The Retaliators

I'm struggling to review this film as I didn't actually hate it, but it's littered with flaws.

My main complaint is that it never really settled on a tone. At times this film is dark as hell, with some properly gruesome and grotesque ideas and scenes.

At other times it strays into Evil Dead style comedy horror with some of its action scenes and sequences. This shift was quite jarring and had they picked one route and gone for it might have been more effective.

The acting was quite hit and miss, with no particularly solid performances to mention.

In terms of plot it actually had some interesting ideas, but took way too long to get stuck into the meat of the story.

The soundtrack is pretty great though I must say.

Overall a bit hit and miss. There's plenty for horror fans to enjoy and I did enjoy large parts of this film, but it felt a bit rough around the edges.

You say I wrote Pray with me wrong? That could not be the case now could it? No pun intended as always. And we start with the "here and now", before we go back and the movie shows us how we got to this moment we just witnessed. Does it mean the movie that unfolds has lost its tension? I would highly disagree with that notion.

I also would urge anyone with a weak stomach not to watch this. This does not take any prisoners (not necessarily literally ... though also that ... sometimes)! There will be blood ... there will be insanity ... there will be a lot of violence! And a few bad guys to enjoy ... to hate! I know this is just a movie, but certain things did hurt watching ... the amount of evil that was unleashed at times ... mind blowing (well and other things of that human body nature ... you'll get it ... wood you not?)

The Retaliators is dumb but fun entertainment - something that has strangely become a rarity in horror.

Nowadays where every movie is a slow burn "elevated" metaphor for trauma and abuse - so it's refreshing to see a film that just wants to entertain in a blood soaked way.

I felt like there was also an innovative movie here. The antihero was very interesting and should have been the focus of the movie. Instead it just became a run of the mill revenge flick and focused on the wrong character.

It's well acted and has good production value but, in the end, the redeeming qualities surrounded the cameos and the soundtrack. The rotating one-night only releases is also a marketing gimmick. I fell for both of them...

I feel like the names (i.e. Jacoby Shaddix, Five Finger Death Punch, Tommy Lee) was more of a marketing gimmick than of any real value.

Best leave this for when it becomes available on a streaming service.

This is an enjoyable movie, just don't expect it to be the next Saw. This is more of a soundtrack movie than a horror movie. That's probably why a lot of the lower level characters are played by members of the band by the same name who also wrote the theme song. Don't get me wrong, there's a lot that are big misses in the movie, but if you're bored and just want a good revenge movie to watch this will fill that pretty easily. It's not on the level of I Spit on your Grave, American Merry, or any of the other great revenge horror, but its watchable.

The acting is sub par, but that's on point for the genre.