Broken

I am gonna skip the synopsis and run to the review itself.

This low budgeted B-Movie is a good surprise. This British independent film has a small cast (3 actors only), very little dialog and set almost entirely in the woods. It hardly sounds like this thing can pull us up for anything good but Simon Boyes and Adam Mason have created a gory, shocking, intelligent and modern thriller.

Broken is somehow paced, I mean, could be a little bit slow for some people out there already hypnotized on clichéd/biased Hollywood horror crap, but let me tell you, this thing will throw suspense and confusion every time you think you know what's going to happen next...

Nadja Brand (Oh! What a gorgeous and sexy woman!), is absolutely fantastic while making her character very realistic and credible.

Eric Colvin is magnificent according to his character on script.

Abbey Stirling is a young actress and did a mediocre job for her first appearance. Who's to blame?

Summing all and concluding, the cinematography makes the film look a lot more expensive for a 9000 Euro cost. The editing is professional, the script good and the directing is quite an accomplishment comparing to other British indie movies of such grandness like Dog Soldiers, Cradle of Fear, Dead Meat and even Boy Eats Girl.

So, we or you will think: If it's so damn good why it's not being distributed in international theaters? Well... because it's too grim and too violent for the regular viewers... but not for me.

I bet on Broken... do you?

Saw this film at a horror festival in Scotland, while we were visiting Britain this year.

A poorly made, SAW rip-off, that makes me want to run out into a forest with cheap camera and show these guys how to make a movie.

It's amateurish, not in style (which would be clever) but in execution (which isn't clever in the slightest) which leads me to believe that the director could have recently been lobotomized, or more likely still, lack any talent or eye for film-making in any way, shape or form.

The no-budget, no-time film projects at college had more thought, script and flair than this does. How a movie like this ever got made is truly remarkable.

The director, not only has no idea of where to put the camera, the dp has no idea where to put the lights, the effects department don't do too badly, but are let down by the performances, which are utterly horrendous.

I would usually blame this on the actors, but in this case, they have been directed into the toilet.

In summary, I would like to say that I'm usually a huge advocate of low-budget films that buck the trend - but in this case, it's a low-talent film that rapes the very idea of storytelling and reduces it to simple mongoloid utterances.

The film-makers should find new careers - this one is over guys.

Broken is a grim low-budget horror film in the old-school tradition. I won't go into details about the story, as most comments already cover that. What I will say is this: Made for next to nothing, and with a simple and strong premise, it's an impressive piece of work. Firstly, it looks great. Atmospheric and intense, the photography suits the theme of the film. There are some shots near the end that simply look superb, and they've really captured that moist, raw "waking up in the woods in the morning"-feeling.

The story is simple and raw. The screenplay is well structured and exploits the premise without ever repeating itself. That's an accomplishment in itself! And it's scary and intense. The gore is well done without being over the top, and the acting is good.

I'm happy to see that people notice low-budget films like this, and give them the attention they deserve. Check it out!

After dating a wonderful man, Hope (Nadja Brand) comes back home, sees her daughter Jennifer and goes to sleep. She wakes-up in the woods with a psychopath (Eric Colvin), fighting to survive for more than forty days and asking information about her daughter to the stranger.

"Broken" is a sick, unpleasant and disturbing low budget movie. In spite of having a reference in the beginning of the movie that it is based on a true event, the pointless story is completely flawed, the character of Hope is a total idiot and the schoolgirl is very stupid and annoying. There is no explanation about where they are and how the women have been kidnapped and transported to the middle of nowhere; Hope is an imbecile, and I do not understand how her character does not kill the sadistic maniac when she has the chance and after being tortured the way she had been; the schoolgirl screaming all the time is really irritating, provoking the nasty situation with her tongue. I did not like this gross movie. My vote is three.

Title (Brazil): "Jogos Sangrentos" ("Bloody Games")

BROKEN (formerly THE HEARTEATER) is a taut survival thriller shot on a low budget in the UK. It's slick and simplistic story will grip you, intrigue and in some cases out right disgust you!

Hope wakes up in wooden box buried under the ground. After a day the box is dug up and she is removed by a man who ties her to a tree asking her "Will you continue?" The twisted game begins. The man has stitched a razor blade inside her which she must dig out in order to cut her ropes. Impressed by her resilience the man fixes her up but continues to keep her bound in chains and turns her into a slave, washing his pots and tending a small garden for food. Hope has no idea how she got here, or why or where her six year old daughter is.

Directors Adam Mason and Simon Boyes deliver the goods here. The film was made over a period of 18 months with Adam's own wife taking on the lead role in a bloody impressive acting turn that would shame the hell out of some big earning actors out there. The whole film has an air of reality which makes it all the more disturbing. The Man is soft spoken, polite and that makes him all the more dangerous. He could easily live next door to you.

The fact that this movie is shot on Digital Video isn't even noticeable. I know that puts off some people ( why i don't know but you'd best get used to it cause it's the future) but the story will grab you and you'll be lost for 89 minutes. And the endings a peach.

If one of your top movie of the last year or so is WOLF CREEK then BROKEN will be for you. And watch out for Adam's new feature THE DEVIL'S CHAIR.