Horsemen

By-the-numbers gore flick isn't especially bad, but sterile acting and disjointed direction hinder it entirely.

Dennis Quaid (gloriously miscast) is Aidan Breslin, a detective specialising in some teeth identification discipline. He's called to a case whereby teeth alone have been left, and the more the case heats up, he discovers the Horsemen of the Apocalypse are being emulated and murdering victims in 'homage' to them.

The premise is certainly half decent, with a biblical reference always adding spice to horror, such is the visceral underbelly such association can produce. The problem is the production and casting, not to mention plot development.

Horsemen suffers a disjointed structure, with extremely poor characterisation and seam-filled editing causing a stop-start judder to permeate throughout. This isn't helped by the fact that every role is miscast, from the 'doing it for the money' Quaid as troubled Breslin, Ziyi Zhang as troubled Kristen, and Lou Taylor Pucci as troubled Alex.

Every character appears to have personal demons apart from Stingray and Tuck, who both look like actors in the wrong movie.

These foibles aside the horror effects are rather inconsistent - the first body looks plainly like a dummy, and no amount of garish red lighting hides that fact - thereafter they do pick up a bit, but it's a bad start.

And the characterisation, as mentioned, is really poor - the viewer isn't moved to care about anyone, and certain character introductions are clunky and badly handled. The feeble and ineffective acting certainly doesn't aid this.

In summary if you want horror by the numbers with a hint of whodunnit, there are worse than Horsemen. But there are much much better too.

This frightening and suspenseful thriller concerns about an unsettling and bitter cop emotionally affected for the death of his devoted wife by cancer , being trapped into a dark and tenebrous environment . It's a stirring and moving story full of twists and turns ; however being pretty claustrophobic . This exciting picture contains thrills, chills, plot twists, action-filled and lots of gore and guts . The movie centers on a Detective named Aidan Breslin (Dennis Quaid) , an expert on forensic Odontology , as his chief (Chelcie Ross) assigns him to investigate a weird chain of murders that bear a rare marks on trees and surrounding. The ominous killings have a rare phrases as ¨ We are nothing ¨ from Exodus 1,5 and ¨Come and see¨ , as he finds out it proceeds from Book of Revelation of the apostle Saint Joan . Meanwhile , Aidan holds a problematic relationship to his oldest son named Alex ( Lou Taylor Pucci) . Investigating a series of murders of strange violence, he discovers a horrifying link between himself , his dark secrets and the suspects that seem to be based on the Biblical prophecies dealing with the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: War, Famine, Pestilence, and Death ; resulting to be the leader a horseman riding a white horse. Breslin is helped by a tough inspector ( Henry Collins Jr) and a forensic expert ( Barry Shabaka).

In the picture there are psychological issues , plot twists, emotion, mystery , spooky sets and a little bit of gore. The movie turns out to be a crossover between the religious intrigue from ¨Crimson rivers : Angel of Apocalypse ¨ , the suspension tortures from ¨The cell¨, investigations means of ¨CSI¨, and ¨Seven¨ thriller. From the beginning of the film until the end the suspense and intrigue is unstopped . The creepy images of wide range from the genuinely eerie to the bizarre along with scary and amazing frames . It's predictable but also its predictability is redeemed for some extraordinary surprises and in part by the charismatic acting from the main protagonists . Acceptable performance by Dennis Quaid as unlucky Inspector who distances from his two sons and good support cast formed by Ziyi Zhang, Patrick Fugit , Peter Stormare , Eric Balfour and Paul Dooley , among others . Thrilling musical score fitting to action and tension by Jan Kaczmarek who formerly won an Academy Award for ¨Finding Neverland ¨. The flick is middlingly directed by Jonas Akerlund , a Videoclip-maker in his first and only picture. The movie obtained a bit of success but failed at the box office. Rating : 5,5 . The motion picture will appeal to religious thriller buffs and dark atmosphere enthusiasts.

Tell me that the movie is like Se7en and I am interested. Tell me that Ziyi Zhang (Memoirs of a Geisha, House of Flying Daggers, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, 2046) is in it, and I am interested. Tell me that Dennis Quaid, the actor starring in one of my favorite films, The Big Easy, is starring this one, and I am definitely interested.

A combination like that should mean that I am in for a treat of some kind.

Barry Shabaka Henley is always a welcome addition, and he was no disappointment here.

However, the rest of the film was a big disappointment. It was devoid of any real emotion, and the struggle with the kids just distracted from the quest for the killers. It never came close to Se7en.

This film was something I had high expectations for during the initial half an hour, it had all the requirements of a good movie-good setting-good actors-good originality somehow... At the end of the film (it has a surprise ending) I found myself annoyed with it, like in lieu of creating what I think would be a believable ending, they hired another director to complete it or something, and that person just took the shortest route to achieve exit speed, leaving the film finished but not finished right. I found the ending ridiculous in fact, as in junk, unworthy of the build up of the rest of the film. Maybe just avoid it, go to the bathroom for a few hours or maybe rearrange a bunch of old clothes. That probably would be time better spent.

The Horsemen touts itself as another serial killer cat and mouse and admirably attempts to mix in several sub-genres including torture, exotic piercing, plot twists, and even a silence of the lambs (more Primal Fear in execution) style prison exchange. What transpires is unfortunately a lot of set pieces that don't add a lot to the whole. Dennis Quaid has always been fun to watch and has had several noteworthy performances (my fav will always be Savior). Here he struggles to play a hardened detective reminiscent of Al Pacino in Insomnia, his lines are forced, he is simply a poor casting choice for this role. He never reaches believability as the detective, and the dramatic subterfuge of a single dad with 2 kids is laid on so thick, he never sloshes out of the muck long enough to fill either role. The plot is OK, fairly standard shake on a playful serial killer vs cop movie, but the dialog is simply horrible. The lines are terribly cliché' and the actors, while capable, are just waiting for there time to speak, never fully absorbed into the movie. This will likely go to video soon where it may attract an easy to please crowd but ultimately does not hold a candle to any of the movies it copied.

Maddis