Habit

A British horror; A story about a troubled young man who takes a job as a doorman at a massage parlour in Manchester and soon finds himself falling into a criminal underworld. This modern noir has a theme about personal misery where it meets a subversion of morality. With graphic brutality, violence, and repulsive characters on show, it does remain mercifully ungratuitous. But there isn't enough exposition to explain the character's motives for the events that unfold. Some of the performances are ungainly; while local dialect fits the setting, some characters are too crude. The dialogue is less than inspiring and with an overuse of profanities.

This film is about a young man, with a sad family history consisting of suicide, parental abandonment and mental health issues, who finds a girl befriending him and taking him into a seedy world of sex parlors and cannibalism. He has to make a decision to become part of this group, who call themselves a family, or get out. The more he sees the more entrenched he becomes.

I'm not really one for cannibal horror. I did like the Hannibal Lecter series but I think it was due to how much psychology and intelligence played roles in the films. This isn't a very clever film. It relies a lot on the use of a sex parlor to draw their victims in and that just comes off kinda cheap to me. I would've prefered to have seen something a bit smarter than just the simple use of sex to catch prey. I mean, it works but it's just not very creative.

The quality of the film is not terribly bad. There were some scenes that leaned towards an artsy look. The actors seemed to be decent and the story was okay. There was some gore to it and they didn't mind rolling around in blood. So, if you are into blood covered boobs, this film has it.

All-in-all this isn't awful but it ain't great. Even though I don't care for cannibal movies, I want to be fair so I'm giving this 5 stars. If you like cannibal movies you may very well enjoy this much more than I did.

Gross, mean, with wall-to-wall brutal sex and death, 'Habit' hasn't got too much going for it above and beyond the raw meat, man.

Cutie Lee 'accidentally' runs into haunted (by his mother's suicide) Michael down the benefits office, and lures him into the racy sex industry/cannibal cult scene.

Great, right ?

Partly.

All the ingredients we slaver over are here, especially Roxanne Pallet as a cannibal hooker, but something's missing . . Lack of style, maybe? Even a guts-spilt entry like this needs style, but it just kinda rolls on flat. Perhaps Manchester is full of nookie-dens where you don't survive the encounter; folk maybe take it in their stride (Unlikely? With Burnham as Mayor? Who knows . . ?) ?

'Habit' needs a boot up the gusset, in other words.

Many will be sated by a blood-drenched Pallett (now - awesomely! - 'Carrion' !!) in her undies, dashing down fresh flesh (cough!) with her eyes blazing and her bits wobbling . . And while Rox (a smoke-show, I don't care what anyone says) now distressingly claims to have left this stuff behind her . . 'Habit' deserves at least something raising for conferring on us such a heartwarming image as her legacy.

Bizarrely, this feels like a '60s Northern Kitchen Sink Drama, but with a bit more death, gore and sex. It meanders somewhat, fails to engage and adds up to a total waste of your time. Avoid.

As far as low budget British films go, this is a good one. It's very bloody and full of sex so if that's your kind of thing you will enjoy it. Had some decent actors in it, young and old as well as a few recognisable faces from the British soaps. It's not too long and keeps you interested long enough to enjoy it.