Eerie sounds play at the beginning of Old People and a young girl, Melissa, working for an institution that takes care of the elderly, enters Mr. Reincke’s house to check on him and notices that the food is rotting, and there are insects everywhere. The old man wasn’t anywhere to be found inside this home. Coming in from the balcony with a fire extinguisher in his hands, he pleads with Melissa to save him and at the same instant hits her with this heavy object. The man doesn’t stop till Melissa’s skull is crushed into pieces.
The narrator warns the audience that things like these will be seen more frequently in the future and takes us back in time to explain where all the incidents began. We are then taken to Ella and her kids Noah and Laura. They’re visiting the countryside to attend Sanna’s (Ella’s sister) wedding with Malick. Ella divorced her husband Lukas because she wanted to open her law firm in the city, and the kids aren’t able to make peace with the fact that now their parents live separately. Ella and Sanna’s father Aike live in a retirement home, and they go to visit their father the next day. What they witness in this retirement will send chills to the audience.
101-minute-long Old People was a thrilling horror film to watch, but the reasons given behind why that happened were not convincing. You can not explain a mass murder by giving such a stupid reason at the end. However, It is true that old people aren’t often cared for by their family members, but this also doesn’t mean that one day they’ll be thirsty for their blood. In my opinion, fans of horror thriller films can watch it, and they shouldn’t expect anything logical as the movie doesn’t provide a justified ending.
The actors played their roles well, and right from the beginning of the film, the creators were able to create a sense of suspense that was maintained until the end. The plot of this film was great and kept the audience on the edge and hooked to the screen. Old People just lacked one thing, and that was providing a good explanation of the events that happened. In the beginning and at the end, the narrator talks about a future where such events will happen more frequently, but they fail to provide any explanations for the same. Also, the beginning and the ending weren’t so well connected. This film takes extra points for the horror scenes and the great acting done by the cast (including the old artists).
The German film could have done wonders if it had been planned in a better manner. All the right ingredients of an award-winning film are present, but it failed to hit the mark by just a few points. Most of the expectations of the audience won’t be met and they’ll be left thinking that all the chaos that was created was pointless. There are several violent scenes in the film, and hence viewer discretion is advised.
Final Score – [6.5/10]
Reviewed by - Riya Singh
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