bombsaway814

This movie caught me completely by surprise. I had seen the preview for it and I liked the song used so I thought I would pick it up. I expected another low budget lion's gate film. Now don't get me wrong, I like the cheesy, low budget, awful horror movies as much as the million dollar projects. From the moment the movie began, I was hooked. Here is a key element breakdown:

*plot- I liked the story line. Simple and easy, like a good horror movie should be. The killer appears and starts his thing. That's it. There's relatively no subplot BUT you still get to know the characters. And who doesn't like a good plot twist at the end? If it works, it works... and it works in this film. Also, I like that this film takes place in France. Who thinks of serial killers in France?

*characters- Simply written, yet deep. The actors and actresses were perfectly picked, especially Cecile De France. I totally fell in love with her. The acting all around was convincing. It felt very honest and realistic.

*cinematography- I thought that there was great usage of light. There's minimal special effects other than wounds. But the environment was wonderful. A creepy house in the middle of cornfields! So the use of "moonlight" in the shots is great. When shaky camera was used it was always appropriate.

*gore- wow. The movie's definitely full of blood and gore. Lot's of weapons, lots of death. Some very creative death scenes. It's hard to gross out die-hard horror fans, but there were a few times I found myself groaning! Anyway, the movie blew away. I definitely did not expect such a high quality picture. I didn't mind the half french/ half English. You can watch on DVD the original french language version or English dubbed version. I look forward to more movies by Alexandre Aja. Bravo to Lions Gate as well for releasing a film of much higher caliber than they tend to do!

while this movie is marketed at a horror film, let me just say right out that is in fact the exact opposite. it is so funny in its awfulness. you know how ed wood movies are funny because they are so bad? well dead above ground is right up there. you can tell that the crew had good intentions of making a scary movie but it is so forced and benign. actually the movie is quite painful to watch at first. i finished it floored and amazed at the stupidity of it all. Cliché characters, zero plot continuity, unrealistic dialogue, cheesy special effects... it's got it all. BUT after watching it again, this time with a group of friends... it has now become one of our most quoted movies! As a group, we found it hysterical! It is so rotten, it's fantastic! Who could forget such memorable lines as, "KABOOM! Coach scores!" or "Stop laughing! You're all dead above ground!" A ridiculous portrayal of goth kids, an inept tough-guy cop with feathered hair, a completely unromantic 5 second sex scene, and a cliff-hanger ending! What's great is we still sit around talking about how much we hate this movie yet we still talk about it! Prepare for hilarity with this piece of cinema!