Reviews

There's not many films I've seen that really open the tear ducts but I was literally crying within the first ten minutes such is the power of the setup and the opening section of the film. It is based around the infamous earthquake of 1976 where 240,000 people were killed, just think of the boxing day tsunami for the human scale of this disaster.

Don't expect a disaster movie with buildings blowing up and skyscrapers falling down in million dollar effects set-pieces, it's not like that. What it is, is an extremely well made ten minute segment at the start of the film in which we see wholesale destruction on a truly 'real' scale. The fact that the special effects in this film were done by 'Weta' from New Zealand, who worked on the Lord of the Rings trilogy et al, proves how remarkable they are.

There is one moment when one of the after shocks hit that really got to me. A mother finds her son in the rubble and holds onto his hands, as the aftershock hits, he slips down further into the darkness as more rubble falls onto him. She turns to the sky, uncontrollable tears rolling down her face, and screams 'God, you bastard'. From that point on - that was me done, I literally cried hard. Very rare for me to do that.

From then on the clean up starts and the rescue operation begins, the mother is given a choice to choose between the life of her son or daughter such is the way that a concrete slab is resting on their dying bodies.

Truly emotional and it doesn't stop for a good half hour until you get a chance to wipe away the tears. From then on, then drama begins. It is an hour of drama and watching everyone grow up separately that in places is very slow but you know is building to an emotional confrontation.

This is where the English title really comes into play. An aftershock is not just the rumblings of the earthquake, it is the aftershock of decisions made on the cusp of emotion. The final song over the credits is titled, 21 seconds, 32 years. So much can change in so little a time and the drama is people's inability to understand or even cope with their decisions.

The girl actually survives but blames her mother for choosing her brother to be rescued so she hides her true identity to rescuers and lives 32 years before finally finding her way back. The acting is immense, amazing even on behalf of the mother and the daughter at the end.

The daughter discovers her brother by chance when they both separately decide to help in the rescue of the 2008 earthquake. Their meeting is muted and not really shown on film, which is a shame, I felt that there were some scenes missing from the international cut. Yet, they hold back the emotional punch for when the daughter is finally reunited with her mother 32 years later.

I've given it 9/10 because it is a truly emotional film, probably the most emotional with the subject matter that I've ever seen. The only downside is in the completeness of the story, I do feel that some scenes may have been missing.

Yet, the effects at the start, the acting, the music and the emotional punch truly hold this film above many others. I'm very surprised that it was not included in the Academy's best foreign picture film. Or maybe I am, because the films that win are never quite the ones that deserve to.

Stunning, I can highly recommend this, just get a box tissues ready, no matter how hard a heart you have!

Just watched this on Sky Movies - nothing else to do on a Saturday morning ;) I went in to it expecting another flashy slasher pic set in a dark place so was pleasantly surprised to see a different take on a normally standard horror film scenario.

Yes it is another cabin in the woods with another bunch of young beautiful holiday makers on a drug and drink fueled break in the middle of nowhere. Cripes, where's the originality nowadays! Yet, it does work a little bit better than others, it just needed to have a more solid storyline in terms of the cycle.

As the second half kicked in, most people would begin to realize that the things you've seen are things that are about to happen. It reminded me of the absolutely superb 'TRIANGLE' with Melissa George. Sadly, 'Mine Games' is an inferior wannabe.

Inferior only in terms of the storyline and the capability to provide everything 'in the past' to make sense in the present. It's tight but not tight enough to make me say wow; It is however well worked out and everything has its place.

And then I saw the budget - $1.5m - you can hardly make a TV episode on that nowadays so the overall finished product is very good. The directing is pretty good, the acting is as you would expect. The standouts for me were the lighting within the mines themselves and the music is above average for this type of movie.

One thing that really annoyed me though was the character of Rose, I couldn't really put a finger on it save to say that she made no sense whatsoever! I don't understand why she needed to be in the film and the reason for her visions apart from being on drugs is never explained.

I revert back to 'Triangle' again where the ending of the film is a perfect nod to the start of the next sequence but the ending of 'Mine Games' is pretty terrible and in terms of the cycle make no sense. Unless the cycle has been broken but then it wouldn't be a cycle in the first place and how could two people from two different timelines co-exist in the same place? I like films to ask questions and I like to see something different from the usual clobber we get. 'Mine Games' doesn't really stand out and there are far superior films of this niche out there.

However for the budget and the production quality, the filmmakers have done a good job and for a Saturday morning when it's a choice between this and 'Muppets from Space', I'd go for this.

And it isn't the first time I said that... Oh!

I was already a fan of Martyrs and loved the direction from Pascal, I thought Martyrs went beyond what a normal horror/thriller should be about in finding an explanation for its extremity. But I went into Tall Man with very low expectations having read some of the reviews here and the quite misleading synopsis.

I was expecting another small town horror film where in the end its either explained by a ghost that will never die, secret cult or a folk legend that turns out to be just another twisted killer. Thus I was completely blown away by the twists early on and the possibility of something amazing.

For a moment I had a feeling another Martyrs was on the cards such was the way it could have gone, but I knew it wasn't to be. But towards the end I was grateful to have seen that the filmmakers didn't shy away from using explicit social commentary in a film that must have been hard to market without sharing any secrets of the real story behind the facade of a horror film.

The film asks questions of you as a viewer and plays on concepts of right and wrong, rich and poor, good and evil. Films should ask questions - they should end having left a thought in your mind, was it right? Was it wrong? A film should have you questioning the very idea which it had been building up all along. Explicitly asked at the very end of the movie - is it right? right? right? Maybe, maybe not, but the film at the very least had the balls to move away from the usual staple of rehashed story lines and bad scripts to offer something that was slightly different in it's undercurrent - much like Martyrs in a way but still very very different and a dumbed down version if you like.

I've seen some reviews stating that the title is plain wrong? In regards to the Tall Man being the title of the movie, I think it worked well to mislead the viewer into watching a standard horror movie. After 20 minutes, the concept of the Tall Man is still there somewhere but by the end of the movie I think we move into 'Tall Man Division' territory and you realise that it is a perfect name.

Overall it has been a great experience to see a film that took me off in a completely different direction than I was expecting, rare these days. A testament to Pascal Laugier and the brilliant acting throughout. Loved the fact that the film was never afraid to ask questions of the state of our society and also whether motherly love would ever be a replacement for a life filled with success and opportunity.

Would you become the monster to sacrifice something you believed in?

Before seeing this film know that it is solely aimed at teenagers who have probably never seen a decent Vampire flick and runs more as a Romantic love story in the vain of Romeo & Juliet. Will come to be known as the Vampire Love Story…for children.

But it doesn't distract from the beauty of the film as the cinematography is very good and the scenes in the forest look beautiful and are well shot. There are some things for adults to enjoy but throughout the film you will be looking at certain scenes thinking to yourself that if I'd seen Twilight at the age of 15 I would have loved it.

Now I've never read the books but I never read the Harry Potter books and I quite enjoy the Potter franchise so not having read the book should not mean that I am not in a position to review the film because it is a movie and movies will always differ from books due to the nature of moving pictures.

This will probably grow into a big series but will never be as big as the Harry Potter films that are more universally aimed at a wider range of age groups. A sequel to Twilight is due to be released at the end of 2009 and will no doubt be just as big.

The two main actors, Stewart & Pattinson perform their parts very well and should receive much praise for their acting abilities. They carry the film in more ways than can be expected of two young actors. It is the blossoming romance and progressive love story that is the basis of the film and the Vampire aspect just adds a bit of bite to the proceedings.

Now it is a Vampire film so were the Vampires any good…well…no not really. To a 15yo school girl they could be the best Vampires ever but for those who have seen many films incorporating Vampires they really are not that good and a bit cheesy and comical. Just to note, the main bad guy is embarrassingly bad and cringe worthy.

The special effects with the Vampire fight sequences are not very good and they move too fast in a kind of shimmering effect shift move that is not appealing to the eyes and looks kind of amateurish.

Hopefully the people that enjoy this film will use this as a basis to move onto films like the 'Lost Boys', 'Near Dark' & '30 Days of Night'. If you liked 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' then there is a chance you would like this but don't expect any of the witty, funny and bombastic scenes that you got in that series.

Overall a decent film that will no doubt be enjoyed more by people of the younger generations and the Love story aspect of the film is the main reason it sticks together in a kind of High-School sugary kind of way. But don't expect a good Vampire flick for that is not what it is.

Worst Films ever! I get this film I really do – I understand that this is Shyamalans' take on the 9/11 attacks but it is just a terrible film.

The time counter that appears every now and again is running along a timescale that is the same as the 9/11 attacks, the scenes have tried to be too clever in portraying this with bodies falling from buildings and mass paranoia & confusion along with an unknown enemy throughout.

The problem is…well…everything! Firstly I must just say that I have seen a lot of films in my time and I am a fan of B-movies and low budget horror films as much as the next guy so I know a bad film when I see one but bad films can be good if they know their limits.

'The Happening' could have been made with a budget a tenth the size of the $60million allocation that it received and it most likely would have been better. How on Earth they spent $60m on this picture I'll never know?! The Director said that it should be viewed as a B-Movie as that is what he intended…then he should have used the budget of a B-Movie and made it exactly what it is…but he has failed.

The acting is terrible from the likes of Mark Wahlberg & John Leguizamo that is not really to be expected & even the delectable Zooey Deschanel turns in her worst performance to date. There is no real emotion or feeling put forward from any of the actors in the film and you need to have some strong emotions dealing with potentially the end of the Human race surely.

Okay so plants killing people is not the most logical or best of ideas but it has been done well before – see 'The Ruins' & 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers', original or even remakes. Even 'The Invasion' was better than this failure and that is saying something.

Shyamalan tries to scare us with the threat of the plants by…yep you guessed it…showing the wind breezing through the canopy of trees and the blades of grass on the ground. If he was trying to make a parable about the way we disrespect our planet then there are a million better ways to do it. This just doesn't work in any way whatsoever.

The special effects or complete lack of them for a $60m dollar movie are terrible. A highlight of bad effects is when the car crashes into the tree in fast motion and people fly out of the front window…cringe worthy.

I had read the reviews of this film previous to watching it and it seemed like it could be okay so I gave it a chance with an open unbiased mind and to be honest I almost turned it off halfway through.

It would have been a much better film if the old lady at the end were the cause of The Event but that risk is never taken sadly. One of the worst films ever made. 1/10

The problem I have with this film is that we all waited for a big payoff (excluding the obvious twist) and we didn't get the action packed finale that we hoped for. When a gallery of the worlds most notorious hit men and killers arrive at the same time to knock off one person in a hotel you would expect carnage to be let loose…

…It doesn't and this lets the image of the film down drastically. For example the Tremor Brothers who are more like characters from 'Mad Max' are introduced as violent care free psychos and are built up to cause mayhem when they arrive at the hotel but when they charge out of the elevator it results in a multi-second shoot & slash out and ends all too abruptly.

I just feel that if you had the concept of a multiple contract killer story set in just one location at the end of the film then you would let loose wouldn't ya? Surely? But the writers of this film seem somewhat scared to make it into a full-blown action film and I hate to say this but…focus too much on the story and making twists happen.

There are some good moments in the movie, I thought Alicia Keys gives a nice performance but like Aaliyah before has not found the right role yet, I hope she does, as she could be one to watch out for. The white Karate Kid in the Hillbilly hut had no reason to be in the movie whatsoever but refreshingly spiced the film up and in a sense made me realise how ridiculous the whole thing was.

Ray Liotta just strolls through his part as usual & Ryan Reynolds isn't too bad and the other actors do a good job as expected from the high calibre of talent on display …except…Andy Garcia. Now, I'm English but I'm pretty sure whatever accent he was trying to pull off was not a well-known American one and he kept changing accent in different scenes…what was that all about?!

'Smoking Aces' is a confused film and doesn't quite know what it wants to do with itself, by the end of the film after the incredibly & annoyingly short shoot out scene we are supposed to feel emotion for characters that we never really get to know and almost all of the contract killers walk out of the hotel alive which quite frankly, annoyed me even more.

It is a cool film in parts but the sum of its parts adds up to a bit of a mess and it is merely an average addition to the action genre that drifts too far off into drama territory and contrived twists that confuses the outcome of the film.

With a better script and more focus on the action as it should have been then 'Smoking Aces' would have been a quality action film but unfortunately disappoints in places where it was meant to be exciting. 5/10

Crank up the volume to ten and just go with it. It starts immediately the computer game inspired credits end and we are thrust into the main characters dilemma…keep his adrenaline ramped up to max or his heart will stop beating…what better concept can there be for an action movie! Some will say it's unbelievable but it's not meant to be an accurate portrayal of life it's a very funny and totally action packed movie and leave your logic at the door and just enjoy the chaos and the comedy throughout the film.

This is much better that 'Shoot Em Up' of the same year as it just enjoys itself and you can tell that everyone involved in the film just had a blast making it. The key to this film lies in the comical aspect to the characters dilemma such as realising he's injected himself with way too much synthetic adrenalin and has to run as fast as he can anywhere dressed in a hospital gown.

Although very cheesy but memorable is the scene in the shopping mall where the car crashes and flips onto a moving escalator and comedy is to found in the very public sex scene watched by a bus of Japanese school girls. I think that 'Crank' is better than Statham's other famous vehicle 'The Transporter' as it makes no excuses for itself as a shameless addition to the thousands of action films out there.

The best thing though about this film is the fact that it is a real live video game played out in a film. Wait till after the end credits and you will know what I mean. Statham wakes up with a dilemma with his 'Mission' to kill the big boss but has to go through different 'Game' levels to reach the final level. He picks up energy & booster points on each level (Redbull/Cocaine/Fake adrenalin & a black drug dealer gives him "The hardcore S***.") that enable him to continue.

It is, as other reviewers have said, reminiscent of the Grand theft Auto games and Jason Statham has even got the video characters walk down to a tee. All this is surprising as the film has never been marketed in this way but all throughout the film you see little hints that it is a computer game, from the in-film 80's games to people talking on cell phones projected onto walls, the credits obviously & the constant ongoing adrenalin rush that can be associated with a good computer game.

After the end credits roll you suddenly realise that this is not the end for Chev Chelios as to continue the Crank experience all you have to do is to 'Insert more coins to continue'. Of course this may be a little dig by the filmmakers complaining that they needed more money to make a sequel and I hope more coins are inserted so that I can 'Play' the character of Chev Chelios again…bring on the sequel.

This is easily in my Top Ten Action movies ever because of the sheer entertainment value for lots of action and damn good laughs. I totally recommend this to action buffs, video game fans and fans of high-concept entertainment…you will not be let down. I could watch this film again and again, almost top marks for an action film as for what it attempts to do it does extremely well. 8/10

This is not the funniest comedy of all time but some people will tell you it is. The humour and the script are very well written but it's not laugh-out-loud comedy such as 'There's something about Mary' or 'Airplane'. There are a few moments that'll make you laugh loud like the time when he's having sex with his pregnant girlfriend and the mushroom trip in Las Vegas but that really is it.

You wanna see a funny movie about drugs go and see 'Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas' a far superior film. 'Knocked up' tries really hard to impress its peers and in doing so is too clever for it's own good. The constant references to other films and in-film jokes have been overused before and this goes over the top.

The writers try and impress you with their knowledge of the film industry and nude scenes in Hollywood films but it's just not really that funny and kind of embarrassing at times. The birth scene with the close up of a certain female part is well done but only used to make people remember the film, in a film where there is not really that much to remember.

I was disappointed when seeing this film but maybe I had been misled by reviews of this movie stating that the vulgar, sometimes sick comedy is hilariously good fun. It is a different film to what I was expecting and runs like a semi serious romantic comedy about the effects of pregnancy. If the film was marketed a little better for what it actually encapsulates then it could have been a very different story.

But there are some good points, if you take the film on face value rather than the 'funniest comedy of 2007' that it clearly is not then you will have a good film to watch. The constant cameos by varied stars are a welcome input into the film but again, trying too hard to be loved as a film.

Instead of laughing out loud most of the time you'll find yourself nodding a few moments later and smirking to yourself thinking…'yeah, that was kind of funny'…and that is it! It's well written humour and intelligent humour and if this is what you like then this may be the greatest comedy of all time but in my opinion it's just an alright film and is not full of constant hilarious gags as we had been misled to expect. 5/10

I loved this film. It's big, loud, brash, exciting & big! I have seen action films that are better conceived & believable than 'Die Hard 4.0' but this is just damn good huge-budget fun. You can see where they spent their money making this movie. I must admit that I'm writing this review after a second viewing of the film and it got better.

John McClane is one of the best original action heroes still going and this film has the responsibility to hark back to action films of the eighties in the form of dragging John McClane into the 21st Century & the Digital age. It works very well. Looking at Bruce Willis performing his most famous character is like looking at a time capsule in the wrong film but he makes us believe in him again.

He gives new style cyber terrorists a taste of a good old-fashioned Eighties action thumping and we…the audience loves it. Hints of the original soundtrack litter the film in places and the inclusion of John's daughter into the script is much needed to give him a personal reason to continue to the end.

John McClane speaks of being 'That man' and he proves himself to be one of the greatest action heroes in the history of film whether you like the films or not. Obviously this is not as good or pioneering as the first 'Die Hard' but it is better than 'Die Hard 2' and on a par with 'Die Hard with a Vengeance.' There are so many more stunts and explosions in this film and that's why we love it, we don't necessarily love it for the storyline or the logic of the whole thing we love it because it looks damn good and the spectacle is a great one.

Suspend your common sense & logic when watching this film and see what John McClane provides us with. He gets thrown through windows and out of buildings, shot at by numerous henchmen, fights with a 'Ninja Asian chick', has bombs going off all around him and has cars thrown at him! But coming from the eighties style action films, naturally he survives to fight the good fight.

Where else would you see a car being used as a missile to take down a helicopter and McClane driving a juggernaut being chased and attacked by a Fighter Jet as an entire freeway system crashes down all around him. Okay, obvious comparisons to True Lies & other high-budget action films but it just looks so damn good on film.

This may not be a hugely worthy successor to the Die Hard Trilogy, even the filmmakers mention that the script was not written as a Die Hard film, but it is proof that Hollywood can still make good big action films and excite audiences with what we see on screen. (A jeep sliding down an elevator shaft...very cool)

It's quite funny in places, action & stunt packed, good fun and harks back to an era where an Eighties cop wouldn't think twice about hitting his commanding officer. Not a perfect film by any means and slightly incomprehensible but just good fun! Not the best action movie ever made by a long shot but a very worthy addition to the DVD collection. 8/10

Eden Lake is one of those films that harks back to an age of 70's movies with no light at the end of the tunnel. Films like 'Last House on the left' & 'I spit on your grave' seem to be have been an influence on this modern take of the extremities of living in 21st century England. This film has the capability to shock on so many levels and not just because of the levels of torture and blood.

It is one of the few films I have ever seen that truly incites anger and hate in the viewer, not for the film itself, but for what is occurring in the film. If the film had been done as a serial killer or group of adults hunting the young couple in the woods then the film would have just been another average slasher thriller. But the fact that it is children and teenagers' perpetrating these horrific acts makes the film even more terrifying and somewhat powerful.

As horror fans we have all seen torture scenes and either laughed or even revelled in the copious amounts of gore that is let loose but it is the realism in Eden Lake that takes you by the jugular and refuses to leave your mind for a few days afterwards. The plot is very believable and although we may not necessarily act in the way that the main male character acts, we all know someone who would act stupidly enough to warrant the attention from the teenagers.

Jenny, in a brilliant performance by Kelly Reilly, becomes the hunted after witnessing the horrific torture of her boyfriend and we feel for her character for the dreadful situation she finds herself in making the ending ever more unsettling. The question remains that are some teenagers born inherently violent and sadistic or do they find themselves just caught up in the situation a little too much and it right to punish them for the crimes at such a young age by killing them also?

The acting is great, the film is written well and looks brilliant and somehow reminded me of 'The Descent' another great horror film. (SPOILER) Now let's come to the much-debated part: the ending of the film that divides so many people… It is dark, gloomy, shocking, saddening, almost heart breaking and deeply unsettling and it lingers with you for a while afterwards. Maybe Jenny could have done something differently but either way it leaves you with a sense of anger or helplessness that ends the film on a very doom-laden note, don't expect to be smiling.

The way it should be viewed is that if a mad woman comes into your house covered in blood and she is accused of murdering the children of the adults in the house, mob culture will prevail. In the parents eyes the kids are angels and Jenny took their lives away no matter what happened to her. Sadly, like the psycho teenager; Brett, this film is a massive reflection of early 21st century society in England.

Deeply unsettling & thoroughly provoking throughout this film is a must for horror fans & thriller fans alike just make sure you have a happy film to slip in the DVD player straight after. The ending will be much debated for a long time and my only hope is that someone makes a satisfying but intelligent sequel. 8/10

Firstly I wasn't too keen on seeing a horror movie about a plant that kills humans as I was never keen on 'Invasion of the body snatchers', 'Little shop of Horrors' or even 'Cabin Fever' which wishes it could have been as good as this film. So I saw it with an open mind and was well rewarded for my time. The Ruins is a damn good modern horror movie with an air of sexiness & coolness, surprising then that comedian Ben Stiller produced it.

The set-up is a usual one as 4 American holidaymakers who are young and beautiful are led off the beaten track by a German explorer looking for his brother. Leading them to a supposed archaeological site at the ruins of an ancient Mayan Temple they discover that no one who sets foot on the temple ever leaves untouched by the horrors and the mysterious vine that is twisted all over the structure, not to mention the gun-wielding Mayan villagers below.

The special effects team and production designers gave the temple a fantastic look and made the entire movie absolutely believable. I'm a big fan of horror movies set in the daylight as it makes the filmmakers work harder to scare you and The Ruins works well to portray a sense of fear and despair under the glaring hot sun.

The acting is to a good standard and it was nice to see Jena Malone all grown up and ahem…in a bikini. Laura Ramsey does a good job with hardly any clothes on for most of the movie and it makes the moment when she slices herself to shreds to remove the vine ever more horrific and somewhat saddening.

The blood & guts is not as gory as one would expect but what it does do is make up for it toward the end of the movie in a segment lasting 10 minutes in which everything goes wrong for the characters. One moment in particular with the amateur amputation is particularly cringe worthy, it is one of the best 'leg moments' in film aside from 'Black Hawk Down' that I have seen in a while. I never thought cutting off a man's leg with a rock and a small knife would be entirely possible but the film proves otherwise.

And to the vines themselves…it's not really explained why or what the vines are the way they are but it is commented that they may have been part of the Mayan's sacrifice practices. The special effects are top notch and the design and creation of the Vine 'Character' is very good. There are no ghosts, aliens, monsters or human killers as the bad guy in this movie is just an evil plant with unspoken motives.

It shouldn't work but it does work, very well. The horror is not so much in what we see on screen but in the psychological aspect and the way the Vine affects the characters as their time on the ruins goes on and on. When everything comes together it all makes for a very sexy and cool horror movie that stands out from the rest of the pack.

Hopefully they won't make a sequel so we can just enjoy this film on its own. Worth seeing as it is one of the better original horror films of the past decade. I still think the alternative ending was better though. Very good film. 8/10

I saw this movie having read good reviews and heard good things about it so initially I was a bit wary of it and didn't want to build it up too much. It was one of those films that I wasn't really too keen on seeing...but my only regret now is that i should have seen it sooner.

The film is different to what the trailers make out especially the first two thirds but it is swiftly made up for in the final third. The script is brilliant and full kudos must go to the writer and director for bringing such a brilliant piece of art to the big screen, because art is what it is. From the characters to the city of Bruges itself and references to the whole film being set in some kind of purgatory.

(Spoilers to follow) There is one scene where the characters brilliantly played by Brendan Gleeson & Colin Farrell are looking at a picture in an art gallery regarding that strange place in between Heaven & Hell, this picture completely sums up one of the main themes in the piece and is excellently portrayed as a foggy reality at the end of the movie in the back streets of Bruges.

The story seems relatively simple; 2 hit men hiding out in Belgium awaiting a phone call from their boss (played fantastically well by Ralph Fiennes) just try to get through 2 weeks in the city. Brendan Gleeson's character wants to make the most of it and go sightseeing and Colin's Character is just so bored, all he wants to do is get drunk.

It is the first half of the film that makes it really stand out for me, not saying that the second half is bad, because it's not, Ralph Fiennes owns the second half of the film with such forceful acting and brilliant dialogue that it completely changes the scope of the movie. The first half is so well written and so brilliantly funny. I wasn't laughing at first but after a little bit of getting to know the characters it became virtually hilarious at some points.

Brendan Gleeson is one of the most underrated actors we have in the UK and I think that this is one of his best performance aside from maybe 'Gangs of New York' and I will always remember the look he had on his face after he'd taken a gram of cocaine, absolutely hilarious! the comedy is very well done and I implore you not to smirk throughout this film.

Saying that there is some dark subject matter that is not to everyone's taste and it does get pretty violent toward the end but it is predominantly a film about hit men so you have to expect that. Some people won't necessarily like the ending but I thought it was very apt and made the film a perfect singular entity.

In summary of the film, the acting is top notch with all three main performers outdoing themselves, the film is brilliantly conceived and directed. The mix of pure comedy & violence has a perfect equilibrium and it has some very memorable characters throughout.

So if you wanna see a film involving hit men, scams, prostitutes, fat Americans, midgets, a hot pregnant woman & endless bizarre characters all superbly interweaved into an outstanding film with comedy & violence then I totally recommend this movie. An unexpected & oustanding experience. 9/10

I really wanted to like this film as I'd heard so many good things about it and this is or should have been my kind of film but somewhere it failed to do what it set out to do. Sure, there was a lot of blood splattered in the final ten minutes but almost felt like the blood was unnecessary, as the film throughout didn't seem to warrant this amount of misplaced gore.

The film follows the lines of many other films and comparisons will obviously be drawn to 'Wolf Creek' another Aussie suspense horror but far superior to this film. The film makers done a good job with the locations and general look of the film and the three psychos, Poppy and his two sons, who live in the isolated house on the isolated island are performed well by seasoned actors.

Sadly the protagonists of the film, a middle-aged man and his younger French girlfriend are not performed so well. The French girl does a much better job in her character but there are some moments that will make you cringe. I could overlook performances in case of other factors but they just don't all add up.

The story as mentioned has been done before...better, and the logic of the French girl is beyond me. (SPOILER) For instance, how does an artist who lives in the city suddenly know how to make a fishing rod, 'Saw' Style trap that will rip a man's face off 'Hellraiser' Style?

(SPOILER) And the penis device, well, that whole scene didn't make any sense. I'm not being sexist in saying I don't like films that have penis torture, I thought 'Teeth' was an okay film but in this film it just didn't seem plausible, you'll see what I mean.

The psycho family had an edge of comicality about them which I thought was a nice redeeming factor and the hillbilly music at the end was a nice touch that suddenly made me see the film in a different light, I think it was meant to be fun but in a film where a woman is waiting to be raped for a good proportion of the entire film it should have been more suspenseful and much more terrifying.

I don't think that there was one moment that actually made me jump or where i felt a bit fearful and this was the problem with the whole film. It aspired to be something great and with the right factors in place it could have been but it turns out as something mediocre and almost comical in it's potentially sick subject matter.

A reasonable little film with some nice touches throughout but the suspense is missing and overall could have been so much better. If you want to see how it should have been done then best to go and watch 'Wolf Creek' If you didn't like 'Wolf Creek' then you won't like this film. 4/10

I am not a fan of most remakes and despise the fact that in Hollywood there is a faction that feels the need to remake excellent original films, some only a few years old, and completely take the limelight away from the originals. Just look at 'The Eye' & 'Quarantine'. They insult our intelligence by assuming we won't be able to watch foreign language films and would prefer to have millions of dollars spent remaking it in the English language.

In saying that, Hollywood remakes are sometimes not necessary but occasionally it seems that a film is dug out of the archives that is so ready to be remade or in this case totally and brutally upgraded. Because it doesn't really feel as though you are watching a remake it just feels like you are watching the same film that you vaguely remember all those years ago but it has undergone a brutal upgrade.

The look of the film is very very good and the cinematographer and director should be very proud of the look of the film. The landscape looks brilliant bathed in bright sunlight and the gore is well done and plentiful especially as we move into the 'Test Town' toward the end of the film.

The acting is top notch but for some strange reason I couldn't get out of my head the fact that I thought Cilian Murphy would have been better cast in the lead hero role and could have maybe brought a different aspect and depth to the character.

I must say as well that I have an incline that as far as horror remakes go this could be the first film that possibly outshines the original, which is a rare feat and one that should be applauded. Most Horror films are set at night for obvious reasons but a large proportion of this film is set during the daylight which I believe makes the film stand out from its peers even more and looks so much better.

I think this is an excellent survival horror film by any standards and is up with the best of them in my horror collection. I would totally recommend it to any horror fans and anyone who wants to join the Carter family for a brutal ride. But be warned as the new version contains an extended and very visceral rape scene in the family's trailer.

Not for the faint hearted 8/10