Kolobos: la residencia del terror

Kolobos might not be a title you hear thrown out in horror circles very often, because it was dumped into video stores without a theatrical release and given lousy artwork that had nothing to do with the film. This is definitely a small, low budget affair, but there's a lot of thought put into it and it looks absolutely beautiful.

The entire film is bathed in lighting that would make Argento and Bava proud and the death sequences are fairly imaginative and well done, especially for a low budget film like this. The final twist isn't handled very well and it comes across as a bad afterthought, but everything else is so captivating that I can't even fault it for that.

A group of 20-somethings are lured to a house under the guise of doing some sort of Big Brother type reality show and they end up getting killed one by one in various grotesque ways.

Kolobos doesn't really make that much sense, but it's well made, decently acted, and has a handful of unforgettable images that will stick with you for awhile and I'll take that over a generic, by the numbers Hollywood movie anytime. I suppose you could chalk all the weirdness up to the nightmare logic of the film. In this way, it does resemble a Bava or Argento film. The dialogue, character arcs, and storyline might be a bit flat, but it's never dull and the film looks excellent.

The ending seems to be the major issue with everyone and I'd agree - it feels tacked on and strange and almost like they were trying too hard to explain everything while, somehow, managing to make everything even more convoluted.

Besides that, Kolobos is a likable and enjoyable piece of nightmare cinema that comes highly recommended.

I have to say this is most definitely a horror gem. When my friend and I were choosing movies to watch on our movie night she decided to rent this one solely based on the description on the back of the cover. Man was this a good decision. For those of you that have already seen My Little Eye and later on watch this film, you will find that MLE is almost like a carbon copy (minus the ending...somewhat). 5 strangers are picked to spend (God knows how many) weeks/months in a house while being video taped 24/7. In MLE it was for a snuff website, in Kolobos it was for a "film". BOTH end up taking a turn for the worse. I really really REALLY enjoyed Kolobos because 1. They offered some fanTASTIC gore effects without all that CGI crap that so many horror films are using now, 2. The storyline is one giant mind fu*k that leaves you sitting there thinking "What the hell just happened? Woah..." (in a good way of course), and 3. The dialog between actors was hilarious. I really enjoyed the one scene where they're watching a cheesy slasher/horror that one of the girls chosen starred in, and one guy is going "This film is crap! How can you watch this bullsh*t." while another guy is sitting there with his eyes glued to the TV going off on some deep, intellectual view of the "crap" movie. . It was truly a funny scene. While I can't say the actual acting was good in this, everything else about it was. Highly recommended! *two thumbs up* 7.5/10

Kolobos is the kind of movie that tries to be smarter than it is, and just doesn't come together well. The movie revolves around a group of people hired to do a reality show that's basically The Real World. However once there they are picked off one by one by a killer who has trapped the house.

The movies concept was solid enough, but the execution came off pretty weak. The kills were fine, but the characters were pretty much unlikable, and the twist was pretty obvious. Despite that it's entertaining enough for a lazy afternoon or a late night time waster.

It was almost as if the people who made this movie were trying to make an American Horror film, in the Asian Horror style. I don't really think Kolobos qualifies as a Slasher Filck, it's more of a Psychological, Shock Film. It doesn't take too much thought, but it does have you questioning the whole situation. It's worth a watch if you haven't seen it.