The Ballerina Movie Download

9 / 10

Eerie and heart breaking.
This Southern American supernatural horror film appears to have been a labour of love for its writer, director, co-producer and star Steve Pullen. As with most films, I went into this blind, which is often the best way.

For the negatives, I would say that the decision (possibly for budgetary reasons) to surround himself with family members might have contributed to some of the climactic scenes going on a trifle too long and some of the melodrama being slightly overcooked. Someone with an outsider’s point of view might have exercised a bit more discipline regarding editing and pruning – less is often more, they say – but having said that, there’s no doubt about it: ‘The Ballerina’ packs an almighty emotional punch.

Much of the appeal rests on the central performance. For a story that involves a little girl being systematically tormented by spirits, the performance cannot afford to fall into the traps juvenile performers sometimes succumb to. In Isabella Pullen (Steve’s daughter), the casting is perfect – she’s an incredible performer (perhaps the decision to cast family members was an artistic one after all). When her character Sophia says in a tiny voice, “I’m scared to go to sleep,” your heart breaks – knowing that she probably has good reason to be.

Even the film’s title has emotional weight to it – Sophia is dressed and made up as a ballerina throughout, extolling her status as a child whose talent is cruelly ripped away from her by events. Sophia is one of the most heart-breaking characters I’ve seen in film for a long, long time.

The rest of the story is green and eerie, rather than overtly horrific. Anyone who demands jump scares and CGI needn’t hang around. The atmosphere of unexplained strangeness is the frightener, as well as the effect it has on other characters – Glen (Steve Pullen), Doe (Deena Dill) and Marjorie (Valli Downey) amongst others.

The story’s resolution threatens to get garbled by over-egging, but ultimately, this story is an incredibly weird and genuinely tear-jerking. I don’t mind telling you I was in floods by the end. My score is 9 out of 10.Read More