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Nothing Bad Can Happen

Play trailer Poster for Nothing Bad Can Happen 2014 1h 50m Drama Mystery & Thriller Play Trailer Watchlist
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70% Tomatometer 27 Reviews 66% Popcornmeter 250+ Ratings
A pious teen (Julius Feldmeier) endures torture at the hands of a sadistic couple (Sascha Alexander Gersak, Annika Kuhl) because he thinks God is testing him.
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Nothing Bad Can Happen

Nothing Bad Can Happen

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Critics Consensus

Nothing Bad Can Happen uses its protagonist's punishing ordeal to pose questions about faith that are well worth considering, even if the film can't quite answer them.

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Critics Reviews

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Ben Sachs Chicago Reader 07/07/2014
Gebbe elicits strong performances from her actors and succeeds in inspiring a certain sick fascination with the material, yet the film's oppressive unpleasantness yields no new insights into psychology or religious faith. Go to Full Review
Jeannette Catsoulis New York Times 07/03/2014
Pitting good against evil with striking intelligence and a near-operatic commitment to extreme suffering, Ms. Gebbe neither mocks nor celebrates Tore's love for his God. Go to Full Review
Scott Tobias The Dissolve 07/01/2014
2.5/5
Writer-director Katrin Gebbe rubs viewers' faces in this dog dish of a film, with the promise that some sliver of transcendence will redeem it. But it's all dog dish. Go to Full Review
Nicholas Bell IONCINEMA.com 08/30/2019
Gebbe's film never loses its choke-hold and will have you squirming uncomfortably until its final frames. Go to Full Review
C.J. Prince Way Too Indie 06/18/2019
3.9/10
Nothing Bad Can Happen is a film with a simplistic, overdone message surrounded by nihilistic garbage. Go to Full Review
Deirdre Crimmins Film Thrills 08/21/2018
This film is beautiful, haunting, and downright disturbing. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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Ricardo d Sep 30 Temos ótimas interpretações, um roteiro lento mas cheio de significados. Uma alegoria moderna a vida de Jesus. Mas também uma crítica a familia moderna. O filme é cercado de cenas terríveis de se ver, mas após elas temos a catarse junto com Tore e suas reações. Só acho que a fotografia do filme e as captações de imagem poderiam ter sido melhores. See more @c0urtn3y 09/18/2021 interestingggg. i did not know what this was until it got there; I have troubles believing people like that really exist but I think it said it was based on true events, so obviously they do. just heartbreaking. overall this movie just made me mad. mad that people think that type of behavior is okay. mad that the kid didn't stand up for himself & leave when he had the chance - get authorities involved or something. good grief. I'm not sure that i'd say this is a good movie & I definitely wouldn't recommend it, but I DO think it did what it set out to do. makes quite a statement around religion & the very 2 extremes on both ends of the spectrum. See more 08/15/2015 This was for sure one of the hardest movies to watch, thanks to a very thought provocative script, and excellent performances. Not only does it shows you how evil people can get to be, but also in contrast how faith cannot be destroyed. In a way, even though the movie might show some of the cruelest and most terrible things, it gives in a very raw and heartbreaking way, glimpses of hope and faith in God. ~August 15, 2015~ See more 07/26/2015 Katrin Gebbe's "Tore Dances" was re-ttitled "Nothing Bad Can Happen" for US/Canada/UK release. That is too bad, because the original tile is more aligned to what this difficult film aims to achieve. Many have referred to this film as a sort of "vengeance" movie. I disagree. This goes far deeper than that. It is a provocative examination of dysfunction within the realm of "family" "evil" and "faith." Does it go too far? Probably. This movie is not for all tastes or the feint of heart. That being stated, this is a very well-crafted film which presents us with a young man who refuses to relinquish his faith even when it becomes the target of insane humiliation, rage and torture. More to the point, this visceral cinematic experience pushes an already ethically and morally corrupt man toward an even deeper level of evil. This vacant and lonely man's hostility is only increased when faced by a person who refuses the satisfaction of "fighting back" or "running away." Tore may be afraid Benno, but his hope in faith will not allow him to walk away. Benno's sociopathic desires only become more inflamed when he is unable to illicit a fight or fear. In the end, an evil man is forced to stare into the eyes of his own guilt and the full-on realization the he has become something far lower than animal. It is to Sascha Alexander Gersak's credit in the role of "Benno" that he manages to convey faint sense of sadness that is so nuanced -- I found myself thinking about it even now. Tore will forever dance in a state of bliss, while Benno will have no choice but to wallow and eventually drown in a vile of filth that is of his own making. Kartin Gebbe never allows her film to commit itself to the ideology of faith. She is also just as committed to presenting extreme human cruelness in an almost casual or documentary manner. Her grim movie "based on true events" refuses any sort of "easy out" for her audience. The struggle between "good" and "evil" seems to be taking place in the mind of the audience as much as what is on the screen. Enter this world at your own risk. See more 06/19/2015 En medio de los impulsos esenciales del ser humano, esta película trata de indagar en los límites de una sociedad moderna. See more 07/08/2014 NOTHING BAD CAN HAPPEN (aka TORE TANZT) could have slipped into the annals of torture porn but first time director Katrin Gebbe has such a sure hand and grasp of her subject that the film never crosses the line into degenerate entertainment (not that I'm against that). But it's refreshing to see a film that has so much on its mind and plays with our expectations while depicting a world in which beauty, truth and innocence are not only resented but demeaned and destroyed. This is a tough film which one could see as a statement on the masochism behind religious zealotry but is ultimately about human pettiness and capacity for destruction. The film seriously calls to mind the work of Lars von Trier and Gebbe deserves positive comparisons to von Trier but NOTHING has a genuineness that makes if feel poignant rather than an intellectual exercise. NOTHING BAD CAN HAPPEN is not an easy film but well worth the pain. See more Read all reviews
Nothing Bad Can Happen

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Movie Info

Synopsis A pious teen (Julius Feldmeier) endures torture at the hands of a sadistic couple (Sascha Alexander Gersak, Annika Kuhl) because he thinks God is testing him.
Director
Katrin Gebbe
Producer
Verena Gräfe-Höft
Screenwriter
Katrin Gebbe
Distributor
Drafthouse Films
Production Co
Das Kleine Fernsehspiel, Junafilm
Genre
Drama, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language
German
Release Date (Theaters)
Jun 27, 2014, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Aug 10, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA)
$4.7K
Runtime
1h 50m
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