13º Andar

So, after i-don't-know-how-many years of being a reader of IMDb, after having seen this... film, i just felt compelled to comment for the first time. It's a sorry mess. And i mean really a mess. Not a single thing works in it, not one. I didn't feel interested at any time. Didn't smile for once. Didn't feel a thing, if it was not just amazed at the sheer stupidity of it all. It starts in France, where the french speak French, and moves to Russia where, in all logic, the Russian speak English between each other... with a Russian accent. It starts off with some jewelery robbery, and proceeds to a bad, bad slasher comedy. As i said, nothing works. Everybody's brain dead, the logic is thrown down the Russian drain, and it just drags on like the dummy rats that it showcases as the summum of special effects. What saddens me most is the evident budget that could have been used for someone with a minimum of talent to make a film worthy of existence. It was not even bad in a good way, just downright lame. The only worthy mention (with my appreciation that is) was the rather exotic looking Jaime Murray, with no more skin showed than her pretty face. That is to say how much i searched for an escape...

Amazing stuff. That it got made at all, that is.

I watched this movie last night not knowing what to expect and have to say this was one of the funniest slasher movies I have seen for a long time. I think You need to watch this movie twice or more to appreciate the subtlety in the humour. camp? yes, a good helping of gore, and some excellent larger than life characters. Boris and Yuri had potential as the new morecambe and wise of horror. I don't know what the other people commenting were expecting (or indeed watching) but my wife and I laughed throughout. A great deadpan performance form stephen dorff and the beautiful Jaime Murray. Take a chance and see this movie. All in all a great watch and a lot of fun.

This movie starts out relatively straight with a diamond heist that goes wrong. Everything seemingly normal and slightly tedious, I thought.

The film then slides slowly by inches down the path towards B-movie insanity. The odd thing is, the weirder, gorier and more ridiculous things get, the funnier and more enjoyable it becomes as well.

This is not a dumb film and there is a consistent and thought out story that appears on film, despite the odd silly "rubber chicken" prop moment.

I didn't have any qualms about the acting as the cast did a fantastic job staying in (dodgy Russian) character.

Whilst Brad does a good job keeping the audiences sympathy, supported ably by the very foxy Jamie Murray, a horror movie is only as good as its villains. They don't disappoint and for me are the real stars of this movie with Boris the security guard running a very close second.

I saw the movie at it's premiere at the Fantasy Filmfest in Munich, Germany, and I have to say it's very entertaining.

The movie itself is not a masterpiece by means of production design, acting, editing, directing or anything else. It is more in the B to C category. Trash, that is. But it is not at all pretending to be anything else. Just the other way around, it embraces it's trashiness by having the villain jumping around in ballet-like moves and similar things. This is one thing that makes this movie very likable. The other is that it is just so funny. If you are not offended by extreme violence and gore.

The theater was packed with the special kind of audience that is attracted to the Fantasy Film Fest, the kind of audience that will applaud and cheer when a head gets cut off and gallons of blood get poured around. But the cheering didn't stop there. As soon as the audience got into the movie, and got over an initial impression of crappiness (like a very rudimentary set, bad editing with scenes that were often just a bit too long and actors that were, with the exception of Stephen Dorff, sub par), it became clear to them that the movie is intended as a comedy and delivered funny and unexpected scenes one after another. And the laughter continued throughout the whole movie.

I really enjoyed the movie a lot, and in retrospect did not notice that it was actually 100 minutes long (although cutting 10 minutes off would have helped).

For it's great entertainment value (and isn't that what movies are all about ? ) I give 7 points. I cannot give less to a movie that I enjoyed so much, even if it has a lot of shortcomings on the technical side.

i don't understand the fuss that people who disliked this movie are making. it is definitely NOT a waste of time if you take it for what it is - simple entertainment in the b to c movie category. the story is linear and leaves place for 90 minutes of hilarious slapstick-gore. the acting wasn't great, but not that bad, either, some of the actors are familiar from movies like blade, layer cake or dog soldiers. the music actually was really nice, with some cliché-Russian polka songs running along the funny chasing scenes. i'm pretty sure the b movie feeling is fully intended, for there are enough people that actually cherish this kind of movie.

altogether, if you don't mind simple down-to-earth entertainment with a little gore once in a while, you might risk watching the movie. otherwise leave it.