HOST (2020)

So good

NOTE: This is a spoiler free review. Do yourself a favor and view this film WITHOUT WATCHING THE TRAILER FIRST! You will be glad you did. A two minute trailer for a 56 minute film can give a lot away! 

Last Monday I heard about this new "computer screen" horror film called HOST. I saw the screenshot and tried not to roll my eyes. 

"Ok...another UNFRIENDED thing. Cool...I liked that one." 

Then I saw what people were saying about it and took a bit more notice. During the course of the day, reviews kept popping up all over the internet raving about the film. Now, this wasn't studio hyperbole, this was coming from horror folks I knew and respected. I zoomed :::grin::: over to Shudder to view it....but found that I was a few days early and had to wait. 

Last night...the waiting was over. 

I started watching the film on my television and stopped a few minutes in after seeing the format. 

"No...no, this needs to be seen on my computer." 

I raced to my iMac and started the film up again and I was glad that I did! It's PERFECT for late night viewing in the dark via computer. Especially in this era of covid ZOOM meetings and the Cult of Quarantine.

Host tells the tale of six people having an online seance through....ZOOM, the online meeting app. (If you are like me, you are very...VERY familiar with ZOOM right now) With their medium Seylan at the helm, they dive into the mysterious astral plane. :::::DRINK:::::  ;)

My spoiler free mini-video review can be seen here....    It's silly, but I was inspired. 

I'm not sure how they did it, to tell you the truth. I mean, the general "horror over online meeting" concept has been done for sure. The aforementioned UNFRIENDED did a really good job of bringing the paranormal and computer tech worlds together and was very entertaining. But HOST brings something new into the mix - several new things, really. 

Thanks do the wonders of SHUDDER, they didn't have to try and pad out the story to meet the requirements of a theater run film. This allowed them to keep the film down to a wondrous 56 minutes or so. They packed that time with tons of great content and a strong story.

They used small ZOOM meeting knowns to their advantage all over the place which added a lot to the production. People waiting to get into the space, putting themselves on mute, messages popping up saying the meeting was going to end soon, and microphones being turned up to max so people could hear things better all had me grinning from ear to ear. There are more things in this particular bucket that I will let viewers discover for themselves. 

Making use of the new, virtual environment created with the use of six or seven separate locations joined together via cameras and microphones added tension in very interesting ways - again, spoiler free. 

I'd love to see another film on the making of this film, to be honest. Gemma Hurley, Rob Savage, and Jed Shepherd wrote a stellar script and Savage's direction was amazing. Picture staring at a large painting of a town, then zooming into a few of the town's locations and back out again as you stared at it. That's what HOST managed to feel like. You see all six folks, then from time to time you explore one of their apartments or homes. It was incredibly dynamic and engaging. It really brings a lot of NEW to a sub-genre that I thought was tapped out. 

But...more than anything else mentioned here...the acting. 

Haley Bishop, Jemma Moore, Emma Louise Webb, Radina Drandova, Caroline Ward, Seylan Baxter, and Edward Linard sold the film 100%. Subtle, nuanced, and BELIEVABLE performances all around brought a much needed feeling that these were all real people. They seemed like they all knew each other and that they had a history with each other. Subtle changes in the way they interacted felt very real to the point where I actually forgot that they were actors for a moment. So, when the shite hit the fan and things started to go south, I was concerned for their well being. 

AND....they didn't look like they were "acting scared", they looked like they were truly freaked out. 

I'm going to stop there before I say too much. 

HOST brings a ton of fun to the table and is WELL worth a viddy. I'll be watching it again this weekend...on my computer....in the dark....

After you watch you can check out the interview with Rob Savage here:
https://datebook.sfchronicle.com/movies-tv/behind-the-scenes-of-host-a-british-horror-film-shot-on-zoom

Alien Outbreak

This new poster is much better! :)

I recently had the pleasure of being surprised by another film. When I saw one of the posters for it, I shook my head and sighed. The poster showed a huge city with alien ships around it. I thought, "Not on your budget. That's not going to be happening."

Then....I saw the trailer and thought I'd give it a go. The trailer looks great.



As my screener started...my eyes narrowed and I viewed the film with caution. Ok, there were some things that I started to see here and there that set me off a bit, but they were rather small things that didn't take away from the fact that I was locked onto the screen. (Some dodgy audio mixing and camera moves in the beginning paired with the lead actor and her rather interesting acting style that I had to get used to)

But, as the film unfolded and the plot started to be revealed, I was totally sucked in and loving where things were going.

We have a classic alien attack film here, but with a few really interesting new ideas added into the mix. It seems that they are able to make people have suicidal thoughts, which ups the danger and risk factors overall. When will our leads be driven to take their own lives like many others in their town?

They also kept it set in a small town which was a major win as I see it. If they had tried to run this scenario in a large city, this film would have gone the sad way some others have gone in the past leaving you to wonder why we don't see more people and why we're limited to a few locations that seem to be in an abandoned warehouse district somewhere. :::grin:::  I've seen this MANY times before and it's distracting and upsetting. heh  These folks play well within their budget and it's grand.

The small UK village feel really locked me into the story. The police officer leads who were in the area knew the people they were trying to help and the people knew them. They had a history. That aspect made things more interesting for sure.

And gore? Yup! There are some really grand splatter effects that manage to add to the story without being too distracting. CGI effects blended with what looked like practical effects seemed super seamless.

What I was REALLY impressed with here, however, was the 3D and effects work. This is not a major budget epic. It's not even an indie funded medium level effort, I don't think. However, the effects are very good and there are a lot of them. They don't hide things in darkness or used the "camera as villain" to avoid having to show the aliens and the tech. They full on show rather cool looking tech monster robots attacking and stalking in full light. Massive ships take to the skies and sweep past trees. HUGE alien figures stroll along at roughly two stories in height and I was loving every minute of it. They were solid and locked into the scenes and felt like they had weight and that they were actually IN the scene instead of being pasted on top.

VERY difficult to do, but seeing as writer / director Neil Rowe looks like he has a VFX background, it seems like he knew exactly what he was doing. The story and direction are engaging and interesting and the whole film holds up right through to the end. Our leads Katherine Drake and Ritchie Crane have a lot of good dialogue to work with and the supporting cast is not only up to the challenge, but have some grand, WORLD WAR Z-like monologues to sink into.

ALIEN OUTBREAK is well worth a viddy!!! 
I believe the release date is Feb 11, 2020

 From IMDB
In a small rural community local police officers Zoe and Patrick begin their shift as normal but it soon becomes clear that something is wrong. Strange events unfold before their eyes, residents begin behaving strangely and mass suicide panic spreads amongst the community they are trying to protect. Zoe and Patrick realise they are under siege from alien machines as they become cut off from the outside world. They are forced to do battle against these uninvited visitors. Can Zoe and Patrick save their community and the outside world from extinction?

Seeds

Jebus....this film. :::sighs and rubs his eyes feeling drained::::   :)

There are these films that are really hard to classify. They aren't standard horror. They have more creep and horror than a plain drama would have, too. But, you can't just toss out, "Hey - like horror? Watch SEEDS" because your more horror mad viewer will get all pissed off and start screaming, "HEY! Where's the BLOOD! And...why am I hearing all this TALKING and GOOD STORY stuff!? What a rip off!" as they go stomping away to watch the new HALLOWEEN film again. :::grin:::

No, this isn't that. It's a tense, visually stunning story with horror elements and some really grim and gripping storytelling backed by a small and amazing cast.

From IMDB:
When his increasingly depraved behavior spirals out of control, Marcus retreats to his family home along the New England coast. But instead of finding solace, Marcus is haunted by his darkest fears and deepest desires.

But, even that sounds too "sexy" for this film. This is an actor and story showcase of darkness and mental illness. It deals with issues that are...what are the kids calling it these days...."triggering" for sure. It's uncomfortable and sad and draining.

And I fucking loved it. :::grin:::

Trevor Long's performance as the lead Marcus Milton is stellar. You can see the emotions racing through him and when he brings things to the surface, it's powerful. There's a struggle of epic proportions running through him and he's struggling through the whole film trying to resolve them. Just fantastic.

Andrea Chen is equally amazing as Lily - Marin's niece.  She's able to walk the line of young adult expertly. At times she seems like a young woman and at other times she seems closer to a little girl. The balancing act makes the overall tension very intense. Some of the scenes between her and Long make the screen crackle with an energy that was wild.

And even child actor Garr Long's (related to Trevor?) performance is super solid. This is key. I've seen films where there is a key child actor playing along with adults and they just come off as distracting. However, Long handles the role wonderfully and maintains the acting levels set by Trevor and Andrea very well.

The story. Whew...the story....

Like if Lovecraft and Kafka got together to write a story about mental illness. Director Owen Long (( SO MANY LONGS LISTED IN THIS MOVIE!!!!  :)  )) and Steven Weisman really nailed the balance between reality and nightmares here. You're bounced between three worlds, really. A lovely dream world of perfection and love, a nightmare world of fear, and the real world where the dream and nightmare worlds come together to caress some and crush others. Whew. And, it's really tough to watch at times, though I found myself not able to look away.

I don't want to say this lightly, but SEEDS is a brilliant film.  Definitely worth a viddy for the brave of heart. Don't expect to be spoon fed here, however. You need to dive in a bit. Get your feet wet. Think. If you don't want to do that, pass on this film.

However, if you like to explore the darkness....give this a go for sure!

 If you enjoyed the film and what it brought to the table on the style and acting fronts, you might want to hunt these films down as well:

REVENGE (Hevn) - 
https://horrorsho.blogspot.com/2018/08/revenge-hevn.html

FAMILIAR (short film) -
https://horrorsho.blogspot.com/2016/07/familiar-made-me-squirm-in-my-chair.html

HEIR (short film) -
https://horrorsho.blogspot.com/2016/07/heir-fantastic-body-horror-creep-fest.html

I AM THE PRETTY THING THAT LIVES IN THE HOUSE -
https://horrorsho.blogspot.com/2016/11/i-am-pretty-thing-that-lives-in-house.html

HIERRO (Spain 2009) -
https://horrorsho.blogspot.com/2012/11/hierro-spain-2009.html

Hellmington

Part police procedural, part cult horror, and part crime drama, HELLMINGTON brings a lot to the table. And, like a large feast spread before you, you're going to like a lot that there, but you're also gonna wanna pass over some of what's offered up.

From IMDB:
A detective investigates her father's dying words; the name of a girl who has been missing for 9 years.

As usual, I'll kinda lead with this I wasn't thrilled with, but that others may love.

They had a heck of a story rolling that kept me engaged and thinking the whole time through, but where they veered off with it at the end didn't appeal to me 100%. That being said, I'm pretty sure it's a personal thing and that it's something that may change with an additional viewing. (Scheduled for the near future)   It's not like they made it a comedy at the end or something, but it just was a choice that had me scrunching my face up for a moment muttering, "Really? Hmmmm....ok..."  I guarantee that people will call me crazy for that.

Moving on.



What an engaging film this was! The characters were really well fleshed out, the relationships made sense, and the pace was great. Nicola Correia-Damude was great in the lead and managed to play it with a grace that sold it. She could have been overdramatic and big with it, but went into the realm of "dead inside and broken", then on task wonderfully. I have to look for her in THE BOYS on Amazon where she plays Elena. Michael Ironside is grand as usual and his performance is super solid. The supporting cast is all on par, turning in solid performances and believability that was really needed in order to care about a serious film like this. I've seen other films aim for this level, but the acting comes off as that of a college drama 100 play. This is professional all the way and helps to draw the audience in.

Hellmington was written and directed by Justin Hewitt-Drakulic and Alex Lee Williams which always interests me. I've written a comic with a friend of mine ( Gothic/horror/romance tale TAKING EDEN - shameless plug ) and that was a challenge to coordinate the path and characters. Then to take the story and direct it with someone else....it just must be challenging on many levels. But, the combination works and works very well in this case. The duo nail a fantastic flow and hit the PROFESSIONAL LOOK target without question. The film is beautiful and dreamy in parts and raw and gritty in others. The soundtrack backs the visuals beautifully as well. The whole package works like a charm!

Lastly, the overall plot. Gripes aside, this story had a lot to love for me. I am a big fan of something going naturally astray from the path. When you are moving along and think things are going to go a certain way, only to have them change, then change again in a naturalistic way (not jarring and awkward) it makes me happy. Films like LAKE BODOM and...keeping the lake theme....LAKE MUNGO did this and really brought a smile to my face. It's almost like a surprise party.  Hellmington does this, though some of the elements are eluded to in the trailer....




So, is the film worth a watch. Oh yes it is! I was super happy with the way things turned out on the whole and I'm looking forward to giving it a rewatch.  Totally worth a viddy!!!!

Terrified (Aterrados) 2017

SHUDDER has done it again, bringing the super fun film TERRIFIED (Aterrados)  to US audiences. There are times where a film just ticks off every box for me and this ghostly tale did just that.

The story revolves around several families in a small neighborhood in Buenos Aires and the strange events happening to them. Certain supernatural happenings are starting to run rampant for people and it doesn't show signs of stopping. When the police and a small team of investigators get involved, things really begin to run off the rails.








The story is super tight and we're danced through various happenings and are treated to a few perspective shifts that really created a lot of interest for me. It would be easy to break the story into parts and tell it in a chapter based format, but the flow here is expertly done and the choices the writer / director Demián Rugna makes are fantastic.





I heard a podcast say that there was really no explanation for what was happening and I have to differ. The investigators say everything they happen to know about what's going on, even if that may not be a whole lot, but that's all they really should know in this case. If they pulled out some ancient tome and started reading about what we we seeing, I'd be a bit pissed off. The way things were presented here kept enough information available, but didn't try to give you everything. It really left the right amount to the imagination.

The acting is top notch as well and all the characters are believable and realistic.  There was fantastic character development and some character shifts that were very engaging. I was all in on the arcs presented and really felt for most of the people in the film - caring about what was happening to them and really wanting to see them make it through.

Maximiliano Ghione

Above all I loved Maximiliano Ghione as Detective Funes. He nails the wide range he need to span here. He's the together and suave cop who's just about to retire to the terrified officer who is having second thoughts about his involvement. There are small comedy bits that are subtle and solid as well. It looks like he was mostly on TV, but he completely nailed his film role here.

The atmosphere is downright thick and creepy. This neighborhood is simple and sweet looking during the day, but some of the internal house shots at night were nightmare inducing. Taking that atmosphere and introducing some fantastic scares made it a whole lot of fun.




And the jump scares.....  ::::whew:::  They were really well done and completely earned. You need to EARN your jump scares, people. Kicking the volume up on a piercing music hit doesn't count. It's the equivalent of slapping someone in the face and bragging that you made them blink. Really drawing people in....baiting the hook....then springing on them visually is the way I love seeing it done and TERRIFIED does it a few times. I was giggling like a kid! There are some damn creepy visuals in here and I loved every one of them.

The saddest thing about the film were the comments made on SHUDDER's youTube channel where  the Terrified trailer lived. People are actually complaining about the fact that Shudder has a lot of foreign horror. Some even said that it was nothing but a streaming service only for foreign horror. The comments were ridiculous.

Oh look: another potentially great horror entry for Shudder...that will be completely unavailable to rent or own on physical media.

Um...GREAT! IF it's not on physical media, I'm happy Shudder has it available. YAY FOR HORROR!

Oh look at that... another foreign movie.....I wouldn't recommend shudder to anybody unless they fluently speak more than 2 languages.....the amount of English content is embarrassing

This is just a false statement. Shudder is adding new content ALL the time and at least 50% of the added titles seem to be in English. Hey..spoiler...there are other countries on the plant and not all of them speak English. Hate to break it to you.

See? THIS is why we can't have nice things!  

Shudder has one of the best horror streaming services available with a large selection of all sorts of films from all over the world. WHY would you complain about that at $10 a month, people?! Don't like foreign films? Here's an idea - don't watch them. You could watch one of the MANY other film offerings Shudder has for viewing. There are plenty of people who love foreign films and don't mind subtitles. It just seemed like a rather backwards way of thinking, but...that seems to be the going view for many people these days, sadly.

ANYWAY......TERRIFIED is a fantastic watch. If you are able to read and don't mind subtitles or foreign films, you need to check this gem out. And...if you don't like foreign films, skip it. You can watch the English remake that Guillermo Del Toro is producing when it comes out!

See? Easy, right?   :::grin:::

The House of the Yellow Carpet - La Casa del Tappeto Giallo (1983)

What an odd little movie this is. I think I liked it, but it's odd.


Running very much like a play with four actors, we meet Franca and Antonio and the titular yellow carpet. The two are trying to sell the massive carpet and they have someone coming to look it over. Antonio runs off to do something leaving Franca home by herself when the man in need of a carpet arrives. And then...things go sideways. I'll say no more about it.








Like I said, it runs like a three act play. There are only four characters in the whole of it and it takes place in an apartment that is rather small, so there's a claustrophobic feeling throughout the film that adds to the tension. It's a slow burn, but I really liked it.




All four actors are grand. Erland Josephson, Béatrice Romand, Vittorio Mezzogiorno, and Milena Vukotic were all super solid in their roles. That really needed to be the case here. If one or two of them failed, the whole film would fall to pieces. 

Carlo Lizzani's direction is grand here as well. The man has 73 director credits and another 48 writing credits. I'd love to see more of his work.

If you are looking for a giallo style mystery with less blood and guts and more story and acting, you'll want to check out The House of the Yellow Carpet! It's a great watch.

The Night of the Virgin

THE NIGHT OF THE VIRGIN  ((La noche del virgen (original title)) is a wild, wild ride. Director Roberto San Sebastián and writer Guillermo Guerrero really hit a home run with this horror comedy playing on SHUDDER at the time of this posting. Man...I love SHUDDER! :)

It's a story told in basically one location. Poor Noco (Javier Bódalo) is stuck at a club alone on New Years Eve. His hopes of "hooking up" for the new year are a mere countdown away from never happening. But then he sees Medea (Miriam Martín) and things start to look up. Sure, she's older than him, but she has a great body and....well....she's looking right at him.
They go back to her place and that's where we're going to camp out for the rest of the film. Medea's apartment is a wreck. Dirty, filled with roaches, and horrid. Medea herself seems to be running hot and cold - being sweet to Nico one moment, then being harsh with him the next. But, poor Nico is still hanging in there for the promised sexual encounter, no matter how horrible the apartment or Medea's actions.
But, what is it that Medea really wants from him? And, will her boyfriend, "Spider" (Víctor Amilibia) eventually get through the front door to kill poor Nico?

The film hits on all cylinders. When SHUDDER and the viewers there were talking about how disturbing and gross it was, I had to roll my eyes. I mean, horror folks here this kinda crap all the time. "It was SO GROSS that people left the theater.....passed out....threatened to take the makers to court!" Most of the time, this is far from the case for a horror movie lover. We've usually seen it done before - more often than not done better as well. But, this film delivers. It does get pretty gross.

I believe the comedy elements work really well, even if you're not usually a lover of foreign comedy. They are simple, cute, and sometimes painful.  Javier Bódalo is a show stealer with his wild teeth and crazy facial expressions and motions. The physical humor is hilarious as well as we watch our hero get battered and abused on screen. As the action ratchets up, so did my laughter and mutterings of, "Ok...yeah...that's really gross!" while I laughed and winced at the same time.

This is a slow burn, but it's SO worth a viddy. It's a funny and gross journey you'll really dig.

The trailer isn't TOO spoilery, but I'd probably aim to watch the film without looking at the trailer. That being said, the trailer is a fun edit! :) 

BLIGHT - short film

I just had the privilege to see the short film BLIGHT and loved it!

From YouTube:

BLIGHT is a terrifying short horror film inspired by the HP Lovecraft story "The Colour Out Of Space". A young police office get more then he bargained for when he visits the home of a reclusive farmer and his family. Starring Jack Parker (Doctor Who) and Adam Basil (Game of Thrones. Made in Conjunction with "The National Film and Television School" and "Neill Gorton Prosthetic Studio".


The film is tight and the effects are fantastic. The actors have a fantastic space to work within - the design is amazing and the minor effects used to situate the location are really well done. The acting is fabulous as well. The period piece works because they kept things very small and contained. Again, fantastic.

Take a look at tell me what you think!

They Have Changed Their Face (1971)

Unlike most of my posts, this review overview 
WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS!

This is a very interesting, statement of a film that I had to give a little love to. They Have Changed Their Face has some horror elements, but it's really a statement about advertising of all things. It's an odd one. Director Corrado (Baba Yaga) Farina and his writing partner on the film Giulio Berruti deliver up a very interesting fairytale about the vampiric advertising industry and the consumerism it tries to send into a frenzy.

We have an odd business scene opening things up here where Alberto Valle is told that the owner of the company - Giovanni Nosferatu...yes....Nosferatu - wants to see him in his mountain villa right away. As Valle travels into the mountains and fog, things start to get strange. The locals don't speak to him and the rustic buildings seem to be falling into a horrid state. He meets a woman named Laura and she joins him for part of the journey. When they arrive at the villa, she says she'll wait for him and makes one more attempt to get him to come away with her instead of dealing with this business situation. He declines and makes his way into the villa.

I'm trying not to go detail by detail here, but there are so many fun details! :)

We see that guards travel around in little, European cars and find out later that there are eight of these cars in total. Cars are used to cover the massive grounds. Odd, but...it kinda makes sense. Valle meets Corrina, Nosferatu's striking, willowy secretary who has a haunting appearance. Ghostly almost. She says that Nosferatu will meet him for dinner and that he never leave his office during the day. When he finally meets Nosferatu (played by the awesome Adolfo Celi of THUNDERBALL fame) he's a bit taken aback when Nosferatu tells him he wants Valle to be the new CEO of the company.

Now, this is where I was expecting a ham-fisted vampire story. But....NOPE! It's anything but standard. Here's where things get very spoiler. The film takes it on that the vampire has switched from stalking prey in the dark of night to seeking out more consumer prey in the light of day. They are entwined in everything. Politics so that they can change laws around the things they sell...like LSD. They have religious representation now. And, they run advertising and consumer products like a well oiled machine. Sucking the money from consumers...and blood from time to time. They also groom people from birth to be various positions within the company.  Valle even finds a photo of himself as a baby in a large tome and sees that he's been called out as future CEO since the beginning of his life. Very deep and trippy.

Valle is repulsed by Nosferatu and his mob and vows to take him down however he can. He shoots Nosferatu many times and escapes the vampire, his secretary, and his car guards.

That is until he finds Laura and sees that Nosferatu has gotten to her - sucking her blood and changing her from groovy, topless, hippy roamer to up and coming secretary with a desire to settle down and have a family.

At that, Valle gives in and let's Corrina escort him back to the villa...where he sees that Nosferatu is alive and well and ready to shake the hand of his new CEO.



The movie kinda hit me. It's a big, dreamy metaphor of course, but it's well done and highly entertaining. You also only really have a cast of four and the interplay is very engaging.

I love Adolfo Celi as Nosferatu. He's always a grand, mafia-like character that's fun to watch. He was great in EYE IN THE LABYRINTH as well. A great character actor.  Giuliano Esperati's Valle was pretty great as well. Really real and playing the "man in a strange land" role believably and realistically. Francesca Modigliani was riveting even though she wasn't around much in her Laura role. She had these fantastic, large eyes that were mesmerizing. Sadly, she's only done this and one other film - The Sin in 1972.



The most curious character here for me was Geraldine Hooper as Corinna. She's birdlike and ghostly with a skinny frame and strange, almost alien face. I was confused because she actually played a man in Dario Argento's DEEP RED. Though, now that I write that, I'm not 100% sure of anything anymore. hehehe . She's striking and unusual and fun to watch on the screen. She has a haunting nature and plays sweet as well as she plays sinister.




So...that was long winded, but only because I found the film to be so very interesting. It's really not "horror" honestly, but it has a undertone of the horrific and gothic that I loved. If you'd like to take a gothic journey into the 1970s world of "FIGHT THE MAN!" filmmaking, you'll want to check out THEY HAVE CHANGED THEIR FACE.

J&B SIGHITINGS:    1

Revenge (Hevn)

Full disclosure - REVENGE is not a horror film.

When I got the screener, I THOUGHT it was a horror film, but no. I was fine with the fact, however. I don't JUST watch horror. After I figured it out, I said, "Well, I just won't put it on the blog," and continued watching. However, when I finished it, it was so damn good that I had to write about it even if it's not horror. It's a fantastic film.

Note two. It's a foreign film and I know some people are deathly afraid of subtitles and having to read, so if you are one of those folks, be warned.  Moving on.

The film is about Rebekka - a woman looking for payback. She goes after her sister's violator in Western Norway and manages to get into their family and community looking to kill the person who ruined her sister. But, as Kahn says, "Revenge is a dish best served cold."  :::grin:::   Why not really make the suffering last? She begins a campaign to ruin the person who ruined her sister's life.





I just finished watching the film and it's just fantastic. It's a character driven drama with so many sharp edges to it that it really keeps you engaged and wondering what will happen next. There are moments of dread that spike up and really added a small "thriller" element to the film that I loved. Like when you are driving along in a car and suddenly hit a dip or hill in the road that shifts you around like a roller coaster for a moment. You're left slightly shocked and you heart is beating faster...and it's fun!

Kjersti Steinsbø's screenplay (based on the story by Ingvar Ambjørnsen) is super tight and rockets along at a pace that makes it a really fun ride. I had to look up Steinsbø's other work and now I plan to seek out the other films which include a film about a son who's umbilical cord is permanently attached to his mother so they are together all the time (WTF?!) , another about a death metal band getting stuck in a Catholic school and another that needs nothing more said about it than it's title - Viking Vampires. Love it. :)

The acting is fantastic as well. Just...mind blowing. Siren Jørgensen's performance as Rebekka rolls through so many emotions throughout the film that it's mind blowing. She has her big secret about her sister, comes to kill someone, than changes her mind and works on becoming part of his inner circle - all the while plotting his demise. She becomes friends with his wife. Watches their child. All the while bouncing between blank hate and kind cheer and friendship. Wonderful.

And the supporting cast is fantastic as well. Anders Baasmo Christiansen, Trond Espen Seim, Helene Bergsholm, Maria Bock Maria Bock all come in as amazing and move through scenes solidly. There's something about the European acting style that I really enjoy. Not sure what it is. It's more...believable? I can just watch and I don't get caught up in thinking they are acting. They just...are the characters. Especially the tension between Frode Winther as Morten, the man who did the sister wrong and Siren Jørgensen as Rebekka. Jebus....tension you could cut with a knife.

And the environment is like a "COME TO NORWAY" advert. It's friggin BEAUTIFUL! I want to go now!

But...and I'll try not to lean into spoilers, though there are not many....do two wrongs of this nature make a right? Especially if she took her first course of action and just killed him. I mean, sure - he's not around to hurt anyone else, but that's against the law as well. And the tack that Rebekka takes to fix things has an edge as well. Is it fair? Does Morten make valid points about Rebekka's role in what happened as well?

It's a really intense and thought provoking film that dials in the RIGHT OR WRONG nature of peoples actions expertly. Most people in the film do or say something that you can look at and say, "Well...wait a minute. Um...that sounds right and I totally get where you are coming from, but do you see how it's also really...REALLY wrong?" I love that in a film. The blurry lines between right and wrong.

Long and the short is that I LOVED this film. I think I'll go see it again when it comes to theaters - tomorrow, August 17th 2018 across the US - so I can see the visuals again on the big screen. So beautiful.



Film fans.  Acting fans. Story fans.   You need to check out REVENGE (Hevn) at once. It's a fantastic film that needs people to see it and enjoy it. It's earned it in my book.