellis is influenced by M. Night Shyamalan, and manages an approximation of both Shyamalan’s habitual look and whispery melodramatics.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
01/30/09
Kim Newman
Kim Newman
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

This stylishly-shot psycho-thriller from Sean Ellis is a creditable stab at the horror genre, but it lacks pace and plot. There's not enough blood 'n' gore for horror fans, while thriller admirers may find it too slow.

Full Review Source: Sunday Mirror [UK] | comment Comment
01/30/09
Mark Adams
Mark Adams
Sunday Mirror [UK]

This is very much a case of style over substance, but the atmospheric camerawork never really compensates for the subdued performances and a derivative, increasingly ridiculous plot.

Full Review Source: ViewLondon | comment Comment
01/30/09
Matthew Turner
Matthew Turner
ViewLondon

Part mystery, part horror, it keeps us wondering what the hell is going on, while the sombre lensing ups the air of menace. The silly finale undoes a lot of the fine work, though.

Full Review Source: thelondonpaper | comment Comment
01/30/09
Neil Smith
Neil Smith
thelondonpaper

A Babel cast in a piece of free-associative gothic babble.

Full Review Source: Financial Times | comment Comment
01/30/09
Nigel Andrews
Nigel Andrews
Financial Times

The Brøken is interesting and confident in some ways, though laden down with unfinished moods, images, ideas - and a few scary-movie cliches. It looks like a short film pumped up to feature length.

Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | comment Comment
01/30/09
Peter Bradshaw
Peter Bradshaw
Guardian [UK]
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Occasionally scary, often laughably portentous, never explained.

Full Review Source: Observer [UK] | comment Comment
02/05/09
Philip French
Philip French
Observer [UK]

The Broken isn’t a bad horror film. It’s just not a film—it’s scary footage that serves no purpose.

Full Review Source: News of the World | comment Comment
01/30/09
Robbie Collin
Robbie Collin
News of the World

A slick if derivative concept is well served by cold, grey cinematography and a chilling sense of shadowy menace.

Full Review Source: Sky Movies | comment Comment
01/30/09
Tim Evans
Tim Evans
Sky Movies
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by comments; UK critics are listed first)
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