Citadel

I do normally take a look at other reviews of the films I watch, just to see if other people got something that I missed. Here, I think I must have been watching a completely different film. If you check out a lot of the online reviews of 'Citadel' then you'll be told it's one of the best modern horror films ever.

It just bored me.

It's an Irish horror film about a young man who witnesses his wife being murdered by demon children, leaving him an agoraphobic. He later meets up with a - slightly bonkers - old priest and they team up to fight the aforementioned demon hoodies.

It's an okay enough idea (I've seen worse), but I didn't find any of the characters interesting or likable, plus the children weren't that scary (well, no more than their identical clones you see hanging around every off license up and down the country).

Yes, it was presented in a reasonably different way which made it clear they were trying to steer away from the Hollywood style of film-making. But, at the end of the day, it didn't take away from the fact that it bored me.

Others obviously disagreed. Fair enough.

From the Irish and Scottish film boards a nice gritty horror that plays out like a great short story. Quite creepy with solid main performances from Cosmo (Braveheart and Game of Thrones) a world class actor and newcomer Barnard. This reminds me of another similarly gritty Celtic collaboration. A great Urban horror set in dangerous Scottish estates abandoned it seems by police and society where fear breeds. The agoraphobia of the main character is done well I thought and that different angle and its subsequent analogy of escaping from the hopeless forgotten edges of society added another dimension to the main character. Cosmo is great as always as the unorthodox priest and you'll not be seeing him waving about any bibles trying to dispossess anyone. The only complaint I will make is a scene which isn't really essential in which some dodgy CGI is employed. The main character might look a bit over made up in his attempt to look like a sleep deprived fear driven man, but otherwise I really enjoyed this film done on an extremely modest budget displaying just how to make a modern urban horror.

Although this film was made thanks to sponsorship from the Irish film board, it is far from a piece of Catholic dogma. The character who plays the priest renounces religion entirely and the film's horror is an original and recent addition to the genre. It's full of good ideas and can be related to relatively recent phenomena; the urban sprawl and the creation of enormous flatblocks outside city centres, prevalent across the United Kingdom. Most frighteningly perhaps it represents the disaffected youth who hide themselves from the enormous collection of security cameras which dictate their life. Spawns of drug selling youth hide their identity behind hoodies; who'd have guessed 20 years ago that being approached by a group of youth wearing tracksuits would be such a menacing phenomenon. In this film creative use is made of this fear. The film is far from perfect, but most important is its originality, fear is created the way it should be, as suspense, and the implication of the horror created by its themes don't require an enormous spilling of blood or disgusting special effects to disquiet and disturb you. I'm glad I saw this film; it proves again that truly good additions to the genre, don't originate from Hollywood and don't require its approval to be made.

Not as bad as the previous user has stated, and seeing that he is Irish, you would think he would have a bit more encouragement for Irish funded films. Granted it is certainly not perfect, but the scary scenes are genuinely scary and the film does provide a jump here and there. The lead performance was strong enough for an upcoming actor and I liked the idea of a weak main character. The bargained price Brian Cox priest character was a bit too much though and the scenes involving him really took from the film. Overall very watchable and with more of a budget this could have been a whole other film....which is probably a bad thing

Citadel is one of those movies that have a very effective, intriguing and startling beginning, but loses its steam after its tricks and twists are revealed. I did think the movie was atmospheric from beginning to end, with a couple of suspenseful moments here and there. The film starts off with young parents to be, who just finished packing up their things to move from their run down apartment building. The wife is soon attacked by unknown hooded youths, while the husband watches in horror as he gets stuck in an elevator. The attack leaves the wife dead, but forces the baby into the world prematurely. From there on we witness the father's struggle to raise his baby daughter on his own, while dealing with the loss of his wife and becomes agoraphobic. That raw, heartfelt, terrifying and emotionally powerful first half is boggled down by the unrealistic hooded figures that he fears the most, but for me I just wasn't sold and didn't find them scary. They reminded me of the creatures from The Brood.

The performances really save this film, most notably from Aneurin Barnard who plays the emotionally scarred, widowed father Tommy. He gives such an emotionally challenging role and does it in such a gripping fashion than most actors under 30 couldn't pull off. James Cosmo was also great as the Priest and gives such a dead pan, eccentric and commanding performance. James reminded me for some reason of the actor Brian Cox.

Director and writer, Ciaran Foy definitely knows how to get under your skin and stay there, with his claustrophobic atmosphere. I just thought there was an inconsistency with his story; sure it was gripping for most of the running time but just wasn't effective as a whole. The ending was just pretty weak to me and the hooded figures have been done before in a much scarier fashion, like in the film Them. The whole twist was just a sham to me and undermines the harrowing first half. He has the skills and knows how to use them for this genre but got quickly lost here. I still think that it's a pretty decent start for a first time director.

Overall, the movie that comes to mind that dealt with urban violence in a way more effective matter is The Brave One. Citadel had a great start and had one of the most heartfelt and gripping performances from an actor in a horror film in 2012. The villains were just not that scary and kind of silly to me once they are revealed and yanked the effectiveness out of the movie for me. It's a decent horror film but also a disappointment.