User Reviews

Western parallels abound, but this African tale spins around, up and down, starting off as a thrill, then it goes through a mill, becomes a kind of homecoming, next a need to start running, as the locals start spinning, and the demons start swinging, there's a price to paid, to the lost and betrayed.

Several films for the price of one, encased in a multitude of genres, with some spectacularly good effects, exceptional performances, both mysterious and puzzling, brutal and violent, with plenty of opportunity to wonder what on earth is going on, and why. If you're not familiar with West African cinema, I'm not sure this will bring you any closer to it.

A journey of vengeance through scenic waterways and hollow deserts, praising the well-deserved beauty of African continent. Unique trio of characters forming up the Bangui Hyaenas. A crisp performance by the cast showcasing maturity. Story manages to excellently build up the suspense until it all blows over. Satisfactory use of special effects. It's the birdbox's concept but with a twist, For this reason it may lack originality but the same was taken care of the final freedom of youngsters. When all technicalities are set aside what's most thought provoking is the mental trauma of a survivor and how the unlucky gets swallowed so the dinner table showdown is a hard critique to all negligences of children's care taking.

You will not regret watching this movie. Though I am a huge horror movie fan, I must say that the movie would've been so much better without the last part. Beautiful Africa, great characters and an intriguing story - I really enjoyed the movie. I would love it even more if it was a mystery instead of horror. Loved the cast , the nature, their customs and legends. But still the last third of the movie was somehow... Poorly executed. Still, I think it deserves a good grade! Africa is beautiful, full of myths and legends. It has such a potential for future projects! Hopefully we will see more movies like this!

I was intrigued at the start of this film as a group of men escape civil strife while transporting a Mexican drug dealer in a small plane which must make an emergency landing in a field. They bury a load of gold there and continue on to a remote village.

Nothing is as it seems at the village as ghosts from the leaders past return.

It then becomes a confusing mess as the group encounters some strange attacking creatures who look like swarms of bees who can be dispatched with either guns or knives. A new kind of zombie apocalypse, I guess.

The cast is much better than the script and story. The scenery is good but in the end I was not impressed.

I understand that some felt the movie was a bit like Tarantino at the beginning ... but you can't really put this into a box. There is so much going on - not everything is working - or rather flowing like a river. To put a pun into this. There are a few things that may have gone over my head at the first time viewing, but I know that you can't watch this and have a black and white view on things (no pun intended with this one). There is a lot of grey area within the movie and the moral compass you may have, will freak out on you.

That said, there is violence and there is a twist that I did not expect to happen like that. But having said that, the special effects this uses for exactly that are not worse than any big budget movie (imho). And this was clearly made with a fraction of the money any Hollywood Blockbuster is using. This played at the Fantasy Filmfest in Germany and it fitted right in. Try to read as little as possible about this and enjoy the crazy and out there story that also is shot very beautifully - landscapes and framing wise. The latter even in a one-shot that is filled with action and works so smoothy you may not even notice there is not a single cut in it.

If you're open minded, go ahead and broaden your horizons ... in more sense than one.

To compare this to any Tarantino film is shallow and insulting. This film, although flawed, holds some actual originality instead of thinly disguised ideas "borrowed" from other films. The first half of the film is solid. Interesting characters in an interesting situation. The second half of the film reminds us that this is a horror film. If you have a pathological dislike for CGI - this film might not be your thing. Personally, I found the CGI as interesting as it can be...but it does take away from the realism established in the first half of the film. Interesting to see what looks to be Kumpo dance imagery. The cinematography and acting were great. The presence of a compelling story drives this film, elevating it above tired, old comparisons.

This was an unexpected treat, right from the get-go. This fast paced 84 minutes of genre-bending excellent display of filmmaking by Jean Luc Herbulot succeeds in elevating the story-telling experience in a Tarantino fashion, but within the west African beautiful landscapes and with the most colorful characters you can expect to see on the big screen. All casting and performances were excellent. The cinematography, score and visual effects were captivating. My only issues were some of the dialogue that didn't make sense to me, and some rookie-filmmaker plot and technical issues. I feel this film needed another 10-15 minutes added to the screenplay for better cohesion and clarity between the first and final act. Nevertheless, it's a great film I'll be watching at least one more time. Can't wait to see what this filmmaker gives us next. A well deserved 8/10 from me.

This won't be the most in depth review I'll ever write but probably worth reading before you invest any time into this. For some reason a few minutes into this film the subtitles appear on screen about 3 seconds before they should. It was frustrating beyond explanation because the film starts out with a narration and they're perfectly lined up but once the acting and dialog starts a little ways in, they're so far iff you're often reading lines that happen 3 edits later. This nearly rendered the film completely unwatchable for me.

Otherwise I think that this would have been a splendid movie. I tried my hardest to enjoy it despite the complications and managed to make it through to the end but most of the enjoyment was lost - the to came to a point where I turned off the subs and tried to carry on with what little French I understand but it was rather futile.

Caught this as part of the 2022 Edinburgh International Film Festival - the programmers were keen to share it, describing it as part of a new wave of confident film-making coming out of Africa.

It plays quite nicely with some signifiers - at some point our main trio look like evil mercs who kill anyone for money, but other scenes show them in a totally different light - and while it is happy to indulge in some Tarantino-influenced action it is also unafraid to touch on darker elements like the vile use of child soldiers. Very stylish, cool - good late night movie, and took a few turns I wasn't expecting in the narrative.

This is a visually stunning film with fantastic acting. I wish my French was better so that I didn't need to read the subtitles, however, dialogue is relatively minimal so it doesn't detract from enjoying this as a non speaker. If you like spaghetti westerns, which I love, this is a very cool West African reboot. Would love to see more of these characters.

Atmosphere is built masterfully by the director in particular the lighting is stunning. There are fantastic twists and turns. I don't want to risk giving away any spoilers, but there are some great surprise moments in here, and timing is excellent. Enjoy.

I was lucky enough to see this in a local theater, and it was an absolutely fantastic movie experience. It's full of action and sad and unexpectedly funny when it needs to be. This movie experiments and goes in surprising directions and it's just a fantastic time. I highly recommend this one.

The lead actor in this is also just absolutely fantastic. He's an action hero throughout, but the actor really digs into the sadness and darker sides of this character. There's a rich interior life to the main character here, and I commend the actor for bringing so much to this film.

This movie is also beautiful stylistically, there's some inventive design and completely stunning shots. This movie is just fantastic all around.

This is a really great movie. I recommend it to everyone: it deserves a broader audience. It seems a great pity few people will view this because it's not a Hollywood blockbuster, when the quality is far superior to most. It is available online as it is not in theatres.

Beautiful cinematography (it was a pleasure viewing the scenes), interesting script (with a lot of unexpected turns), compelling performances, interesting setting in a part of the world that is little covered in cinema. No romantic angle, sentimentality or cliches, which is refreshing. An excellent movie for those who appreciate quality cinema.