Vile

Taylor Sheridan, director of 'Vile', has gone on to make some absolutely sensational films in the last few years including one of 2017's best 'Wind River'. So when I saw that he had actually started out his career with a horror film, and a gruesome looking one at that, I knew I had to see it. It's safe to say he hadn't quite perfected his art just yet, however there are certainly glimpses of what his potential was. He didn't write it, so it's hard to say just how much of an impact he had on 'Vile'. And while it's hard to argue that there are a lot of flaws in this movie, there are also some real positives to it.

The negatives lie mostly in the writing. The whole concept is a rather bizarre one and takes a massive suspension of belief to get your head around. The characters feel like they simply accept the situation they're in far too easily. Also the dialogue ranges greatly throughout the film from really charming and natural, to unbearable campy and unrealistic. There were two writers of this film so that could have had something to do with it.

The positives are basically the concept. It allows so much freedom for the story to flow and for the audience to be shocked. Every character needing to be tortured by their fellow characters. It's a writers dream. There are some unbearable scenes in this film to watch. I have a pretty high tolerance level and even so found myself turning away at certain moments. This isn't a must-see film by any means, however if you do find yourself with the opportunity to watch it you're probably going to have a decent time (perhaps switch your brain off at the start would be my advice).

As a rare reviewer on IMDb I only decided to comment on this after reading the rather negative posts from others. It ain't half bad - yes there are Saw/Hostel comparisons and it fits rather aptly into the "torture-porn" genre. It seems as though the production staff are fairly new to the game and I don't think they deserve the kind of criticism handed to them by the other (two, at the time of writing) reviews seen here.

Without giving anything away, it's a solid, tense first hour with questionable (but believable, considering the circumstances, and assuming you have an open mind) character development that would have benefited from a less ambitious attempt at a dramatic conclusion and something that's worth a watch for fans of the genre.

On the surface, the plot of this movie would seem like another lame piece of junk written by some dumb teenager who doesn't have a clue about anything. Many comparisons have been made to Saw and other torture movies, but really, it's not the same kind of thing at all. But make no mistake, this is not for the squeamish, it is quite gruesome. But it is not gruesome for gruesome's sake. Many of the gory parts are implied rather than shown, which I think is done so you can connect to the story rather than the gore. The acting and directing have done an outstanding job to pull off what I think is a great success in what could have been a dismal failure, given the plot. There are also a couple nice twists at the end to give it a bit more credibility.

It held me captivated because it wasn't just predictable guff. If Big Brother was more like this, maybe I would have watched it.

A group of people are abducted and trapped in a house. No one knows why they're there, not even after watching a video by the person who set it all up. All it tells them is that in order to get out they must suffer pain.

Monitors have been surgically implanted in the backs of their heads that measure the chemicals released by their brains. This leads to drastic action and lots of bloody violence.

Admittedly, the setup sounds familiar. Movies like SAW come immediately to mind. However, the motive behind the torture is different, and this movie lacks SAW's nifty devices. As with many such films, the characters are mostly unlikeable, though the acting is above average.

The most unrealistic aspect of VILE is just how quickly these supposedly normal, everyday people adapt to being body mutilators! It's also surprising just how boring it all gets at times. Rather than being terrifying / disturbing, It's pretty tedious, and the implementation of the torment is pretty mundane: A hot iron, boiling water, a screwdriver, etc.

This is torture for torture's sake with a halfhearted "twist" at the end...

The concept and execution are good, so fans of torture-style movies will be partially satisfied.

Picking up a suspicious-looking stranger at a remote gas station in the middle of the night is not a smart move.

The plot is interesting and more characters means more blood and gore.

People torture and brutalize each other to survive. They even seem to enjoy it.

Instead of finding a way to get out of the house, they prefer to attack each other immediately. The acting is partly convincing. It moves a bit slowly and the overly long dramatic speeches in between drag the pace down. Except for the pregnant one, you don't care much about the others. It is obvious that one of them is involved.

I must say there are some disturbing scenes. The ending is not descriptive and not enough. It should have been better.