First off I have to say that I rented this at Blockbuster thinking it would be a piece of crap. I'm a huge horror buff so I pretty much rent anything genre related, even if it is a turd. Especially if it has Anchor Bay on it. I've seen my share of slasher films so I immediately felt like I was in familiar territory.
The film starts out with a little boy being forced to watch a young lady stabbed repeatedly. Then the film gets into a bank robbery that doesn't turn out and has the criminals fleeing to an old abandoned house. One of the hostages manages to escape and leads them into an abandoned slaughterhouse where a demented serial killer is shacking up.
One thing I noticed about this indie flick that sets it above others is that you can watch it on your plasma screen TV in HD. The sound is great when you blast it on 5.1 and just feel the vibrations from the bass heavy score. It makes you feel very unsettled. The camera work on this is a lot different from most other horror films, more than once I was treated to beautiful scenic lingering shots. You can tell a lot of work went into the sound and atmosphere.
The acting is a little hammy in spots but the cast of unknowns are very believable. I was relieved that the newest twenty something teen/TV star wasn't running around acting scared and spouting catch phrases. The acting is mature and serious. There's no self referential humor that is usually found in horror flicks these days. The whole thing is dead serious and reminded me a lot of another great slasher film I saw recently called Wrong Turn. A solid horror film looking to make you squirm and jump from what you see & hear. That's what I used to love about grindhouse horror films, they didn't try to be hip and make you laugh, they went for the throat. Malevolence is a return to this style of film making. That's not to say there aren't clichés but it blends them into such a provocative cocktail, it is kind of like reliving the good old glory days of horror.
With all the PG-13 teeny bopper nonsense doing so well these days Malevolence is like a breath of fresh air. The slaughterhouse location was creepy as hell and all of the stuff you see in the slaughterhouse was found on location and utilized on the set. This gives it a visceral punch, none of the sets look fake ala the new TCM remake.
The horror in Malevolence exists on a lot of different levels, the characters themselves are not purely "good" or "evil" and it is sometimes hard to feel for some of them. I found myself conflicted over if I was scared for some of them to die or if I wanted to see them gutted like a deer. The characters are anything but cardboard that's for sure.
Easily said that if you like Halloween, the town that dreaded sundown, Just Before Dawn, The Prowler, The Burning or Madman you will definitely love this. I have seen my share of slashers and this is the best of the recent pack. I know the genre has been done to death but there's still a lot of meat on the bones and Steven Mena does a great job of proving this.
For all the real horror fans out there, open your mind and give it a shot. I think you will be pleasantly surprised. My only regret is that I didn't go watch it in the theater when it was playing here in Toronto.
I look forward to the director's next effort.
The film starts out with a little boy being forced to watch a young lady stabbed repeatedly. Then the film gets into a bank robbery that doesn't turn out and has the criminals fleeing to an old abandoned house. One of the hostages manages to escape and leads them into an abandoned slaughterhouse where a demented serial killer is shacking up.
One thing I noticed about this indie flick that sets it above others is that you can watch it on your plasma screen TV in HD. The sound is great when you blast it on 5.1 and just feel the vibrations from the bass heavy score. It makes you feel very unsettled. The camera work on this is a lot different from most other horror films, more than once I was treated to beautiful scenic lingering shots. You can tell a lot of work went into the sound and atmosphere.
The acting is a little hammy in spots but the cast of unknowns are very believable. I was relieved that the newest twenty something teen/TV star wasn't running around acting scared and spouting catch phrases. The acting is mature and serious. There's no self referential humor that is usually found in horror flicks these days. The whole thing is dead serious and reminded me a lot of another great slasher film I saw recently called Wrong Turn. A solid horror film looking to make you squirm and jump from what you see & hear. That's what I used to love about grindhouse horror films, they didn't try to be hip and make you laugh, they went for the throat. Malevolence is a return to this style of film making. That's not to say there aren't clichés but it blends them into such a provocative cocktail, it is kind of like reliving the good old glory days of horror.
With all the PG-13 teeny bopper nonsense doing so well these days Malevolence is like a breath of fresh air. The slaughterhouse location was creepy as hell and all of the stuff you see in the slaughterhouse was found on location and utilized on the set. This gives it a visceral punch, none of the sets look fake ala the new TCM remake.
The horror in Malevolence exists on a lot of different levels, the characters themselves are not purely "good" or "evil" and it is sometimes hard to feel for some of them. I found myself conflicted over if I was scared for some of them to die or if I wanted to see them gutted like a deer. The characters are anything but cardboard that's for sure.
Easily said that if you like Halloween, the town that dreaded sundown, Just Before Dawn, The Prowler, The Burning or Madman you will definitely love this. I have seen my share of slashers and this is the best of the recent pack. I know the genre has been done to death but there's still a lot of meat on the bones and Steven Mena does a great job of proving this.
For all the real horror fans out there, open your mind and give it a shot. I think you will be pleasantly surprised. My only regret is that I didn't go watch it in the theater when it was playing here in Toronto.
I look forward to the director's next effort.