Director: Giulio de Santi, Tiziana Machella
Year: 2021
Country: Italy
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Exploitation
Plot:
Having survived his trip through the Fire Realm, the assassin finds his search for regeneration impeded by a witch who informs him that a key to complete the process which requires them to travel through the Ice Realm of Hell encountering swarms of demonic creatures to accomplish their task.
Review:
This was another fairly enjoyable and worthwhile follow-up in the franchise. Much like the others, there's a lot to like with the fact that this one is shot in a point-of-view manner which continues to make great use of the format in its visual storytelling. Utterly forced in 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, this 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 with new threats and creatures, it develops an immediacy to the action that becomes quite immersive as time goes on. Moreover, the numerous jump-scares are even more effective as the darkness and insanity offer up a fun time here.
Once again, that all provides the film with the main reason for being here which is a non-stop display of close-up carnage and bloodshed for a continuous experience. The mix of practical gore effects and CGI is mixed incredibly well here, with the use of wounds and human-sized creatures offering up stellar practical effects with heads sliced open, limbs hacked off, innumerable stabbings, and other overtly brutal features. The CGI for the more sizable creations that aren't human-sized allows this to go into a fun direction with the ability to offer massive monstrosities that are blasted apart in a geyser of blood-spray that's fun to watch as well as the creativeness of their appearance, truly making this a fun romp with all kind of enjoyable bloodshed that's become a hallmark of the franchise thus far.
There are some big issues with this one which are exactly the same flaws in the earlier entries. This main issue is the over-the-top nature of the shooting or stabbing style wearing thin quite easily, much quicker even than it did in the first one. 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 have the plot explained in a narration-like style from the one other member he meets who agrees to help him gets old and tiring quickly just as well, especially with the unhelpful nature of the instructions. 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
Another really likable entry in the saga, this one continues to be more of the same for the most part as it continues to have the same positives and drawbacks as the previous efforts. Give this a shot if you're a fan of the series or the creative crew, while most others out there who weren't into the other entries should heed caution.
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