Director: Kirill Sokolov
Year: 2019
Country: Russia
Alternate Titles: Papa, sdokhni
Genre: Suspense/Thriller
Plot:
Arriving unexpectedly at his girlfriends’ apartment, a man finds her father and mother alone and sets out trying to kill them as part of their plan, only to run into a series of escalating events that turn the night into a bloodbath and hindering his attempts to do so.
For the most part, this one was an engaging and fun effort. Most of that aspect here is due to the film’s over-the-top, comic book like feel throughout the whole film. From the opening fight through the apartment where they inflict seemingly supernatural amounts of damage on each other, throwing TV sets onto each other, being hurtled through furniture and flying around the room with utter ease, there’s a really loony and silly feel. This violent series of outbursts gives a great example of what’s to come from this one, including the stellar torture scene in the bathroom, the scenes of the father on the boyfriend and the inclusion of the father’s best friend into the picture really amps up the craziness here and provides a never-ending series of bloodshed and outstanding gore-gags for plenty of fun.
In terms of its storyline, the film’s blackly comedic tone is somewhat challenging to get through which is somewhat of an issue. There’s a really jarring and otherworldly tone here from the idea of the nerdy boyfriend being tortured by the father which is all revealed at the end as for why this is all happening, and that’s an incredibly flimsy and silly pretense for doing anything at all here. The final revelation is so ludicrous to take seriously as a real-life scenario, indeed the whole point but still makes for a somewhat challenging time here, especially with the films’ tactic of providing the backstory for each main participant in this quest getting filled out in flashback that tends to make for too many double-crosses, triple-crosses and outright shock twists that are fully tough to understand as it is without the dark humor added on. Still, this isn’t all that detrimental.
Overview: ****/5
A full-on blast of over-the-top gore, black humor and a generally enjoyable pace, there's not a whole lot of issues that hold it down. Give this a chance if you're into these kinds of black comedy crime thrillers or looking for something far more intriguing than expected, while those put off by the genre style and tone here should heed caution.
This review ran as part of our remote coverage of Cinepocalypse Festival 2019.
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