WOW!  Every once in a while, I hit on a real gem on Netflix and that's why I love Netflix so much.  You can take a chance on any and all movies you feel like checking out.  If it sucks, stop it and try another.   No harm, no foul, no cost.

Here we have a little Italian film that has so many things going for it.  It appears to have won a number of awards, but it's hard to be sure.  It's miles ahead of your normal horror fare, though, and that includes big budget Hollywood releases.

Cinematography is fantastic and production values are shockingly high.  Huge shout out to Director Federico Zampaglione and Cinematographer Marco Bassano.  Acting is good across the board, and you may recognize Karina Testa from the awesome Frontier(s).  I was also very impressed with the music score, so another shout out to Andrea Moscianese, who wrote all the original tunes.  The tone and feel is brutal and the violence and gore very well done.

It's a tough film to review though without giving too much away.  It's definitely not what you may think it is from the synopsis and especially from the setup.

This movie is definitely not for everyone and I can see how lots of peeps won't even give it more than 15 minutes, as they'll call it cliched, and completely unnecessary with no plot, no characters, blah, blah, blah.  For those of you, and you know who you are, stick with The King's Speech and The Descendants.

But if you like horror, and enjoy discovering what could one day be a cult classic, get in a good horror mood and get ready for a pretty wild little ride.

The movie is short - too short, but alot of fun, in a sick, twisted way.  Although filmed in Italy, the dialogue is all in English and is not dubbed, which is always a good thing.

I'd love to discuss the ending, but again, until peeps have given it a chance, I don't want to say anything at all.

Bert, this one's for you, bro.  Check it out...I think you'll really enjoy it!

Quoted from Dreamscale Bert, this one's for you, bro.  Check it out...I think you'll really enjoy it!

So, a shout-out like that almost makes the film an assignment.

Fortunately, I did like it.  Quite a bit.

The first half is a bit cliché, it's true, with the "jerk" characters painted in very broad strokes -- but the leads are quite likable -- and the first half does have its moments, not to mention some truly beautiful scenery worthy of a travelogue.

But the second half is where we get the payoff for our patience.

For me, a major factor as to whether this type of film succeeds or fails is the mofo with the knife -- and here they deliver in spades.  The best I've seen in quite some time.  The kind where you just stare at him thinking, "Where on Earth did they find THIS guy??"

And it is the quality of our "maniac" that supplies genuine tension and honest, couch-squirming thrills during the latter half of this film.

An added bonus is an unexpected LOL that takes you completely by surprise it is so out of place.  It may be commentary that not everyone will agree with, but it was a rare, "literal" laugh-out-loud moment for me -- I almost never have those -- which almost made it worth the (free) price of admission right there.

And this comical scene -- involving portraits -- is all the funnier (or meaningful) given the late reveal that comes during the final frames of the film.

So, yeah.  I can probably count on one-and-a-half hands the times I have been in total agreement with Jeff, but he is right this time -- this one is a hidden gem.  Well, "gem" might be too strong a word, but it is plenty good, for sure.

So now you have Jeff and bert saying you should check it out.  For whatever that is worth.

This one kicks ass.  Worth it for the score alone, but also shot beautifully and, yes, with one of the more delightfully unexpected jokes I've seen in a movie in a while.

Strong recommend from me, for those that like a bit of nastiness at least.

I must have watched a different flick from everyone else -- this one fell 12 feet from the ribbon for me.

The thing that hinders it is its twist, which makes every stupid, illogical and cliched event in the movie seem logical and somewhat clever... But at the same time is an insult too.  "the it's all a dream" bit is heavily frowned upon in film and, if memory serves, here too.   I guess if it won awards it can't be too frowned upon though, huh?

The so called antagonist looked frail, weak and unthreatening.  I wasn't scared, intimidated or creeped out by him.  In fact, I kinda wanted to buy him a big mac and an order of fries.  But only after I directed IFC to the blatant rip off of "Happy Hell Night"(s) killer.  This guy is a dead ringer for him... Which is also puzzling because they used a scyth too.  Were they payin' homage??

In the bitter end, I didn't like it.  It also didn't help that it spiraled out of control into a typical torture flick though either... But given the twist did make all of that garbage seem logical, I wanna let it slide.  

Ifc makes some of the worst movies.   I've never been a fan and they always come off as trying too hard to make social commentery statements... If memory serves they also did Troll Hunter though, too.  So all bets are off, man.

I do agree the music was alright, the cam work was nice during the 1st half of the movie and the setting was nice.  But too many cliches brought it down.  I respect the Rod Serling-esq nod, but it isn't enough.  

SPOILERS

^^ I think the twist is what made me enjoy the film so much.  It gives it the quality of a quick little one-off horror story, the kind you find in an anthology.  To me, it's a solid study in mood and tone that's based entirely on one simple visual metaphor -- the horrors experienced in the film for, y'know, more realistic horrors.  This is the kind of thing film does best, I think; asserts a strongly visual element to the tone of a metaphor.  There's nothing particularly complicated about the film.  It's just that the "horrors" of war become, visually, horror.

I assumed he had a scythe because he's a version of The Grim Reaper, no?  I do agree that he looked a little bit frail...when the main dude has escaped and is running away, I was thinking, why don't they just turn around and beat this guy to death?  I had gotten the idea at that point, though, that there was the suggestion of something slightly supernatural to him (by this I mean I guess that as an allegory, all the elements of the story are somewhat "supernatural"...this could be a weakness of the story.  I guess the question is, does our perception of the fear the protagonist has of the bad guy sell us on the idea that the bad guy is formidable?  Not quite, for me, but not so far off as to be a big stumbling point)

Good to see some action on this thread.

The ending is really what I wanted to discuss, because I do deplore "it was all a dream" type endings with a passion, but I just liked so much about this flick and honestly thought the end worked in this case.

Glad to hear there is some praise here, and I alos understand Balt's view.  For me, I see so many movies that when one stands out for positive reasons, I'm willing to give it some slack here and there.

This one worked for me and looked surprisingly great.

I was disappointed until I saw good 'ol El presidente in the end.. won't spoil it. That scene alone made me switch it from 1 star to 5 stars.

As for the rest of the film, it was okay slasher film. The ending reminded me of Jacob's Ladder. But man, oh man that painting....