Sam Was Here (2016) HD online

First you are attracted by the poster, the teaser and then come reality : the movie.

It's a shame cause at first i was really impressed by the look of the picture (seems to be a first feature film), but hey what is the story about? What is the point? I'm not against unexplained ending, i got to say i like that, but not when it tends to absurdity and let me alone with no point, it didn't catch on ! sounds like a rip off unfortunately.

The pretentious opening credits scene of almost 10 min (Yes 10 min ! before the title) let you think you will get involved in a long and dark thriller but in the end it leads us to : Nothing. Slow and steady win the race. RUSTY JOINER is pretty charismatic but fights against a series of American horror clichés (Cops, doll, grand ma…) and suffers a series of random events. The synth soundtrack sounds huge and is made of the same DNA of Carpenter's score but again sometimes it fells you are watching a video clip tribute of the master. Is it a copy or a homage?

I know Nemesis seems to be a low-budget film but in the end, it's once again a direct to VOD Carpenter like B movie, but without real talent and innovation. A flashy CinemaScope picture (ready for the cinematographer's show reel) is not enough to build strong characters and a story. Give me my money back.

It is quite sad to read the reviews of this beautiful movie. I understand this movie in a different way. This movie is completely psychological and if you believe what you see in the beginning then maybe that's the reason why you feel lost.

Sam is almost always on the phone calling Rita but she never answered until such time the voicemail's full . She can't answer because she's dead. Then he kept hearing this only radio show that focuses on the disappearance of Little Cindy and they later found out that it is somehow connected to a murderer on the road.

Rebecca Saxton, was the old woman who first called the radio.I believe she is the sister of Larry Braden who's body was found in a gas station restroom strangled to death which Sam saw on the newspaper later.

Sam killed her nephews, he showed violence and pushed the old woman down bathing herself in a boiling water. Sam has this big teddy bear which probably is his gift to his daughter's birthday. But he never mentioned her name. I believe that the little shy girl according to Eddy that was on the radio named Sofia who had a pet cat is her.

What are they all doing on the radio and talking over and over about Sam. Then these letters from Eddy telling these certain people a warning about Sam and the letters left on the mailbox which obviously had Eddy's World logo. Actually all the owners of those letters are dead.

All those people talking on the radio are dead, his daughter is dead, in fact there is no radio station as well or a radio show.Those are all memories that's consuming him. Sam, indeed is a killer.

He killed his wife and daughter, ending up in that place where he kidnapped and killed Cindy and those who tried to find her and the officer as well but inside Sam he believes he is innocent that is why he is running away.

That is why those people are wearing masks which was somehow shows a resemblance of Eddy. Sam and his false memories are giving him the justification that he should kill them because they're all trying to harm him and he believes he is innocent. What is the red light? That is part of his memory as well.

I think the film tried to show what the red light was. Go back to the scene where Sam ends up in the room, somebody called him which obviously sounds like a little girl dying and slowly losing her breath and then he went to the bathroom. He washed his face and as he was looking through the mirror he saw a hole on the wall.

He watched over there and saw a doll facing his direction which obviously was the dirty doll he first saw on the store, lying in the bed and while he is watching ,the scene slowly fades away until that red light appears.

What does it mean? Now, imagine Sam lying on that same bed or watching the girl suffered from that hole in the wall,listening to her voice and struggle while he is enjoying himself,satisfying himself ,bursting into that kind of happiness only the pedophiles understand,reaching climax.

Sam slowly heard the girl gasping her last breath and slowly closed his eyes as the girl stops breathing, until the last thing he can see as he is slowly closing his eyes is the red light in that room.

Why does Sam always see the red light, it is because that red light signifies consciousness, in fact that light is Sam's saving grace if he remembers what it represents it could have prevented him from losing grip of his sanity.

If Sam remembers what that red light means he can remember what he did to this girl and to his family and to these other victims and could have surrendered.

But Sam never remembers, he just always watched the red light, wondering. Until Sam was killed by those people and he's gone and the last thing we saw was the housekeeper with the bear which he used to lure kids.

Now when everything doesn't make sense, this is where the radio show/radio station.. EDDY'S WORLD makes sense. The callers on the radio station and their testimonies and the old woman played the most important roles in finding the truth about this movie.

Go back to when the old woman was yelling for help and Sam came, she called him a pedophile scum, words that appeared on his pager and that he enjoys watching little girls suffer and he asked her where is Eddy, the woman answered INSIDE.

Sam saw the motel sign where Eddy knows what happened was written.

The title of this movie is Nemesis which refers to an enemy that is very difficult to defeat. Who? It is yourself.

Sam is obviously a sick man, injecting himself, running ,and those voices he keeps hearing are not from the radio station but those are actual voices he keeps hearing, nobody is chasing him ,nobody is calling him ,all those callers are related to his crimes, nobody came to kill him and pour acid on him.

Sam's enemy is himself, his mind. Why does he believes he is innocent is because he is suffering from split personality. Sam is not dead, Sam was there and now he is gone, he is completely gone.

This movie shows how a monster is born. You are literally in Eddy's World and how he gets rid of the weak Sam. "Monsters are real. Ghosts are too. They live inside of us, and sometimes ,they win" Yes, Eddy won.. A pedophile, A murderer ,A beast.

I loved the theme and isolated atmosphere of this movie, It reminded me of those amazing psychological horror video games such as Silent Hill. Sam seemed like a relatable, every man character....until I saw his massive biceps? The plot seemed interesting and certainly gripping enough to pull you in throughout, leaving you to question whether Sam did or didn't he? My Question is, What was up with the writhing, naked bald guy with the headphones??? The red light in the sky gave me UFO, supernatural vibes but also a bit of Truman Show flash backs, as if this town was being watched by someone operating the red light above. Also, why was everyone wearing masks??? I have so many questions! The ending left me feeling as empty as that ghost town. Is there a possible sequel or are we just going to have to accept the fact that we wont be sleeping at night, not from any jump scares in the movie, but from never finding out the truth about Sam.

I saw the bad ratings on IMDb before watching the movie and it made me kind of sad 'cause I was really impatient to watch this movie since it came out in film festivals, so I started watching this movie preparing myself to be disappointed. I wasn't.

I really loved it, the major complain people have about this movie is that nothing is explained, so yeah of course this movie doesn't tell you what you're supposed to understand or see but encourages you to interpret and solve the "mystery" yourself; which is something I love in horror movies.

Spoilers: Here's what I understood (to read if you didn't get the movie at all): Sam really is the murderer, he killed his family; but he doesn't admit it and is in denial. A clue for this is the notes he leaves everywhere "sam was here", which are really ominous and not something someone asking for help would do but more of a note a serial killer would leave. Later in the movie we learn someone in the motel died, which is the person we see hiding in the bathroom on the surveillance camera in the beginning, Sam also killed that guy. Then for the "Eddy" character, I'm not 100% sure if he is Sam's conscience or some kind of supernatural "Judge" type figure, I guess it kind of depends if you wanna keep the movie realistic or not. Same with the red light in the sky, it could either be just Sam's hallucination or an ominous judgment symbol. For the ending, the people in town did justice themselves by killing Sam.

To conclude, despite the bad ratings, I think Sam was here is a great horror movie, but maybe not for everyone.

I really love these types of movies, the stranded in the desert with creepy inbred locals type of affair.

Main guy, really enjoyed his acting, played the part excellently.

Scenery was on par for the course, spooky desolate wastelands in the middle of no where.

Soundtrack was adequate and felt pretty decent for the tone of the movie.

What lets this movie down is the feeling you have at the end of the movie when you don't know what happened and why they killed Sam at the end, and pretty gruesomely as well poring acid over him, you can't see it but what a way to go.

So overall I was deeply frustrated and let down by the end of this movie, it had so much potential, they just needed to fill in the gaps at the end of the movie.

It's a real shame there's no comment section on here anymore as that's where I would always head if I was wanting to know some suggestions as to what might have happened at the end of the movie!

LOL.. I'm not good at writing reviews but think I do feel like writing something for this. There were a few other reviews before mine and I agreed with most of them that this film did start out interesting. cinematography is done quite nicely and the mystery with all these questions in your mind as you are watching keep you watch till the end. Then you simply hit the wall, I mean, they make you hit the wall real hard.. lol.. I just have to laugh a few more times to feel less stupid about myself. There really are no spoilers if you ask me because there is nothing to reveal in the end. I mean.. it's just like that.. "well that's it?" you keep asking yourself this question for 5 minutes. You sit there staring at the end credits and you mind is blank. I watched a lot of movies which had mysterious endings but it's fine because it still gave me some kind of hints to imagine the rest with my little mind. But this? I don't know if the director thinks he's being clever while I think this is just plain lazy to make a ZERO ending like this. Sorry I told you in the beginning I wasn't good at writing reviews... **flies away laughing**

This movie was such a perplexing audio/visual experience. You have a great premise, some great talent attached to it, a really creepy sense of atmosphere, and an AMAZING synth soundtrack. You got some horror, some thriller elements, some gore and violence, and some really disturbing visuals. I mean, this film had it all. And just when you think the downfall of quality was going to come to a head, it dribbles to a light drizzle and then it's over. Seriously, one of the most ambiguous and open-ended films I have ever seen, I still don't truly understand what it is I watched. Who was Sam? Why are they after him? What did he do that made people hate him so much? You would think that at 90 minutes, you would have an answer. All we get is an infinite amount of questions that I am not sure I even want to ask.

The acting was great, the atmosphere was excellent, and the soundtrack was euphoric. But it was like making a cake that just tastes off in the end. You think you have the recipe on lock, you use the freshest ingredients, and your timing is impeccable. But the end result leaves a bad taste in your mouth. That describes this movie to a T. Watch it for the acting and the cinematography, and enjoy the wonderful soundtrack. But this movie just didn't make any sense. How unfortunate.

I cant believe it, why producer cares enough to have a good team for camera, sound, actors,... but totally ignores the story-line?! this movie makes no sense at all! things happening without any explanation, is like the writer was bored to make sense in his book but producer really needed a script, so even everything else is good, story is a total nonsense! Sam is driving and walking in a city near LA, which no human being exist. water pipes work, there is fuel in petrol station, houses are clean, but no human or animal! suddenly a man with police uniform shoot him with gun ( no explanation), the guy got a mask same to other 4 people he meets in movie (also no explanation for mask), Sam after getting shot to left of his chest (heart is there) still manages to run, fight and be totally normal (bollywood skills). He doesn't want to use one of those cars and run from that city. he also doesn't want call police asking for help. you will see 1 woman without mask ( also no explanation) and two man with same mask as police man attack him. at then end, you will see few people with different masks attack and kill him and next morning the motel cleaner trying to wash his blood from shower curtain. TOTALLY NO EXPLANATION WHY ALL THESE NONSENSE HAPPENS! Camera was professional, Music and voices recording in movie are good, acting is good too, just WHAT THE HELL STORYLINE?!!!

I am most likely going against the grain in my review here but I really liked this movie. I took a chance on it despite some bad reviews and am glad I did. That being said, I can see why a lot of people don't like this movie. It does not explain much. In fact it doesn't explain anything really. But that is part of what I liked. Movies today leave nothing to the imagination as everything is completely spelled out. Besides, how many times have you watched a film and said "I hate that ending" even when it was concluded at the end. Yes, this film does leave the viewer to do a lot of concluding on their own. Still, I loved the scary and very eerie atmosphere. Not a whole lot happens until the very end and yet even early on I could not stop watching. Everything was so eerie that I had to keep watching. I could really put myself in the almost lone actor's shoes and feel the fear and confusion he was feeling all through the movie. I do recommend trying this movie even though I know many will not like it. For some like myself, I think you will really like it!

I have been watching movies since I was 10 and I am 46 years old now and this movie is in the top 5 boring stupid movies I have ever seen .. it started good and pull me in and I wanted to know why is everything happening to sam ..

the ending was so bad and boring ..

its not horror and its not Thriller it starts as a Mystery and ends in Mystery ..

and sorry English is not my language ..

but this movie is a waste of time ..

I don't mean to sound pretentious, but I think some people really ought to watch more movies before judging a gem like this. I mean, it's being criticized for being a mystery in stead of a horror, and for having an open ending. Really??

In my opinion, this is exactly how a good horror/mystery/... movie should look like. Not like the overly gore comedies (although those can be great too), and especially not like all the infantile jump-scare flicks, which this genre is utterly saturated with nowadays. Or is that really what most people would rather see? I simply don't understand... if you've seen one, you've seen 'em all.

Personally, I absolutely adore the creepy atmosphere of movies such as this. To me, it's a visual delight. I also really liked the 80's soundtrack and, as another user pointed out, the main character did indeed look like he loved what he was doing.

If you read the story-line here on IMDb you basically know everything about this movie. You won't get any surprises, answers or whatever. I don't get why you would make a movie without giving any explanations at the end. It's a total waste of our time. The filming is professional though, nothing bad to say about that. The actors are also okay. It's just the story-line that make no sense at all. There is that strange red glow in the air, people wearing masks trying to kill the main character, the radio host doing strange movements with his back etc. All things you will never get an explanation. So why bother and waste your time watching this? It has no point. I wished I didn't lose my time with this movie.

So it's best to go into this movie without knowing much. I know others have said the ending sucked because there was no conclusive ending but I wanted to share my thoughts on what the ending might be telling us by not telling us. So if you haven't seen the movie then stop reading this now!!! So here are my theories with the ending of the movie. I know at one point on the talk show radio "Eddie" said it would be real bad if they got the wrong guy. I feel like the talk show host at the end was the real serial killer who made Sam the scapegoat. Either that or Sam really was the killer all along and had some split personality or amnesia that made him forget what he really did. At the end of the movie "Rita" who Sam had been calling throughout the show claiming she was his wife, said her husband died 5 years ago and she doesn't know this man who keeps calling her. Perhaps Sam was living in a fantasy world, hence why all the "bad" people were wearing masks. He was having an identity crisis and forgot about all the horrible things he's done. Another theory is the desert is one long hallucination brought on by the glowing red light.

Starts as a mystery, then things happen out of the blue for no reason and then the movie ends.

For once, I'd like directors and producers of these epic failures to admit to what it was supposed to be about. A "this is what it's supposed to mean" explanation, along with a refund and an apology.

A disclaimer should have accompanied this film: Warning. This movie makes no sense and has no ending.

Wow! I thought this film had some potential, but it did not. Even at the end, I thought it would be worth it, but it wasn't. Don't waste your time..... the ending does not make any sense and it completely was a waste of my time. I thought at first, there was a reason for him being a salesman and having a family..... that really didn't show much. Then in the end.......... without spoiling it, it just really sucked!

I was drawn into seeing this movie by its synopsis. I liked the idea from the beginning and today I was given the chance to finally see it. The movie is pretty short, few minutes past an hour, with fast-paced action for the second half of the movie. To keep it short, here are some positive and negative aspects:

* positive

1. Rusty Joiner, the central character of the movie, was believable as the salesman who must fight for his life. When the movie ended, I searched on IMDb and it seems he was in some movies I had seen before, but I guess he didn't catch my attention in those. In "Sam was here" it was enjoyable following him through the barren landscape, waiting for the movie's final revelation.

2. The scenery and music is in tone with the movie, contributing to the general atmosphere (loneliness, isolation, anguish) . The music reminded me about Stranger Things soundtrack.

* negative

1. To many questions were left unanswered. I think that the whole idea of the movie was about revenge. Eddy, the host of the local radio, actually played the role of Nemesis, while all the villagers hunting Sam, where the Furies trying to relentlessly bring him to justice.

2. The ending is not satisfying, mainly because it seems like they forgot to put it in.

Overall, it was an interesting experience, but it could've been much better.

Totally agree with Justind-5's review, loved the vibe & look of the movie, Rusty Joiner's pretty easy on the eye too, the red glow was an interesting idea, but then what happened???

I get that some unanswered questions can be enigmatic, but this just made me mad :-) Is it OK for the filmmaker to lead you down a path, then smack you into a wall, I'm not sure it is? You could make it your trademark, but eventually people want answers and ultimately anyone can throw a load of concepts together that don't make sense, so why come back to watch anymore - Director - be warned!

And that's literally everything that can be said about this movie. Its some nifty piece of abstract art with absolutely no meaning behind it aka "make whatever you wanna make of it".

The worst part of it is the fact that it builds up and acts coherently till the last minute. Then turns around and undoes everything it has built up. Its 70 minutes of trolling and nothing more, and you will only realize this in the last minute.

Actually, I was going to see another movie, but the audio of it failed. Trying not to waste that couple of hours on something else, I ran to Netflix to find another movie.

I kinda read what it was about and decided to give "Sam Was Here" a chance (I like movies that include deserts and lone protagonists). I shouldn't have done it.

The movie is like a bad (and doubly extended) episode of "Twilight Zone": apparently, a mysterious red light in the sky turns all California hicks into masked killers, and Sam had the misfortune of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, nevertheless, the whole film is a total nonsense and no explanation is given.

Tip: if you saw this movie, don't ask yourself about the meaning of it (you won't find it), just forget it and keep going. If you didn't see it, don't ever do it.

Of course I was confused, baffled by the end of this strange but fascinating movie for which the director himself said that the end was not so important to be understood; only the overall atmosphere. I am sure himself did not totally got what he meant in his screenplay ending...As Howard Hawks, Faulkner and Ray Chandler in THE BIG SLEEP. What the hell the story to be got by the audiences, only the atmosphere counts...Even if those two films are pretty different from each other. The scheme of the lonely man, in a desert town, confronted to some weird atmosphere has already been told before, and it's pretty adequate for small budget features. But I am sure that this young French director has great potential - and not because I am French - and that he will make great things in a near future. Watch him closely. Unfortunately, to make this kind of movie, in France, it's nearly impossible. Horror movies are very hard to product, although there is much audience. But most of films in France are produced by TV channels, to be aired a few years later. And horror movies do not fit to this scheme. That's the main reason. What a shame.

Well I read most of the reviews of this movie and I would like to share my point of view for this movie. In my opinion the red star is actually a red spot in the sky, and could be a top secret government experiment ( a military satellite) that emits a certain type of pulse and magnetic frequency and is targeted at the specific small town. As a result most of the people of the town have gone crazy, either commit suicide or murder one another. The radio host has also lost his mind from this experiment and has targeted Sam for being the serial killer of the town, who I believe has not killed the little girl. The people of the town that Sam meets wear masks and it is not his imagination. This cosmic red star has created all the trouble and the experiment will soon be over.

CONTAINS SPOILER.....It could be that Sam was living out his last few moments of life whilst on the lethal injection gurney in some Los Angeles jail, aka Reeker. Clues, things seemed to happen backwards, like he gets bad messages, then he seems to do the deed that justified the message, the red eye in the sky is approaching Hell (when he's badly shot he doesn't seem injured enough), he hasn't seen his family for years, maybe he killed his wife and child, the desert is also Hell, anticipated, as he dies he re-lives events that led to his capture, like the stinger and policeman, the blood on the teddy bear is lost innocence. The masks are unreal version of his victims, and captors.

Having seen this film twice, it becomes more beautiful and apparent each time, the soundtrack immersed me it the apocalyptic southern landscape I've grown to love so much, the film was a product of a previous short by the same creator which I also want to see.

The film leaves a lot up to the imagination or so you think? The more you watch it and pay attention to every detail of the film the more apparent is really is.

Aside from this, the cinematography is spot on, color grading is perfect and the soundtrack suit the mood exactly. I look forward to more from the creators of this. Thank you for making a beautiful but crazy movie.

This is a good film, I think. But what I mean by good is the fact that you need to think for some time after the 72 minutes of projection to understand the story. Well, at least to think you understand. By the comments about "I Was Sam" we see that lots of questions were left unanswered, so don't watch this film if you don't like to twist your brain trying to figure out the plot.

SPOILERS!!!

If you haven't see the film, please don't keep on reading this text. This is my interpretation of the film and I repeat: stop reading this if you haven't see the film!

In my opinion Sam did kill the little girl and somehow lost his memory. He then wandered around, thinking, on his sick mind, that he was a door to door salesperson. I understand the guy in the end, seen from his back only, is someone connected to the girl. He, I think, decided to have his revenge. He somehow figured out Sam was coming to town and emptied the city and plotted to kill Sam, together with those masked men, who hated Sam for what he had done. The radio show, I think, was staged by Eddy and the other people - all radios were tuned to the same station and left on even though everyone had left home. It seems to me everybody prepared the scenario for Sam. The red glow would be something from his perturbed mind.

Very good. If you are tired of cliche horror movies then give this one a try. Just finished watching it now in a very booooring sunday and it kept me very tense and worried about Sam throughout the whole movie. It's a very mysterious movie and it don't gives you a lot of answers, but if you don't worry much about that and let yourself immerse in the atmosphere created by the movie, then it'll be worth your time.