TheLittleSongbird Saw 'Totem', being fond of horror regardless of budget (even if not my favourite genre) and being intrigued somewhat by the idea. Being behind on my film watching and reviewing, with a long to watch and review list that keeps getting longer, it took me a while to get round to watching and reviewing it.Giving 'Totem' a fair chance with being interest and apprehension, it turned out to be far better than expected. Won't say that 'Totem' is a great film because it isn't and the potential, while not wasted, is not fully lived up to. Considering the large number of films seen recently being mediocre and less and wasting potential, was expecting worse and was relieved that while wanting in a fair few areas it was actually one of my better recent low-budget viewings.'Totem' started off quite well, the first twenty minutes or so starting the film off on a promising, unsettling and atmospheric note that really does intrigue. Production values did have some eeriness and nowhere near as cheap as expected, and the music, which not the most memorable in the world, didn't detract from the atmosphere. The setting is effectively spooky and some of the lead acting at times was not bad. There are spooky and suspenseful moments and it isn't dull. The direction doesn't feel phoned in and the storytelling in the first half does intrigue.However, the story was severely wanting in the second half after starting off promisingly. It is very disjointed and after the promising start the final third especially loses atmosphere, one loses interest and things start to not make sense. Too much of the film is vague and doesn't explore some elements and story strands enough, some dropped soon after being introduced, go nowhere or serve much point.Ending is unsatisfying, on top of feeling hasty there are too many loose ends hanging in the air. Got the sense that the writers didn't know how to end the film. Would have liked much more tension and suspense, scares could have been more consistent and some weren't surprising enough. Found too the script to lack natural flow and with a bit of cheese going on, and the characters bland with some adopting some annoying and not always logical decision making. The support acting is even more problematic than the second half's storytelling, at best it was poor and too often terrible.Overall, better than expected but not great still. 5/10 Bethany Cox

jmix66 Slow,poorly written and tiring. And that's just the first few scenes. It gets worse from there...Father moves his emotionally needy girlfriend in with his two daughters and things go to hell from there. This was like a bad episode of a Lifetime drama series, except for it lacking drama or cohesion. It just gets worse as the minutes drag by.Not going to spoil the "twist"...but let's just when you get there you wonder what took so long. It's a surprise; however, it's like winning the lottery when you are 90. It could have happened earlier and you'd have been more pleased if it had.Dull film. Silly premise. Not worth the 96 minute run time.

smoke0 This movie fooled me completely. I thought I knew where it was going and then it went someplace else and I was pleasantly surprised at being fooled, so that automatically makes this worth seeing.It isn't perfect, in fact there is one scene that makes no sense, although it is well done and shocking, and although our heroine's flat affect makes sense later, there does not seem to be any purpose to why what happened happened at all, so once again I miss those message boards so I could sound this out with other viewers. One thought is that the ghost did not want anything to give away its location? Rather harsh solution, and still makes no sense.Anyway, everything else comes together and ties up all the loose ends, including what initially appears to be bad acting, so you do need to see this and enjoy a bit more original take on the same old ghost story.

Colonial-Oak Folks, this is a decent horror flick. Its no Academy Award winner, but it doesn't suck either.I saw TOTEM on Saturday 11/18/17 on HBO when it was rated as 4.3/10 and I'm glad I watched it despite the questionably low rating. Its got a good plot, some good scares, a cool plot-twist at the end, and is overall a decent horror flick.Now I'll be the first to admit I watch movies for enjoyment - I'm not pretentious nor do I study a flick for tone, cinematography, screen writing, editing, lighting, sound, etc. Albeit obvious, I'm an American conservative guy, and my favorite genre's are Horror/Suspense, Action/Adventure, Westerns, Crime/Legal, War/Military, etc. ... and I tend to keep my movie "reviews" simple.I either:1) Loved it - awesome2) Liked it - not too bad, or3) Hated it - it suckedIf you like horror movies and aren't bent on a movie being perfect, you'll like it - and yes it is worth the 90 minute investment in time, and the Red Box fee (if any). I almost gave it a 7 (its a very high 6). Again, its no 10, but certainly is no 4 ...