Bastard

I will make this short and sweet. I usually would go off in a long diatribe about how much I love or hate a movie but here is my review. The story is about 5 strangers coming together in a remote B&B in the mountains and there is a killer aloof. I enjoyed the story. I will now move onto the acting which the movie was cast Superbly for a movie of this status meaning not to well known. The cast did a great job of portraying the dire situation that surrounded them. The soundtrack is what made the movie though to be quite honest it reminded me of The Guest and also You're Next meaning it was very retro. I will move along to the kills and while there weren't many they were done with a nice touch of finesse. I will say though that the one gripe I had as a horror fanatic is that the movie was a tad on the short side being only one hour and twenty minutes long so when the killing finally starts it happens way to quickly but outside of that I loved this movie and I would definitely recommend watching it. I have seen a lot of the After Dark Horrorfest Films since they started up in 2006 and this is most assuredly one of the better films in the collection.

Don't waste your time. Go and have a sleep instead.

I don't know why this movie is even made in the first place. There's barely any story in this movie because it just random characters meet each other and them getting killed off. The movie barely has any build-up or tension to be found in it and doesn't explore the characters' backstory. I mean, each of these characters has something going on with them in their personal life, but the movie doesn't even bother going into their issues. Also, the killer plotline feels like it came out of nowhere and doesn't even have a good build-up towards itself. It feels like the filmmakers are on a time schedule because current things happen pretty quickly or don't even go into deeper. The revealed itself feels like it came out of nowhere and doesn't impact the movie at all. Even the climax itself is underwhelming. It seems like the movie tries to have the characters to have depth to them, but doesn't bother with it. Most of them are one-dimensional and lack any development for them to feel for them. While each one of them are different, like newlywed serial killers, a depressed cop, and two young runaways with a disturbing secret, they barely try to have development for them and feel like afterthoughts. There one scene where the female serial killer and the teen runaway somewhat have a moment together, but they barely build up the relationship between them. Even the killer is an afterthought. And the acting itself is pretty bland.

Bastard is a movie that is the only positive is the death scene, while the rest feels like an afterthought. Skip this movie.

It started out alright with the character building. Some of the characters were even interesting. I liked the two serial killers the most... Well the male one. The female was irritating and irrational most of the time. The suicidal police officer was also irritating and really not needed. His whole story line was a waste of time or even felt like filler. As the movie goes on, it's almost like the writer did not know how to tell a story or how conversations even really work. A lot of conversations were just strange.

I really do think the movie was going the right direction... Till the killing in the town started. That's when the movie basically falls off the cliff into being just straight out poorly done and bad. The writer seemed to have no clue what makes a good movie. They had a good idea and had no idea how to execute it or where to go with it.

A creepy cover. One of the best concepts for any low-budget film seen recently in my "low-budget film quest for curiosity sake". An appreciation for the film's genre. Reasons enough to check this out and had real potential to be somewhat of a guilty pleasure.

The good news is that the concept for this is nowhere near as wasted as those for other films seen recently, having seen my fair share of frustrating wastes of good potential with failed execution. Compared to other recent viewings for low-budget films, this is oddly enough, despite the lacklustre rating, one of the better and more watchable ones. Not a great, or even good, film by any stretch. Not a terrible one either, it left me frustrated at how it didn't do enough with what potential it showed but at least it didn't leave me angry.

It starts off well, with a startling, effectively creepy opening that is one of the film's most inventive scenes. There is effort at making some of the characters interesting, parts are creepy and suspenseful in the first part and there are a few brutally inventive kills.

My intelligence at least wasn't insulted anywhere near as much as other recent film viewings, it didn't get excessively stupid and the location was an atmospheric one.

Sadly not matched in the less than slick way it was shot and edited. It is unfortunate that the promising start and what made it so isn't maintained in the rest of the film. The further the film got, the suspense dissipated and the sillier, duller and more predictable it became. Too many of the kills are too ordinary, no matter the over-the-top gratuitous in quality and excessive in quantity gore and violence was.

Things did start to become confusing in the latter stages and not all the characters worked, with not enough done to make one care for them. The male serial killer was interesting, however the female one did irritate and the cop was basically pointless melodrama. There is nothing natural about the dialogue or interactions, insipid stuff awkwardly delivered. The acting is at best lacklustre, while the killer is far too obvious and the ending is so incoherent and what the heck that it brings the film down significantly.

Overall, started off well but goes downhill too early and never recovers. 4/10 Bethany Cox