The Furies

The movie does try its best with a really good idea. It never really takes off though. The premise is quite unique or rather what it tries to do with it. And that is quite fun. It is packed in a known overall scheme/format, but still there are some neat things thrown into the mix.

Overall this is decent and should satisfy quite a lot of people. If that really is the case for you, enjoy the ride, don't worry too much about the flaws and inconsistencies in the script ... if you can, you'll be entertained, if not ... you won't

This was one pretty hardcore slasher flick. The gore and intensity was excellent. Definitely a new favorite film of mine. I didnt really recognize anyone in this one, but it was perfectly acted and filmed. These kind of movies where people are hunted down throughout the whole thing, are so much fun. I really enjoyed it!!

After viewing the trailer I had to give this intriguing flick a go. My expectations were a little high for this movie, but I did thoroughly enjoy it. The main actress Kayla was a good lead and it made me root for her as well as her friends' survival. The kills were intense and uniquely grotesque, and it had great practical effects. The costume design for the psychotic mutants was over the top goretastic. I'm not gonna give away any spoilers, but if you like slasher films give it a shot, it was an overall bloody good time.

I attended the world-premiere of "The Furies" at the Brussels' Fantastic Film Festival, and writer/director Tony D'Aquino was present to introduce his movie and sing for the outrageous audience (it's tradition in Brussels for directors to sing a song). Admittedly, I always tend to be more lenient and forgiving in my reviews when I hear the makers enthusiastically talk about their films. When you hear him promote his own film, it's clear that D'Aquino is primarily a die-hard horror fanatic, like myself and everyone else in the audience, who grew up with the notorious slasher of the 80s. He combined all his love & knowledge of vintage slasher cinema and made "The Furies"; - a homage to nostalgic horror with an absurd plot and loads of over-the-top gruesome gore. Somewhere in rural Australia, unknown assailants kidnap wayward young girls and release them again the middle of a forest. The girls are trapped in a sick type of VR-game and find themselves pursued by a variety of maniacal killers in horrifying masks. You'd think that the logical thing for the girls to do is stick together and team up against the killers, but the rules of this cat-and-mouse game are slightly different. Hate to say this, but the script is quite nonsensical and every next plot twist is even more ridiculous than the one before. And yet, I honestly can't dislike "The Furies" because the gore and the killers' outfits are simply fantastic! I'm not sure, since I didn't attend the Q&A session with D'Aquino, but I'm strongly suspecting the outfits are inspired by legendary mass murderers like Jason Voorhees, Leatherface, etc... "The Furies" certainly isn't a masterpiece, and probably won't ever become a cult gem, but at midnight at a festival, I love the sight of nasty axe-murders, exploding heads and scooped-out eyeballs!

Aussie horror The Furies isn't very original: it's a little bit Saw, a little bit Cube, a little bit Hostel, a little bit Battle Royale, and a lot like so many backwoods slashers. But despite this obvious lack of freshness, it still manages to be a lot of fun, largely thanks to its extreme gore, director Tony D'Aquino ladling on the splatter for his debut feature.

The film opens as two friends, Kayla (Airlie Dodds) and Maddie (Ebony Vagulans), are abducted, rendered unconscious, taken to a remote forest, and put inside wooden boxes. When Kayla wakes up, Maddie is nowhere to be seen, so she explores the surrounding area where she meets other girls in the same situation. Before long, Kayla discovers that she and the other young women are being hunted by a group of masked killers, part of a sick virtual reality game where their every move is broadcasted to members of an elite club via the special eyeball cameras that have been surgically implanted in their heads.

Kayla eventually realises that each abductee has their own assigned maniac who is there to protect them; as each girl dies, so does their 'beast', which leads to a 'survival of the fittest' scenario, where the girls turn on each other to increase their chances of making it out alive.

With the maniacs armed with a range of very sharp weapons (an axe, a scythe, a sickle, a machete, a knife etc.), the deaths are gleefully messy, an impressive array of gory effects drenching the film with blood, guts and body parts: one girl has her face hacked off, another has her arms ripped from her body, we get a superb axe in the head scene, and there's a nasty throat slashing. We also get graphic eye-ball gouging and several exploding heads. In short, The Furies is a gore-hound's delight.

If I had one minor gripe (other than the derivative nature of the plot), it would be that lead Airlie Dodds suffers from what I call 'Samara Weaving Syndrome': in other words, she has a really off-putting, warbling scream. Must be an Australian thing.

6.5/10, rounded up to 7 for IMDb.