But it’s clear from his first day in the village that he’s really not welcome there, since he’s considered an outsider from a big city. (“Entwined” was filmed on location in Mountain Parnonas in the Peloponnese peninsula.) It’s never explained why Panos chose Alytis as the place to relocate. Perhaps in an effort to get away from it all, Panos (who is a bachelor with no children) moves from a big city to the rural village of Alytis. Don’t beat yourself up … Science doesn’t have all the answers, as much as you might want it to.” George comforts Panos by saying to him, “You’re going to be a fine doctor. Panos is feeling a certain level of guilt that his medical expertise couldn’t save his father, whose chemotherapy treatments weren’t enough to get rid of the cancer. The opening scene is of Panos and his older half-brother George (played by John De Holland, who wrote the screenplay for “Entwined”) at their father’s funeral. A 35-year-old doctor named Panos (played by Prometheus Aleifer) is grieving over the death of his father, who passed away from cancer. There’s also a more obvious theme about the power of nature and how it can turn on people if the environment is not respected.ĭirected by Minos Nikolakakis (in his feature-film debut), “Entwined” is set in present-day Greece, but the story takes place mostly in a part of rural Greece that might as well be stuck in a previous century. “Entwined” also has an underlying message about the ongoing debate of science versus superstition, as well as which belief system should be trusted more. The movie is a great example of how a film doesn’t need to have a large cast to be effective. “Entwined” is a “slow burn” supernatural movie that entices viewers into a mystical yet suffocating world, much like the seductive actions of the mysterious young woman who is at the center of story’s mystery and intrigue. Prometheus Aleifer and Anastasia Rafaella Konidi in “Entwined” (Photo courtesy of Dark Star Pictures) The sedate pacing, coupled with what feel like low stakes - Danae is never cruel or threatening - almost emasculates the predicament.Īleifer’s Panos struggles to figure a way out, but never in ways that point to rising panic, desperation.įirst-time feature director Minos Nikolakakis gives us a vivid sense of place, parks us in an enchanted wood, but leaves out the menace his hero must feel and face to escape it.Aleka Toumazatou, Anastasia Rafaella Konidi, Anna Kozadinou, Entwined, horror, John De Holland, Kostas Laskos, Manos Vakousis, Maria Eglezaki, Minos Nikolakakis, movies, reviewsīy Carla Hay Anastasia Rafaella Konidi and Prometheus Aleifer in “Entwined” (Photo courtesy of Dark Star Pictures)Ĭulture Representation: Taking place in Greece (primarily in the fictional village of Alytis), the horror flick “Entwined” has an all-white cast of characters representing the middle-class and working-class.Ĭulture Clash: A doctor moves to a rural area and gets entangled with a mysterious young woman who is a social outcast and who is believed to be cursed.Ĭulture Audience: “Entwined” will appeal primarily to people who like horror movies that focus more on psychological terror and supernatural scares than on bloody gore. “Entwined” has trouble making us fear for the well-intentioned doctor. Will Panos ever be able to leave? How long will he even try? “I could almost swear the trees are THICKER.” He awakens to a house where “old ways” have the whiff of ritual. Never you mind, he returns to the house, confronts the old man, and eventually takes a drink of the face-melting local retsina Danae offers, and dozes off. The locals mutter “This is a small village. His brother George (screenwriter John De Holland) gave him the “science doesn’t have all the answers” lecture before he moved. “I long for the old ways.“Īn ugly skin condition gets his attention, but before Panos can treat her, the grumblings of a drunken old man upstairs, “my father,” sends him scurrying. “I do not trust motorcars or their drivers,” she complains. And when he hunts for the source, he finds Danae (Konidi) living in primitive conditions, playing 78s on a wind up Victrola. But there’s this ethereal music emanating from the woods. He’s all but shunned by the elderly locals, who tell him there’s never been a doctor there before. It’s a primitive place, where you reflexively ask “Is there a phone in the village?” (in Greek, with English subtitles) when you already know the answer is “No.” Panos (Aleifer) has just buried his father when he takes the job in Alytis. It’s about a beautiful, mysterious woman ( Anastasia Rafaella Konidi) who lives in the woods, and the new doctor ( Prometheus Aleifer) in the village who falls under her spell. “Entwined” is a moody, handsomely-mounted modern day Greek folk tale that never quite finds the urgency or suspense to lure us in.
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