Traficantes de la muerte

This flick is not only bad, it is actually sad and full of horrible mistakes.

The best thing in this movie is not Stephen Dorff, it is the setting. Morocco is a beautiful country and when you got no idea about how the story turns, it's like an entertaining love story that is the foundation for depicting this beauty and it's people --with all their existing resentments and also the nice sides. That's okay with me. I would have also accepted the B-movie style, because of it's authenticity. But when you start not liking what you have to endure, you realize about the silly sound, the boring lightning, the crappy cut, the poor characters, the lack of creativity in every aspect of the production.

The turn in the narration tears down everything that has been build up before, how cheap it ever was. Artificialy creates -- no, conjures up -- a thriller-like plot, that is not only badly written, terribly composed, but also embarrassing in it's stereotypes. If that is not enough, it explains us, in the very end, how those little pieces shall belong together -- that's the moment when you pull your blanket over your head and whisper: »No. No. No. No. Please. No.« I wished I would have turned this off before the writer totally f/ this up.

After the death of his girlfriend Tracy, the American Luke (Stephen Dorff) travels to Morocco with his British friend Adam (Neil Fluellen) to spend vacation and recover his loss. While in Medina, Luke meets the gorgeous Moroccan nurse Zahra (Sarai Givaty) and he offers to walk her home. However, she is offended by a group of men due to her Western companion and Luke defends her. Zahra offers to be his tourist guide and suggest him to travel to Atlas Mountain to the see the sunset and spend the night in a hotel. Adam decides to meet the couple in the next morning to let Luke alone with Zahra. However, the hotel manager does not accept their check-in and a local lodges the couple in a cabin of his own. During the night, Luke goes to the bathroom and finds a mace of tunnels linking the cabins in the mountain. Zahra meets him in the tunnel and he discovers a dark secret about the place.

"The Passage" is a predictable thriller that offers a sightseeing of Morocco and the beauty of Sarai Givaty as the greatest attractions. The edition and the lighting of this film are very poor and there are many sequences that are intended to be suspenseful and claustrophobic that become actually boring. Further, the plot point was not a surprise for me since it is a kind of Moroccan rip-off of "Turistas" or "Hostel". Nevertheless, with improvements in the screenplay, edition and lighting, this movie would be better and better. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil):"A Passagem" ("The Passage")

Almost eclipsed by the lack of surprises and some uncomfortable moments of predictability, "The Passage" is one of those things you watch because it's on TV when there's nothing else worth watching. I did mainly because of Stephen Dorff.

He plays Luke, an young adventurer and photographer that along with his best friend (Neil Jackson, also the film's writer) are visiting Morocco, having some good time and exploring all of its beauties. One day Luke meets a young woman (Sarai Givaty) who offers her services as his guide taking him to some mountains in the desert where according to her it's very beautiful to watch during the sunset, and quite suitable for his pictures. After having some difficult in finding a hotel to stay in for the night they're rescued by a man who offers his home, and in there Luke finds something he would wish to never discover.

Sold as a horror film when it's merely a thriller, "The Passage" dribbles some clichés (no romance between Luke and the girl), stays with some annoying ones which is the main reason of the movie's secrecy that isn't news in filmmaking ("Tourists" hellooo!). Still, something good came out of it, there's tension, the actors were good, the slow pace worked quite well through most parts. The only ones who'll won't enjoy the film are the people of Morocco who'll probably won't like the portrait made of their country just as much as we Brazilian don't approve the controversial "Tourists" (I don't have much problem with that movie in such issue except that it is a weak movie).

Far from being too good and too far from being so bad, stays in the right middle. You choose. 6/10

This isn't really the 'horror' film the TV Guides promise but it's a half decent thriller with some moments of suspense. If you plan on watching it for blood'n'guts you'll be disappointed.

It's filmed in Morocco, well acted and does a decent job of capturing the atmosphere; it has the creepy feel from the start of the original Omen.

By halfway you'll forgive the slow pace because the film feels like it's revving up to some serious scares. Although there are a few tense moments, it never quite gets there and you're left feeling a bit shortchanged.

Judged against most of the trash filling satellite schedules 'The Passage' is a worth watching (6+ stars if you have visited Morocco) but I wouldn't recommend it on rental.