Vivarium (2019) Movie Review
I watch any movie that features a maze or labyrinth as part of the plot. Usually that means some great maze movies that I would recommend everyone watch. But it seems I got the best movies out of the way first based on my last 3 sub-par movie reviews: The Funhouse Massacre, The Maze and Mazes and Monsters . So where does Vivarium come out ? Let’s find out….
So Vivarium is a comedy horror film starring Imogen Potts and Jesse Eisenberg as a young couple looking to purchase their first house. They stop into the Yonder Homes rental office and decide to visit the development where they are shown house #9. The sign as they pull into the development says “Quality Family Homes. Forever”. Everything from there on out goes wrong. The rental agent mysteriously leaves them and despite a full day of driving they cannot find their way out of the development, continually driving in circles stuck in a maze of identical looking homes. Exhausted, they spend the first night in the house eager to try exiting again the next day.
And the next day.
And creatively the next day.
And again, and again. . But they are stuck. Forever ?
Invisible workers that can never be caught are dropping off food and taking trash, and one day the drop off something a bit more interesting with a note that says if they complete a task they can leave.
Things get weird (wait they weren’t already weird ?) from there. And creepy. And finally a bit crazy.
This is an interesting concept for a movie but the last 20 minutes could have been improved. Still I liked the movie better than the critics and would recommend it as a free stream/ library rental. It certainly is worth having a conversation about with friends. What would you do in this situation ? What the heck was going on ? etc. What’s was the deal with ****** (spoiler free question !!!) ? And when you are done watching the movie, if you were interested, you will search for “Vivarium ending explained”.
This movie is the longer version of the short film Foxes (2011) from the same director. The theme is the same with a slightly different story, and I would recommend it. You can read my review which includes a link to watch the entire movie.
One of my favorite parts of this movie is the thumbnail for the trailer below ! We’ve all felt this way.