The Lost Tribe – 3

Director – Roel Reiné

Cast – Emily Baldoni, Nick Mennell, Marc Bacher, Brianna Brown, Hadley Fraser, Maxine Bahns, Ryan Alosio, Lance Henriksen

Release Year – 2010

Reviewed by John of the Dead

If you don’t know what the LULZ is I suggest you look it up because lulz is exactly what The Lost Tribe is. Ok so here is what happened: In 2009 a film titled The Forgotten Ones was completed. It was apparently so bad that the production crew decided they needed to remake the film as The Lost Tribe, with a new director, writer/script, and cast. So why am I laughing so hard at this film? That is because The Lost Tribe, a film that was supposed to live up to the original expectations not achieved with The Forgotten Ones, is even worse than the film it replaced. I don’t even want to imagine how this could have possibly happened, but it did. If the prior film was so bad then the filmmakers would just do the opposite in this case right? Well apparently not, and that is why The Lost Tribe is one of the biggest jokes in horror this millennium.

When their boat capsizes offshore a group of friends find themselves stranded on an uncharted island inhabited by an ancient tribe of humanoid creatures with a thirst to kill.

First-time writer Mark E. Davidson gave us a few right and a lot of wrongs. The story starts off OK, taking its time to develop and not delivering the first kill (an off-screen one) until 35 minutes into the experience. Our protagonist characters are all unlikable and I was glad to see them killed off, which is sometimes a good thing but usually a result of poor writing. Davidson does throw in a lot of kill scenes and I was happy for that, and he continued to keep the “horror” going with some tense chase sequences. The biggest fiasco regarding the story is the use of Gallo, who is portrayed by Lance Henriksen. Lance’s name is on the bill to sell the film but his character serves basically no purpose. We are teased with the possibility that he is going to show up and kick supreme ass, but instead he was wasted talent on a pathetic film.

Director Roel Reine gave us good atmosphere, a solid location, and decent looking creatures, but he offers nothing more than that. While sometimes visually appealing the actors are poorly executed and the same goes for the creatures. I liked their look and it had much potential, but their mannerisms and overdubbing were pretty bad at times. There also isn’t much as far as gore goes, leaving the horror to rely solely on his execution of the creatures, which again was decent at best.

Overall, The Lost Tribe is a laughable film and not just because of how bad it is, but because this was supposed to be an “improvement” over its failed predecessor. Instead it is much worse and I find that hilarious.

Rating: 3/10

Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy – 9

Director – Daniel Farrands, Andrew Kasch

Cast – Heather Langenkamp, Wes Craven, Robert Englund, Robert Shaye, Lin Shaye, Jack Sholder, Johnny Depp, John Saxon, Mark Patton, Clu Gulager, Patricia Arquette, Renny Harlin, Alice Cooper, William Malone, Mick Garris, Tom McLoughlin, Patrick Lussier, Kane Hodder, Ronny Yu, and Jason Mewes

Release Year – 2010

Reviewed by John of the Dead

The Nightmare on Elm Street series is one of horror’s most notable franchises. That is thanks almost entirely to Robert Englund’s Freddy Krueger, who invaded the one place where we are completely vulnerable – our dreams. The series has had its ups and downs, but overall it still remains one of the best we have ever had. Also, it sparked the careers of several Hollywood notables, with the most famous being Johnny Depp (of course). When I came across this colossal documentary I was beyond excited to spend 240 minutes (yes, it’s 4 hours long) learning what made the series click – something you cannot learn from the films alone. With series creators Wes Craven, Robert Shay, and actor Robert Englund leading the way, Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy is an incredibly knowledgeable experience I highly suggest you check out.

Directors Daniel Farrands and Andrew Kasch do a fantastic job of making this an engaging experience. The template is the usual simplistic documentary format, and execution sells the film to the viewer. I was amazed at how many notables were interviewed, including Heather Langenkamp (also the narrator), Wes Craven, Robert Englund, Robert Shaye, Lin Shaye, Jack Sholder, Johnny Depp, John Saxon, Mark Patton, Clu Gulager, Patricia Arquette, Renny Harlin, Alice Cooper, William Malone, Mick Garris, Tom McLoughlin, Patrick Lussier, Kane Hodder, Ronny Yu, and Jason Mewes, with this only being a FEW of those who appear. Of course, many more appear via archive footage that is consistently thrown in to substantiate someone’s claims about the series or filming.

Along with writer Timothy Hutson, each of the initial 7 films are broken down with cast and directors giving their take on the filming process and the impact of the film. On top of this, Freddy vs. Jason is also broken down, and once again the director (Ronny Yu) and cast members are on hand. To make things even greater, Kane Hodder, the most famous Jason Vorhees of all time, is interviewed about being passed over for Ken Kirzinger in the film. The awesomeness continues though, as even the short-lived TV show “Freddy’s Nightmares” is dissected by its creators. This effort debuted one week after the Nightmare on Elm Street remake was released, so it is not mentioned. Also, it was a waste.

Overall, Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy is a crucial film for those who love to learn more about the horror genre and want to use a documentary to do so. There is so much knowledge presented in this film and it would be a shame if you did not learn it for yourself.

Rating: 9/10

The Final – 6

Director – Joey Stewart

Cast – Marc Donato, Jascha Washington, Whitney Hoy, Justin Arnold, Lindsay Seidel, Julin, Laura Ashley Samuels, Travis Tedford, Eric Isenhower, Vinsent Silochan, Preston Flagg, Hunter Garner, Ryan Hayden, Mark Nutter

Release Year – 2010

Reviewed by John of the Dead

When I came across The Final I thought to myself, “This is exactly what I’ve been needing from the genre, a revenge film”, and I was pleased to see a heavy and mostly-positive revenge element in this After Dark film. Set in a high school setting that gives most of us a social atmosphere that we can relate to, we follow a group of social outcasts forced to befriend one another in order to survive the constant onslaught of bullying by jocks and cheerleaders alike. The outcasts have had enough of the unwarranted torture, and carefully devise a plan to secretly host a huge party for everyone that has given them grief – a party where nobody will be killed, but they will wish that they were.

The film takes off as one would expect, introducing each major protagonist and the constant battery they face by those privileged with a better physique, more money, or both. Writer Jason Kabolati did a good job with his execution of the bullying, guaranteeing to get a rise out of the viewer and leave them fuming that they can do nothing to help the good souls on screen. The first act consists of the bullying and then the outcasts’ preparations for the big event, and at the 33 minute mark (beginning of the second act) we are given our first taste of revenge horror, and it was sweet. The bullies are now the victims of those they picked on for years, and with a slew of degrading and torturous “games” their cries for forgiveness are not granted. As mentioned above there is no intent to kill the bullies, but that does not mean the film comes lacking in horror. The horror provided was sweet and the games the bullies were forced to play were sadistic but a little silly as well, making it unlike the usual Saw-esque copies constantly dished out by studios these days. Of course, despite the enjoyable horror this story does not come without its faults. My one complaint with the story was its overly long second act that never really ended and just eventually meshed with the third act. I am all for drawn-out scenes of high suspense, but along with trying to throw in new character and conflict to the mix the story only gave us a few torture sequences during the final hour of the film. There were several times where I felt the film dragging because of this, but the engaging story managed to still keep me interested despite my displeasure. Sadly, for a “torture” film the kills were nothing special. Normally with these types of films it is the kills that sell it, but this story did not make much of the potential for great kills and instead left us with lackluster ones.

First-time feature film director Joey Stewart did well with this piece, selling his actors as they provided positive performances that got you going during the film’s early conflict sequences. Where the story fell short, Stewart’s direction kept the pace moving and managed to keep my attention by employing atmosphere and engaging sets. I mentioned earlier that I expected more from the horror and the kills, and the same applies to the directing execution of the horror in this piece. Granted his overall execution of the horror was not bad and in fact was enjoyable for me, I just expected more and was a bit saddened that this film with much potential did not achieve the potential it deserved. Nonetheless, he gave some full-frontal cinematography of the torture scenes, however most of the actual kill sequences either occurred off screen or were edited so quickly you really did not see the film occur – obviously a tactic used in low-budget filmmaking.

Overall, The Final is a borderline-positive flick that came very close to achieving greatness but instead fell to lackluster kills and a story that dragged when it should not have. The film comes with many positives, including an engaging storyline and plenty of revenge, and for all it’s worth you may enjoy this film slightly more than I did and find it a very worthwhile experience.

Rating: 6/10

Altitude – 4

Director – Kaare Andrews

Cast – Jessica Lowndes, Julianna Guill, Ryan Donowho, Landon Liboiron, Jake Weary

Release Year – 2010

Reviewed by John of the Dead

Ugh, I hate to say this but Altitude is one of those films I was really excited for when I first read on it but as time went on and reviews were consistently bad I knew I was going to hate this, and I did. What intrigued me originally was the mention of a Lovecraftian creature and the fact nearly the entire film takes place onboard an airplane, but sadly neither of those enjoyable elements of mine could save this from a very pathetic screenplay. Once again, another flick with potential thanks to some easy elements to benefit from, but these filmmakers were just as stupid as the characters in the movie.

Five recent high school graduates embark on an airborne journey before heading off their separate ways. Rookie pilot Sara seems to have everything under control at first, but when mysterious malfunctions leave them fearing for their lives the terror worsens when they are attacked by a giant supernatural force.

Well there you go, we have a simple story where our characters are seriously in a nowhere to run scenario being attacked by a giant supernatural beast and I DID NOT enjoy it. How the hell does that happen? In this case it happens when your writer is Paul A. Birkett. The film starts off well, giving us the usual development where a group of young adults go on an exciting trip pushing the boundaries of their comfort zones, and I was honestly pretty entertained for the majority of the film. The dialogue was horrible but I was intrigued and anticipating the horror that would eventually arrive after the first developmental act and the second act consisting of them losing power to an odd storm. The third act is where the carnage takes place, with them slowly dying off after being snatched away by a giant Lovecraftian squid/octopus-like beast somehow floating in mid-air. Yeah I know it’s not possible for cephalopods to fly, but throw in a small fantasy element and anything is possible. Of course, Birkett failed to do so and instead tried to justify the flying beast via one of the stupidest ways possible…and you’ll just have to watch the film for yourself to see it. Birkett really did have all of the necessary elements to make for a decent and simple horror flick, but poor character play, dialogue, and execution of the creature and its origin made this quite unbearable way before the end credits were rolling.

Director Kaare Andrews fared much better than Paul A. Birkett did, giving us good atmosphere and some pretty good SFX for the film’s low budget. He managed to keep my attention despite not much going on for the first two acts, and his atmosphere and visuals are the main reasons I did not hit the eject button and call it a night. Of course, even he did not come without his faults. The acting performances were pretty bad and his execution of the flashback scenes was pathetic. He did somehow find a way to provide some decent horror, with fair execution of the giant creature that took so long to appear. The sets used were good and he managed to do a vast majority of the film with live-action filming, so maybe this guy does have a chance in the genre despite the end result of Altitude. As for Paul A. Birkett, I hear McDonald’s is hiring.

Overall, Altitude is a piece of junk that I suggest you avoid. It had the potential to be something special, but it wasn’t.

Rating: 4/10

Saint – 6

Director – Dick Maas

Cast – Huub Stapel, Egbert Jan Weeber, Madelief Blanken, Caro Lenssen, Kees Boot, Escha Tanihatu

Release Year – 2011

Reviewed by John of the Dead

Debuting in their home countries at roughly the same time, Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale and Saint both gave us something we rarely see in the horror genre, a killer Santa Clause / St. Nicholas. Rare Exports stole the scene and praise of horror reviewers (including myself), and while Saint seemingly fell under the radar it is far from a bad effort. Never taking itself seriously and instead focusing on delivering a zany blood-fueled mess, Saint provided enough of the goods to make for a flawed but still enjoyable watch so long as you can forgive a little.

The St. Nicholas you learned of as a child is far from the St. Nicholas in this story, a bishop who slaughters children when there is a full moon on December 5th. Several decades after his last gory venture, St. Nicholas is back to slay the young and must be stopped by the only person aware that the legend is true, a child who survived and is now a seasoned police officer.

Saint takes off right away and throws us into the carnage resulting from St. Nicholas and his goons slashing away at the children of a small village, unknowingly leaving a single survivor, a young boy. Fast forward to present day Amsterdam and the young boy is now a police officer on the edge of retirement, however trembling in fear in anticipation of December 5th and its predicted full moon, the first time the occurrence will happen since the traumatic event he suffered as a youngster. Sadly there was no real proof to show that it was St. Nicholas who killed all of the children in the small village, so obviously no one believes the police officer, but eventually they learn he has been speaking the truth all along when St. Nicholas makes his way into town. We watch Nicholas and his thugs slay all who cross his path, both young and old, in retaliation for being burned alive by the villagers decades ago. There are two sub-plots essentially, the one involving the officer and another involving a young man thrown into the mess when his friends are hacked up in front of him. Both of the sub-plots worked well and managed to keep me engaged, however the biggest selling point of the story is St. Nicholas and all of the people he killed. This really is a simple tale consisting of St. Nick tearing people up and eventually being pursued by the authorities, and if you are in this for some fun gory kills then that should be enough for you.

Writer Dick Maas (if you remotely know Spanish you may laugh at his name like I did) also serves as the film’s director, and while his direction was so-so at time it was good enough in the end. Most importantly, his direction of the horror was great, giving us awesome kills via live-action FX and shot in hilarious fashion at that. There were times when CGI was used, and it was a bit laughable I admit, but in all fairness the scenes included shots that would have been very hard to recreate with live-action FX, so I was forgiving on that. As with many Dutch/Netherlands films the scenery is great and the cinematography is fantastic, which along with the gore made for the biggest selling points regarding Maas’ direction as everything else, positive acting performances included, took a backseat to the horror.

Overall, Saint is a fun killer-Santa effort that delivers good gore and loads of fun thanks to Maas’ heavy reliance on the horror to sell his film. The story is incredibly simple and does not offer much aside from the Santa killings, but in the end I fell Dick Maas achieved what he set out to do.

Rating: 6/10

The Pack – 7

Director – Franck Richard

Cast – Émilie Dequenne, Benjamin Biolay, Yolande Moreau, Philippe Nahon, Georges Lini, Philippe Résimont, Brice Fournier

Release Year – 2010

Reviewed by John of the Dead

I read about The Pack a few months back and was immediately intrigued after reading its storyline and it being a French given France’s insane ability to deliver good horror in creative and well-shot fashion these days. From start to finish I was enamored by what The Pack had to offer, and despite some faults found it to be an enjoyable and somewhat guilty pleasure of mine after reading many negative reviews on this piece.

While traveling a lonely road to nowhere Charlotte(Emile Dequenne; Brotherhood of the Wolf) picks up Max, a hitchhiker, and they stop at a truck stop for a bite to eat. Soon after arriving Max disappears, leading the worried Charlotte to search in vain for him, only to realize that she has fallen into a trap involving immortal blood-lusting ghouls.

The plot is as simple as it gets, and I never look down on plots that give me a simple and well-executed story. Things start off a bit slow, with character development and play going on between Charlotte and Max at first, then followed by Charlotte’s search for the first guy in a long time to treat her well and not be a prick (although her “type” is what pricks prefer). Soon after that Charlotte’s search for Max brings her face to face with a sect of people planning to use her for some sort of pagan ritual, and that is when the story starts to get good. It did not take long for all of this to happen, occurring during roughly the first 25 minutes of screen time. The next 20 minutes or so develop quite slow, focusing on Charlotte and her desperate search to free herself from her captors, but once the 45 minute “halfway” mark kicks in things REALLY get good with the introduction of our star players. During a late-night ritual we are introduced to a group of dead miners rising from the earth to feed on those who have been captured by Charlotte’s captors. The miners were very much like the “living dead” of long ago, slow moving and suffering an insatiable thirst for human flesh. However, in this case the miners cannot be killed with a shot to the head. Eventually we learn most of the reasoning behind what is going on with the miners, and while it was mostly predictable and not very creative the writing execution was good and kept me engaged even during the film’s many slow and dialogue-less sequences during the first half of the story.

Writer Franck Richard also serves as the film’s director, and I felt that he shined with The Pack, his debut film. From the get-go we are thrown into his dark and gloomy atmosphere, with was complimented by equally gloomy sets and locations that provided a heavy sense of dread in anticipation over the horror that would eventually kick in. Once things do get going his horror is incredible, giving us some very creepy dead miners that looked more like ghoulish creatures suffering the “zombie walk”, which only made them creepier. His execution of the actors involved was good, and while none of them stood out they each held their own weight and did not detriment from the film. In addition to the live-action FX used with the miners we are also given some good gore as well, which sometimes came in hilariously awesome fashion and others in horrific fashion, all of which I found very much enjoyable in this underrated (at the moment) piece.

Overall, The Pack is an enjoyable creature fest sure to please fans of such films. The story is an interesting one that should keep you engaged if you give it the chance, and despite some slow points it managed to give us plenty of horror as well. The direction is good and complimented the horror written into the film with some very creepy antagonists and good gore, making for a film that is far from spectacular but nonetheless one that I really enjoyed despite its faults.

Rating: 7/10

The Dead – 6

Director – Howard J. Ford, Jonathan Ford

Cast – Rob Freeman, Prince David Oseia, David Dontoh

Release Year – 2010

Reviewed by John of the Dead

The Dead received a lot of hype on the road to its debut in 2010, serving as the first zombie effort filmed in Africa, and one that apparently provided a similar feel to the original Dawn of the Dead. Soon after its debut the mediocre reviews began pouring it, which is why I took my time getting to this one. I was excited for it nonetheless, but after viewing this piece I must agree with my horror brothers/sisters that despite some good ideas this is one effort that lost much potential and was just OK in the end.

When his evacuation flight from war-savaged Africa crash lands off the coast, Air Force engineer Lt. Brian Murphy must use wits and courage to find his way back home from a country suffering a horrific plague where the dead are returning to life to consume the living.

Right off the back I will say that this flick does deserve some of the good buzz it was receiving early on. It really does “feel” like an older zombie film, partly due to the low budget and also as a result of the the Ford brothers’ execution. I really enjoyed the idea of setting the story in Africa as it provided a unique background never used in well-distributed zombie films. In addition to this, I also took joy in the thought of the irony that human life is thought to have begun in Africa, and the zombie outbreak proves that human life will begin its demise in Africa. This notion is never brought up in the film, but I still found it a cool idea nonetheless. It does not take long for the story to kick into high gear, with the zombie outbreak already present at the time the opening credits roll and we follow Lt. Murphy struggling to free himself from the plane crash that ultimately left him the lone survivor of his emergency aid battalion. The story does move slow despite giving us lots of zombie action, and I found no faults in this thanks to the high levels of conflict going on. For starters, Lt. Murphy is in Africa for humanitarian reasons, and then finds himself the one who needs help if he wishes to leave the country and be reunited with his family. Eventually another main character is brought in, Sgt. Daniel Dembele, an African soldier who deserted his military unit to search for his son after his home village was taken over by the undead. Sgt. Dembele’s situation adds to the conflict, and despite their differences both soldiers realize they need to help the other out if they want to survive and make it to their families. I really respect this story for giving us more than just zombie carnage but also conflict and drama as well as I have just explained without giving away any major spoilers. Thankfully, the Ford brothers did bring forth A LOT of kills, both of the living and the undead, making for a pretty solid zombie effort story-wise.

The Ford Brothers’ execution is what held the film back from being a really good experience. They have won awards for commercials they have filmed, but I can see why they did not win any notable awards for this piece. I applaud them for their atmosphere and the sets used, which apparently included filming in volatile and dangerous regions of Africa plagued by wars (a great way to match up with the storyline). The scenery is fantastic and it taking place in the deserts of Africa provided a sense of dread for what Lt. Murphy and Sgt. Dembele had to go through without any solid resources of food, water, and ammunition. Of course, there are the zombies, and for the most part I fell the Ford bros did well with them. There was plenty of gore in this piece, live-action gore thankfully, although I did fell that the zombies were able to bite and rip people apart much too easily. We humans are brittle compared to other animalia species, but we aren’t made of jello like the ones in The Dead. While I liked how the zombies were portrayed, slow moving and hungry for human flesh, I took issue with the performances by those portraying the zombies. I felt the poor performances by the zombie actors held the film back enough to keep it from being a great one, which was not the only fault with the Ford bros’ direction but definitely one that stuck out enough to be worth mentioning given it had to do with the most important element of zombie films.

Overall, The Dead is a moderate effort that provides some good zombie action shown in an enjoyable “classic” style, but directing faults kept it back from being a solid overall effort. The story is great and moves very well, providing drama and conflict as well as lots of zombie carnage, in the end making for a flick I recommend for zombie fans willing to forgive a little.

Rating: 6/10

Removal – 5

Director – Nick Simon

Cast – Billy Burke, Mark Kelly, Oz Perkins, Emma Caulfield, Kelly Brook, Elliott Gould, Sharon Omi

Release Year – 2010

Reviewed by John of the Dead

Much like Occupant (which I just posted), Removal is a film that I really expected to like but was only left with disappointment.  Of course, I did not read on either film so I had no idea of their numerous negative reviews, but personally I find it more exciting going into a film without any prior knowledge of the piece.  Removal is gothic in nature and provides an overall storyline that I enjoyed, but that same story fell flat and held the experience back in the end.

After experiencing a traumatizing murder-suicide involving a personal friend, Cole is left suffering emotional repercussions that have cost him dearly.  He suffers hallucinations, his wife has left him, and his career has dwindled into a blue collar job as a lackey for a cleaning service company.  Cole’s despair brightens when he is offered $5,000 cash to clean the home of a wealthy gentleman overnight, however everything comes with a price and Cole finds himself enthralled in a “mess” he should never have been a part of.

I figured I’d enjoy this story due to the dynamic conflict it would provide regarding Cole, who obviously had a good life before the self-inflicted death of his friend, an event that lead to the loss of everything Cole loved about his life.  This conflict is greatened when he is provided with an opportunity to fix some of his financial woes and hopefully win his life back, but of course not everything is as easy or simple as it seems.  The film moves fairly slow and is quite uneventful after the initial suicide Cole experiences, however the introduction of the wealthy man, Henry Sharpe, made things more interested due to his demeaning nature and well-written dialogue that hinted at him killing his wife and using Cole to clean up the mess.  It is from then on out that we accompany Cole on the roller coaster ride in determining whether or not Henry did kill his wife and is using Cole as an accessory, or if this is simply another hallucinogenic side effect of the suicide that left Cole in a mentally unstable state.  Things boil down to the wire in regards to this dilemma, which I found fairly interesting when we find out what finally happened regarding Henry’s wife, but the ride to get there came with many bumps in the road.  There was the inclusion of another main character that threw me off a bit during the latter half of the film, and it was that writing idea that I felt kept the film back even though it should have progressed the experience if anything.

Director Nick Simon did a decent job with this piece, giving us good atmosphere and great set location when we get to Henry’s large and Italian-esque home.  There is a heavy sense of dread provided throughout this experience, and while I expected some good horror the horror never really surfaced, but I blame that more on writing than direction.  The scenes of horror that we do get are good, especially the final kill in the film, and it shows that despite this not being a good overall film that Nick Simon does have some directing talent in him.  The acting performances are good enough, with Oz Perkins stealing the show as the eccentric asshole Henry Sharpe, and it if were not for his performance I would have found this piece a lot more boring at possibly unwatchable.

Overall, Removal is a film that came with an interesting premise but suffered numerous story-related faults that held it back in the end.  The direction is fairly good, but it was far from enough to salvage this piece.

Rating: 5/10

Prey – 7

Director – Antoine Blossier

Cast – Grégoire Colin, François Levantal, Fred Ulysse, Joseph Malerba, Isabelle Renauld, Berenice Bejo

Release Year – 2010

Reviewed by John of the Dead

I happened upon Prey while looking for my much needed French horror fix, and despite it seeming to come with a storyline I’ve seen numerous times I was very much intrigued to see how the French would execute this one, especially because I love killer animal films. I knew nothing of the writer/director and was not interested in looking him up before the film, which played into my bewilderment over how much I enjoyed this simple piece when I learned this came from a first-time filmmaker. Sure there are several faults present that kept the film from greatness, but in the end Prey wound up an enjoyable piece for those who share a love for such films and are willing to forgive a little.

While visiting his girlfriend Claire’s family for the weekend, a weekend he expects to be stormy given the pending announcement of his girlfriend’s pregnancy, Nathan comes across horrors that no one saw coming. When Claire’s father is attacked by a heavily traumatized deer, her brothers and Nathan set out to catch the perpetrator of such a heinous crime, but soon find themselves not the hunters but the prey.

I do not think there will ever come a day when I fall out of love with these simple films about animals attacking humans, and I found it a “breathe of fresh air” to find such a film from another country – in this case France.  I really did not know what to expect going into this piece, not even knowing what kind of animal would be doing the killing, but I was glad to see that despite its simplicity this story managed to bring forth more than just an animal chewing up stupid people.  This story is heavy on character play, especially conflict, and early on we are thrown into this conflict as Nathan is bombarded with problems stemming from his girlfriend’s pregnancy and her family’s heavy reliance on her in running their pesticide business – something that will take precedence over her pregnancy and the life of his future child.  Nathans problems worsen when he, at the behest of his wife who is obviously hiding something, goes on a hunting expedition with her male family members as they try and track a nemesis potentially threatening the land they use to run their family business.  They are not sure what to expect other than assuming they are hunting a wild boar, and while wild boars are what they find these boars have suffered genetic mutation due to a conspiracy associated with their land.  I will not go into further detail on that so that I can avoid any more spoilers, but let me just say that the conspiracy element made this not one of the run-of-the-mill killer animal films but one that brings more to the table, regardless of whether some find the conspiracy element silly or not.  Writers Antoine Blossier and Erich Vogel did a good job keeping the tension high once the hunting expedition gets going, with some very emotional kill-sequences taking place and plenty of action provided by the insane wild boars attacking the men.  I personally wish that we would have been given a few more scenes actually showing the boars, but I was happy enough with the scenes that we were given which consisted mostly of the boars hiding in the high grass and flanking the hunters one by one.  I was glad to see that aside from the obvious tension resulting from being chased by wild boars our lead protagonists also fell victim to infighting between one another during their ill-fated hunting trek.  This added wonderfully to the already ongoing conflict and made for many revelations behind the conspiracy plaguing the land and obviously the wildlife, and I guess the hunters too when you think about it.

Writer Antoine Blossier also serves as the film’s director, and he left me very surprised at just how well-shot this effort was despite his limited experience.  The locations and sets used are great and provided for much vegetative cover for the wild boars to use as they stalked the men, and Blossier used it to his advantage to keep my interest and provide some good horror.  We are given a fair amount of gore in this piece, which thankfully came via live-action FX as did the scenes with the killer boars, and it may be due to the filmmaker’s decision to go for live-action FX versus CGI FX that kept the boars from receiving more screen time.  Personally, I found no real fault in that thanks to the positive usage of FX.  As mentioned earlier, the kill sequences came with much emotion thanks to the storyline, and Blossier executed them very well in making the viewer’s heart wrench a bit over them.  The acting performances were positive as well, with our main protagonists expertly selling their anger and then fear as they come across a nemesis they never expected to fight back the way it did in this good effort from a novice filmmaker.

Overall, Prey is a positive French killer animal piece that gives us enjoyable horror in a fairly creative package thanks to a few unique elements written into the story.  The direction is good and results in the enjoyable horror mentioned in this under-the-radar flick sure to please fans of such killer animal films.

Rating: 7/10

I Saw the Devil – 9

Director – Jee-woon Kim

Cast – Byung-hun Lee, Min-sik Choi, Gook-hwan Jeon, Ho-jin Jeon, San-ha Oh, Yoon-seo Kim

Release Year – 2011(US)

Reviewed by John of the Dead

I Saw The Devil was one of the most talked about horror films of 2011 – coming from A Tale of Two Sisters director Jee-Woon Kim and returning Byung-hun Lee(Three…Extremes, J.S.A.: Joint Security Area) from self-imposed exile to give us another South Korean masterpiece of horror – in this case vengeance-themed. Adorned with numerous scenes of outright maniacal torture, I Saw The Devil is not a film you will soon forget thanks to an expertly written yet simple tale that comes well-executed and beautifully shot. This is not only one of the most awesome tales of revenge I have ever seen, but results in one of the most horrific horror films of 2011 as well as one of the best so far this decade.

When his pregnant fiance is brutally tortured and dismembered by a long-time serial killer, Special Agent Kim Soo-hyeon(Byung-hun Lee) sets out on a quest for vengeance to avenge her suffering – fully aware of the monster he must become to give the killer(Min-sik Choi; Oldboy, Lady Vengeance) a taste of his own medicine.

This may be the vengeance films for all vengeance films thanks to the incredible screenplay provided by writer Hoon-jung Park in his writing debut – a feat I still cannot fathom given how great this story is. The opening sequence throws us headstrong into the experience as we watch Agent Kim’s fiance killed in brutal fashion, followed by the news hitting Kim and his former future father in law. It does not take long before Kim vows to her father that he will exact vengeance against her killer, and from then on out we are given two hours of non-stop vengeance-fueled carnage at the hands of a man who lost the most important thing in his life. After locating her killer, Kyung Chul, Agent Kim begins his descent into horror by subjecting him to cruel torture, and then employs a few unique gadgets loaned to him by a friend at his agency. What are the gadgets for? They are used to track the killer. Why would he want to do that? The answer is simple: to keep beating the hell out of and torturing her killer over and over again. We witness Agent Kim get his revenge on the killer, let him go, then catch him again and subject him to even more torture than before, then let him go, and so on and so on. I had never before seen a film employ such a tactic and I found it supremely awesome and the biggest reason behind my belief that this has to be possibly the greatest revenge tale I have ever seen (in regards to the revenge element). It is during these sequences that we see Agent Kim become the monster he has to be to avenge his fiance, and this brought forth one of my favorite scenes in the film: one of Kim’s close female friends begs him to halt his reign of terror and realize that doing what he does will never bring his fiance back. His response is everything that I wanted it to be – he brushed her off and continued his vow of vengeance. One element that did surprise me was the fact that the killer never gave up on fighting back against Agent Kim despite getting his arse severely beat on numerous occasions. He manages to get back at Agent Kim in brutal fashion as well, and doing so not by going after Kim himself but those he loves. I mean, c’mon, this really would have been a boring effort had the duel been one-sided right? Coming in at just under 2 ½ hours, this story paces beautifully and never once lost my interest thanks to a lack of needless scenes that do little to move film. The film does slow down at times, but engaging material kept my attention throughout. While simple overall, Hoon-jung Park’s story is mean, brutal, and very enjoyable for those who enjoy vengeance in films, and complimented with a fantastic and very satisfying finish we are given possibly the best vengeance film of all time.

Director Jee-woon Kim was his usual awesome self, giving us a superbly executed film adorned with beautiful visuals, engaging camerawork, great acting performances, and most importantly…good horror. Jee-woon Kim leaves little to be deciphered as he gives us a full-frontal show of everything going on, showing no haste even during the film’s most chaotic sequences involving Agent Kim severing some very important tendons belonging to a now defunct killer still aiming to get back at Kim for what he’s done. The numerous torture and kill sequences are hard to watch at times and make up for all of the horror in the film, and Mr. Kim throws in enough gore in all the right places to add to our enjoyment. This was not an overly gory film as are most Asian revenge flicks, but I found the gore to still be abundant and used in a pretty classy fashion for the type of film this is. We are given excellent performances from each of the actors involved, with Byung-hun Lee and Min-sik Choi stealing the show as Agent Kim and the killer, Kyung-chul. Choi was diabilical as the killer and brought for an excellent mix of both patience and madness in one character, and Lee was his usual badass self who let his character’s reservations go and gave us an all-out bloody affair in this fantastic experience of vengeance-themed horror.

Overall, I Saw The Devil is one of the best films of 2011 and a definite “must-see” for horror fans. From start to finish this long experience takes us for a ride you will not soon forget as we stroll along a blood-filled path of vengeance unlike any I have ever seen.

Rating: 9/10