User Reviews

Movie review:This movie has some of the most top and bottom of the board type ratings on IMDb. You will have to judge for yourself. 5 friends are on their way home from a wedding in Canada and are stopped at the border before returning to the USA. Seems simple enough, but who exactly are they stopped by? Well if you guessed a couple of lunatics that are played to absolute perfection in being the epitome of terrorist fearing wackos, you win a prize. So after an extremely long, drawn out process of taking them in (in other words, abducting), the group is taken into custody where they are tortured into admitting that they are enemies of the United States. Granted one of them was of foreign decent, so I guess he MUST be a terrorist. This is the premise of the whole movie. The entire movie is secluded to where they are held captive, which is basically outside in animal cages so can't say much for scenery unless you are a big fan of forests. A part of me was drawn into this plot, though after seeing just how some people will stereotype people in everyday life and frightens me to think just how realistic this actually could be. Since it never goes over the top, it really just keeps you at a numbing, "what if" type feeling as you watch the psychological torture they are put through. I can't really say the acting aside from Michael Mando who plays Jalii, the aforementioned "brown" guy, is all that good. Mando does deserve credit though for making a few scenes very believable. They do toss in a sub plot of one the kids parents hiring a PI to find them after they have gone missing, but it is completely underdeveloped and could've been removed completely with no impact to the film. In the end, I overall was disappointed, as it had the tools and actors to make it work, it just dropped the ball in tension creating situations or just a natural feeling of caring at all. If you do see it, you will probably understand why one review will say "total garbage" while the next will say "loved it" I somehow stayed in between. It may be classified as horror, but it is more thriller than anything. 4.7/10 IMDb 5.0

The French have never let me down before. I've seen and loved many a French horror film, with four of them possibly being my favourite horror films of all time (Inside, Martyrs, Frontiers and The Ordeal). However, I'd never heard of Territories before. Perhaps it's because it isn't French language, but for some reason it slipped under my radar and it sounded right up my street, as I'm into the whole kidnapping, survival type horror film and I know that the French are so good at it, such as the brilliant, under-rated Caged. Unfortunately Territories is my first French horror disappointment, and I can now see why it is so unknown. It may have the premise of Frontiers, but it certainly does not have the execution.

Territories isn't as bad as people have been saying. It's certainly not the worst horror film I've seen and it does have some redeeming factors. The style of the film is brilliant with its grainy and often raw hand-held direction it feels like a typically French horror film. The cinematography is also often surprisingly brilliant and I did like its brave and ambiguous ending, which many people feel strongly against. The opening 20 minutes were also fantastic, diving you straight into the action with brilliantly suspenseful dialogue and characters you can feel sympathy for. I love how the whole situation started off customary but then escalated into a complete nightmare, full of tension and suspense.

The leading of the group into their cages also looked as if the film could be little unknown French gem like that unfortunately over-looked 5150 Elm's Way. However, it's from here that things begin to go downhill and the film turns into quite a mess, with nothing of any interest to say and with very little excitement to give. Now, Caged may have been unoriginal but it was thrilling and brimming with suspense. Territories looks good and feels good, but is actually quite uninteresting. With several heavy re-writes Territories could've been that fantastic gem that it promised to be in its opening, but unfortunately the screenplay is a complete mess.

The film spends a lot of the time showing the group being terrorised and tormented, which is fine but then the film starts to drag on, without building on its already thin characters. I think the film could've benefited from a 10-15 minute introduction to the characters so that we get to know them and care for them, or at least build up their characters during the horror. Territories fails to show any interest in its victims at all, paying more attention to the torturers and later on the Nigel Havers detective (more on him later). I don't mind the film giving screen time to the torturers, in fact I applaud it for doing so as it's the villains who are often under-developed (Eden Lake is a great example of creating perfect balance between the two) but the villains were there so much that it ignored the victims of the story.

Scenes also tended to drag and didn't bring a lot to the film such as the interrogation scene which was brilliant for 5 minutes, but then it started to drag and felt longer than it actually was. What was especially annoying was that the film completely detracted from its original plot-line and started to introduce this private detective who looked like a tramp version of Nigel Havers who'd just stepped out of the 80's! Here the film completely abandoned its characters to make way for a new one to fill up the final 25 minutes. It's as if the writers were making it up on the spot. Either make a film about victims, or make a film about a detective, don't abandon one and go for the other mid-way! Territories ultimately lacks focus. The detective should've at least ran parallel with the main narrative, instead of being shoved on at the end. He ultimately brought nothing to the film accept false hope, which I', all for, but if that's all he's going to bring, don't make him into a huge plot point!

Ultimately Territories was a disappointment. It promised so much, but quickly deteriorated into a mess. I also felt that the film was trying to mask itself up as something more intelligent than it actually is, with its political references and sometimes weird philosophical questions. Now the film does have some good points such as the direction and cinematography, but the messy screenplay outweighs its good points, which brings us out of the story thanks to its lack of interest for its characters and illogical structure. Territories is no French great, and should remain unnoticed from people's radars.

This movie made no sense at all! It was a waste of 2hrs of my life! It had a good beginning for about 45mins, but after that, all started going downhill. I am not a film reviewer, and I have never written any reviews before, however, this film made me so angry>:O that I felt compelled to register with the website and voice my opinion. One of the sub-plots might not as well have existed and it wouldn't have made any impact on the movie whatsoever! It is a shame that the film writers did not make enough effort to show consistency and plot progression. Instead, they patched up the film full of non sense; and what starts in a promising way leaves the viewers totally disappointed and puzzled.

Very weird...and please find something better to watch and don't waste your time watching this!

I liked it, thought it was a solid film, had some interesting camera shots. Acting was solid. I don't understand people's dislike of it.

It feels like it's another film that got bundled into the horror category without being a horror.

There are a lot of films that get this treatment and it's unfair.

When will people understand that the genre of horror is like the genre of metal music, that's a loose term for all the sub genres.

Good work to everyone in this film. I enjoyed it.

How this has a score of 5.0 on here is beyond a joke. The first 25 mins or so were quite good with an interesting premise but then it just went completely downhill. Everything just seemed completely pointless and is never really explained. And the ending was, well, I don't know what is was but it made no sense whatsoever. The acting, music and camera-work were competent enough but the whole film seemed like it had just been made up as they went along. If you're going to make a film, at least start by having a point to it, this one didn't. So if you are looking for something interesting or exciting then avoid this one like the plague. It left me feeling cheated and quite depressed.

The suspense level of the movie is really high. On the other hand I can see why people wouldn't really rate the movie high. It is a tough sell. It's also something that is very close to Americans (and might offend quite a few). Of course this is not representative and while it is only a movie it does give a view of too much anxiety and fear and what that might lead to.

It is shot on a low budget, but Karim Hussain, who also has worked as a director, has a good eye and his camera work is without fault. The acting while driven by high emotions never fails. And although you may say, that the movie does not really evolve into something bigger (there is not a big bang or anything else), it still may give you reasons to think ...

The film tells the story of five friends who are stopped by two border guards. Typical border questions turns into humiliation. They are then kidnapped, held in cages and tortured. Turns out they are ex-soldiers and they think the innocent friends are terrorists.

The first 50 mins or so of the film is a decent horror film. But then it turns into a moral story about Guantanamo Bay and torture and the film loses the plot. I lost interest and have no idea what the private detective had to do with the plot. I also flicked to the end and have no idea what happened to the friends.

Its a shame as the film does start out as a decent horror torture film but it feels like they changed direction and tried to justify the film. I think this ruined it as it was very well acted and had good suspension and effects.

Oddly enough, the bad reviews on this site were what enticed me to actually watch the film. Besides the first review by Coventry, which had some constructive criticism and actually compared this film with others within its genre, the reviews all took issue with the episodic quality of the films plot. It seems that they haven't been introduced to the concept of art cinema - a mode of film practice which subverts and breaks from classical filmic conventions like continuity editing, and strict causal relations between narrative events, instead focusing on the psychological depth of its characters and the "everyday" realism of disjointed, unrelated events. This film definitely shows various qualities of the art cinema, especially its episodic structure and focus on character psychology. I found the plot intriguing and despite what some of the other reviewers said, I think that the introduction of the private detective was not arbitrary but actually contributed to the creation of the expectation that the tortured would be rescued. By building this character who can sympathize with the families of the missing, as he has ostensibly lost his own daughter, the director effectively takes the audience out of the roll of victim-by-proxy and into rescuer-by-proxy. This is clever because by the time this plot line is introduced, the viewer has become frustrated with the course of events (as trapped in them as the tortured) and the detective becomes the voice for the audience, while also giving them a view onto the other side of the tragedy of kidnapping/forcible confinement.

As for the ending ... I cannot believe that one of the previous reviewers complained about the fact that the ending did not gesture to a sequel. I'm sorry bud, but sequels did not exist before the late 80s early 90s and the dawn of the multiplex theater. I also disagree with the suggestion that the film doesn't allow the audience to interpret the final events in any way that they wish - because that is exactly what the ambiguous ending does. The lack of closure makes it the viewers responsibility to interpret the ending in whatever way that they can.

Overall, the film was esthetically pleasing and definitely generated the reactions thrillers are supposed to. Maybe for Coventry the film is just another in a long line of psychopath/kidnapping/torture stories, but I have seen few which are as dedicated to the art of film and not very tangibly grasping at demographics in hopes of being successful. Also I would say that Territories fell well within the range of the independent film mode, and far from that of the B-film - despite its low budget and virtually unknown cast. Definitely a film worth watching - at least for those who can appreciate films which reveal their artifice by making the viewer think.

Awful, Awful Horror Movie, If actually you can call it that. I don't want to talk about this movie very much, simply because it's just not worth it. My only goal is to prevent anybody else from losing 90 minutes of their precious life to this crap. Yes, I regret wasting 90 minutes on this. The plot is just not there ! It's only two sick dudes torturing some poor bastards. And it's not even that. just a few scenes of that. It kind of wants to be political, but It's not at all. and it doesn't go anywhere. It's not critical of anything. That's just it. this film is nothing. Not even a horror movie. It's not scary. I would prefer cliché horror movies anytime. 'Cause I'd know what I'm up against and just skip the title. But movies like this are the worst. They are pure waste of good time. I'd rather play solitaire on my PC than watch this, if I were you.

When I read the synopsis of this movie I was so excited to see it. The concept just seemed so interesting and original.

It starts off with a kick, within minutes I was feeling the uneasiness that this movie is meant to inflict.

Most of the actors are phenomenal, it's when I see movies like this that I don't understand how Hollywood can't cast better actors 90% of the time.

The movie keeps a good steady pace, I wasn't bored at any point. Which is a feat considering my minuscule attention span.

It was such a great movie until there was about 20 minutes left in the film. It takes a strange turn. I can't say much without giving it away. But when you see it you'll understand what I mean.

I completely suggest it because other than that it's great. And who knows? You may like the ending more than me.

The idea behind this film is great and the front cover depicting helpless individuals in cages is definitely eye catching. Then I read the back and was hooked and reaching for my wallet before heading to the tills. This is going to be another Red state, or from a horror and gore aspect, Frontiers. However, despite a well acted and promising start, things just didn't go anywhere. And as for the final third, point and what was it springs to mind. I have seen some disappointing films, such as the Hamiltons, but this, not only takes the biscuit, it is the biscuit. If you are in the mood to be bored, annoyed, frustrated I would suggest watching the new cartoon versions of scooby doo.........there is 100% more gore and suspense in an episode of that than is in this. I beg you not to watch as you cannot get those 90 minutes back

It would be easy to discard this film and say it's not good but that would not be accurate. It is an incredibly good film which makes for very uncomfortable viewing.

A family of 5 American citizens are driving at night, on their way home from a wedding. They are stopped at a road block by two men posing as border patrol. They are not border control but very dangerous, racist psycho's.

They subject the family to the most horrific torture and degrading violations because one of them appears to be of middle Eastern descent.

The sheriff sniffs around them and then a private investigater, who has his own story to tell. But nothing comes to fruition.

You are left hanging.

I would have loved to have seen a different conclusion. The ending is fair enough but I wonder why bring in the private investigator with his own demons and then end it the way they did?

A bit of a strange one. But the cast are amazing, the setting, everything is so horrific and terrifying. A true horror which I hope never happens to anyone ever!

I'm watching the movie and from the beginning all I can think about is how the movie depicts "the true 'Muricah way" of thinking you're the police of everything. Invading, killing, torturing.. whether it's the Middle East or American border, the soldier fighting to make America great again, doing the government's dirty deeds is a martyr, a hero. War and weapons are the true American religion and if you're not white enough, god have mercy on your soul. As you might have guessed, I'm not a huge fan of the U.S.

Enough with ranting. The movie has an interesting setting and the beginning promised a lot more than it delivered. What is quite strange, the first half of the movie is completely different from the second half. And the ending is just so unbelievably dull, that I really have nothing more to say about that.

This movie would have better rating if I had seen it only half way. 3/10 is quite generous.

It's always interesting when one takes a genre like horror, or horror-porn and uses it to address larger themes and social issues. It doesn't always work, but when it does, as it does here (and even better in Aleksey Balabanov's far more horrific, but also more complex "Cargo 200") it can be a potent use of cinema.

A group of young Americans returning from Canada are kidnapped by a pair of ex-soldiers dressed as border guards. These men were in Iraq and at Guantanimo and want to continue the torture and 'information gathering' they were part of as soldiers. So in the name of protecting the country, they lock up and torture these kids, largely because the driver of the kids' 4x4 has an Arab name.

And soon you realize, given the number of innocents it's now acknowledged were (and probably still are) locked up among the 'real bad guys' in the war against terror, that this nightmare isn't very far from real ones that real people are going through right now in the name of national security.

Surprisingly well acted for the budget and genre, as well as nicely shot, this certainly has moments where it shows its roots as low budget horror. There are awkward scenes, and forced bits of exposition. Logic gets stretched (but not too absurdly) at times. But it's not really all that gory (despite the allusions to 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre' on the video box), and it's most effective terror is caused by tension and fear about what might happen, rather than any blood and guts you see.

Among other things, this is an interesting examination of what happens to borderline personalities who are given permission by their country to torture in the name of good. Will these people be able to let go of the monsters we willingly unleashed inside them?