Kill

Maybe it gets five stars for the drama....but that is it. First of all, this is a drama first, exploring three brothers with each of them having mental illness(the movie does not say this, but that is the only way to explain the decisions made) and how they deal with the death of their mother and the revenge death of their father.

The problem is that the movie only exists because of the movie. Trained hunters shooting deer 100 yards away should have no trouble shooting a person 10 feet away, yet that happens a lot. Half of the movie does not happen if one, anyone, says what happens. Everyone is keeping secrets, which allows the movie to happen. Lastly, no one acts the way anyone would act when in danger; not even stupid people would do what they do.

Skip.

When one young man has a stag firmly in his sights, he balks at the idea of killing it and incurs the wrath of an older man that results in a scuffle that sees another of their party shooting the bloke who turns out to be their rather brutish dad (Paul Higgins). What's equally clear very quickly is that "John" (Brian Vernel) and siblings "Henry" (Daniel Portman) and "Vince" (Calum Ross) had a masterplan that day that was designed to put their nemesis in the ground. What now occurs fills in, by way of flashback, just what drove these young men to their rather drastic course of action whilst we also discover than pops isn't that easy to do away with. With tensions now mounting amidst the dense Caledonian forest, the brothers start to mistrust each other and with tempers flaring they start to wonder who is trustworthy amongst them. Although the story is different, it reminded me a little bit of "Mercy Falls" also from 2023, that over-used the drone footage of ancient woodlands and menacing audio to substitute for some fairly bland writing and acting and a, frankly, increasingly preposterous and protracted storyline that presented us with three principal characters about whom I didn't care at all. It does try to use it's environment to create peril but once the jigsaw (I'd say a six-piece one) of the story was in place then I really did start to lose interest in what became a rather angrily procedural drama devoid of anything at all new or characterful. As a Scot, it's important that we continue to invest in domestic film-making, but endless aerials of fir trees do not, as "Yoda" might have said, a decent film make.

Three brothers attempt to kill their abusive father and bury him in the wilderness, but they later realize they've left the key to the safe where the family riches lie with the body. They're taken by surprise when they return to find their father's body missing from the grave.

Had promise but doesn't deliver. Slow moving in a redundant and plodding manner. Score is disjointed and ill-fitting. The actors who play the three brothers do their best, but they're tasked with repeating the same lines to one another again and again. There's no real development. Paul Higgins, who plays the father, is entirely unconvincing in the role. You can see the twist coming a mile away. Only 91 minutes but feels much longer.

I sincerely enjoyed the family drama. I would use this story to connect another. To see these 3 brothers in a thriller horror movie where they are fighting, surviving a serial killer or a creature, using their hunting/survival skills given their past, what they had endured. Great potential for more. Actors played their roles to the t. Needs budget, more sets, more character development.

You also gotta think of flashbacks of their past traumas, that was a good touch. I just believe them having a second film would encap a lot and whomever watched the first one will want to see more of them three, family reunions are so wanted specially after a big trauma. Seeing them maybe reunite after a few years apart or after prison or whatever comes to mind. Idk, Maybe two out of 3 moved and the youngest one spirals down and needs and intervention. Another idea is a family inheritance from grandad bring them closer together and with this they are able to afford a good lawyer and try to live past as they are trying to survive other stuff, yknow.

Gritty drama about abuse and how it can affect you and your relationships. Set in Scotland and around a family of five. The father is abusive to all of the family and the mother tries to protect them.

As the abuse continues the brothers decide to take measures into their own hands.

Three brothers shot their abusive dad on a hunting trip. Then things go south very quickly as their dad's body goes missing from a shallow grave.

Great suspense and camera work very well done with great landscapes.

Very good acting all round with only seven characters in the whole film. Holds your attention right to the end.