Director: Giulio de Santi
Year: 2013
Country: Italy
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Exploitation
Plot:
Undertaking a mission for a client, a hitman starts to become worried about the logistics of what's going on and starts to back out, forcing his employer to spring a trap on him where he soon is encountered by a string of merciless beings and enemies out to kill him any way they can.
Review:
This was a fairly enjoyable and creative effort. The fact that this one is shot in a point-of-view manner is the best asset for this one, making for a much different and unique experience than expected. Utterly forced on principle to be up-close and personal to the proceedings as the filmmaking tactics demand the actor be a central figure to what's happening around him and it results in a chilling setup to play out. As the confrontations and various situations presented here offer a near video-game experience with how they focus on interacting here, it develops an immediacy to the action that becomes quite immersive as time goes on.
That becomes evident in the film's hallmark where it's all about the gore and brutality as it goes along. The fact that the gore is a fine mix of over-the-top practical splatter and CGI enhancements creates a fine atmosphere of extreme and graphic bloodshed, ranging from having skulls ripped open, limbs being blasted off, decapitations, stabbings, impalements, and getting their fingers smashed with a massive hammer among much more barbaric sequences. The constant nature of this bloodshed manages to offer up the kind of blood-drenched atmosphere that's immensely appealing, which goes alongside all the fine make-up on the creatures to give the film a lot to like.
There are some big issues with this one. The main issue is the over-the-top nature of the shooting style wearing thin quite easily. The jumpiness of the transitions here imitates a video game on autopilot where it focuses on intense action for a brief moment only to have someone off-screen explain what's going on or make vague threats about what's to come. The need to constantly turn around and look at everything going on merely to showcase what's happening in unnatural moments is a comical overstatement and readily makes for a cheesy time here. Given the fact that it's all the way through the film, this can be a little much and brings it down somewhat.
Overview: ***.5/5
Although it wears out its welcome in the end, this one still manages to get enough to like as far as its exploitation qualities go with an abundance of gore and brutality to go alongside the creativeness of its storyline. Give it a look if you're a fan of the creative crew, intrigued by this kind of offering, or looking for a mindless gorefest while most others should heed caution with this one.
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