Axed

Saw this at this year's Bram Stoker Film Festival where it played to a very receptive audience of horror movie fans and picked up the award for Best Screenplay.

Works well as a disturbing psycho-drama based around a man who loses his job and then his mind, much to the increasing horror of his family.

A great music score and moody cinematography helps to build the atmosphere.

Jonathan Hansler is the true star of the show here, obviously relishing the dark humour of his part as the dejected father with one last project to manage up his sleeve. Well it's certainly one way to downsize!

I recently had great fortune to watch 'Axed' at a local film festival. This psychological thriller was greatly received and I can see why.

I am so pleased to have finally seen a film in recent years that I did NOT know the ending to. The genuine twists and turns kept me intrigued throughout the film, the Homage to classical horror films is clear and well done. The relationship between the unhinged father and his children is superbly acted (ignoring some over acting from the lead actor at times), I would highly recommend watching more from this particular cast.

It was not the gore fest I was expected, the director, quite rightly, left a lot to your own imagination, which in my experience makes the film much scarier.

The DOP should be highly congratulated on their skills in presenting this film so well, despite some shots that felt as though they should have been lightened; the use of natural light was cleverly done.

I even found out afterwards that some of this film used C.G.I. and green screen to enhance some shots, which was fabulous, as it was done in such a way that people were completely unaware, which is more than I can say for most low budget horror films being reviewed recently.

The only thing I would say is that It almost needed to be longer to build the father's mental break down to make it more intense in the cottage scenes when he finally snaps.

Despite some of the sound quality being poor in parts and minimal continuity errors I would highly recommend watching this as a good example of how a good low budget film can be made.

This is a low budget that's for sure, you can easily spot it on the way it was filmed and the sound that isn't always that good, especially the dubbed sound. Nevertheless, I enjoyed it even as it never became scary or gory. You just want to know how it is going to end.

A very strict father, Kurt Wendell (Jonathan Hansler) can't take it anymore. His wife is having an affair with his boss and he's fired. Not only that, his daughter walks around like a whore and his son looks like a fagot. The day he's fired he goes berserk. But not showing it he takes his family to the countryside for a nice day with dad. From there the horror comes in.

The red stuff is available but most of the stabbing or axing is done off-screen. There's a lot of talking going on from dad explaining what he knows about the affair. And a lot of talking with his children. But somehow you want to know who survives and who will die. There's of course a lot of drama in it.

The acting did add this flick to a higher level, Jonathan Hansler was believable. But I can understand that some will not like this flick because it's a bit low on the horror. Ideal for a starter.

Gore 1/5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 2/5 Story 3/5 Comedy 0/5

"Axed" is an absolute mess. While the premise is somewhat interesting and the film clearly tries to be shocking and impactful, it fails miserably on almost every level. The violence, though both physical and psychologically intense, becomes tedious and repetitive over time, losing any real effect it might have had. What's worse are the characters' decisions - so absurd and senseless that they shatter any attempt at immersion or emotional involvement. Instead of delivering a disturbing thriller, "Axed" ends up being a frustrating, painfully ineffective experience. A good idea wasted by poor execution, incoherent storytelling, and a complete lack of tension or depth.

I'll start by talking about everything wrong with the film. Most noticeably, the lighting decisions are terrible. The bulk of the action takes place in one day, and it looks as if they shot everything in sequence over the course of two days, so that by the time it's supposed to be early afternoon in the film it is clearly approaching dusk outside. Then five minutes later it's clearly morning again, and it slowly gets dark once more. Then during the nighttime scenes there are moments that were obviously shot in sunlight. It's distractingly bad. It looks like they tried to do day for night but didn't know how. Additionally, the film is very ugly in that it looks like it was shot on a very low quality camera that has a look not fitting for the tone of the movie.

The cameraman did a good job with what he had to dork with, however. There are some fun shots in here and the editing is well done. The acting is hit-or-miss, with one or two miscast characters, but some of it is very good. The actor who plays the father in particular did an amazing job. Some of the best I've seen and very believable and a fun performance. Bang up job!

The story, while nothing spectacular, is surprisingly realistic given the budget and style of film. I was expecting something rather corny, but this feels pretty real. I believe it may have been inspired by one or two true stories, based on similarities to things I've read about.

The sound is not great but nothing to complain about. It's much better than in some of the very low budget films I've seen. But the lighting is some of the worst I've seen. The ending is very good.