Affamés

Awakening to find themselves trapped in an underground bunker with no way out, a group of people finds themselves subjected to an experiment in food deprivation to determine the effects of hunger on a person, and begin slowly losing their humanity the longer they stay involved in the situation.

As a pretty dismal and really uneven entry, this one doesn't have all that much going for it. One of the few positive aspects here is the rather appealing setup of the madman who has a legitimate quest in place. The effects of starvation and hunger on a human body serves as a solid enough premise and offers up the kind of disturbing start here that's got the potential for a much creepier film than it really provided in the end. The ability to explore the kind of human psyche probing that goes into this kind of genre effort is a rich and potentially exploitative feature which really could've given this a lot more substance as the long-term effects are quite intriguing work that the film utilizes. While it does have some grisly, realistic violence and gore shown here, the fact that this is more of a human psyche study than an out-and-out carving up of the human body, it's not as suspenseful, chilling or even creepy as it stands and really only serves those looking for the deeper meanings while those looking for more traditional efforts will be utterly bored and disappointed. Beyond the initial appearance and trappings of a torture film, the particular area of study conducted by the madman dictates that hardly anything at all even happens in this one as they sit around talking to each other or attempting escapes while they're being watched over, letting the film seemingly go on forever with absolutely nothing happening or even getting any kinds of answers to questions since the lead psycho never utters a word and all of the notes undertaken don't come off legibly. The other problem here is the fact that the study is never conducted in any kind of realistic manner since the whole affair transpires over the course of a month without anyone looking even slightly encumbered by only consuming water instead of any kind of substance. The attempts to make-up them into looking hideous or malnourished are completely mishandled and manage to cause them to look glamorous instead, quite the opposite of what the purpose is while also missing the point of a realistic manner of human deterioration that usually occurs. By completely failing to understand this basic concept of the film, it's nearly impossible to get into this one on any level which really throws this one away the most on top of the other flaws.

Rated Unrated/R: Extreme Graphic Violence and Graphic Language.

I watched this movie by accident and while it definitely has some flaws, overall, I walked away finding the whole thing quite interesting. It's an obvious late addition to the torture porn trend in mid to late 2000s horror (a trend I'm not a fan of, but, let's be honest, Saw and Hostel brought back R-rated horror with a vengeance and all horror fans should be forever grateful for that).

There are some profound continuity issues with this movie--the women have impeccable hair well into the experiment (everyone's hair gets greasy and matted after a week, so the makeup department and script supervisor should have raised the point with the director). Someone else has mentioned the men should have had much fuller beards by the third week of the experiment. These are nitpicking issues that, unfortunately, viewers in the age of absolute literalism in entertainment will focus on. Overall, however, the story is interesting and I like the fact that nothing is over-explained. In that way, the movie is a nice throwback to the superior horror movies of the 1970s,

I'm about halfway through the Fangoria Titles and this is the new low of lows.The other films have at least one redeeming quality, but I couldn't find anything to appreciate in this one. Low budget doesn't have to mean bad, but the acting, set, and acting are subpar. Very little happens in this movie, don't let the reviews that praise it for being 'psychological' fool you. The first ten minutes are told primarily in the dark. This sequence could have been effective, but merely sets the stage for further mediocrity. Some of the editing is so poor you have to piece together what is transpiring by guesswork. These are not characters that devolve to survive in desperation, just poorly drawn characters that you won't care about. Not much logic to be had here.

Do not waste your time, no redeeming value.

What WOULD you do if you were stuck in a underground room with four other people for a month, with all the water you could drink but nothing to eat? Considering the irritation level of the individuals here, perhaps I wouldn't wait until starvation set in before killing them all. And I'm pretty sure you'd be driven even more insane than what is depicted here. But still, if you ever wanted an accurate representation of cannibalism, here it is in all its unflinching glory.

Reminding me of an old Keira Knightley flop called The Hole and about a million other films where innocent people are abducted and forced into obeying the whims of a sadistic 'mastermind', at least this one has a bit more depth than most. We find out about the history of this manipulative psycho, and the final denouement is ingenious to say the least. It's still VERY generic in tone, but it could have been much worse. Just eat before viewing... 5/10

The brave and very honest performances of the cast is what allows Hunger to rise above its low budget. It's harrowing rather than frightening, and largely predictable. It might have worked better if less of the drama had been predicated upon one member of the captives being unstable, of tiny morals and given to rage. We see the setup in so many horror flicks, a group of strangers awake to their captivity, and are preyed upon by a sadist to bring out the worst in their characters. Saw and Cube movies are just two of numerous comparisons, but the most notable. Saw and Cube at least gave entries a fighting chance. The setup in Hunger largely discounts that hope, which makes the unusual ending all the more satisfying. There's nothing essentially wrong with Hunger's production, or its pace or its vision. It's a good indie. You just have to decide if spending 90 minutes underground in a man-made hell is your cup of tea.