Waz

WAZ is just another inept attempt to cash in on the torture porn card, and it tries to do so poorly.

Two cops investigate a series of murders in which one set of victims, prior to death, were forced via torture to electrocute a loved one. As they close in on the killer, it becomes apparent that one of the cops has been less than completely forthcoming about all he knows regarding the case.

There is a ridiculous number of scenes showing people getting in and out of cars in this film. The fact that that stands out as my primary memory of it says something...

Being a Horror freak, I usually give a chance to pretty much any Horror sub-genre and type. The Killing Gene is one of these Thrillers that I personally don't really consider Horror, as it's not scary or frightening in any way. It does revolve around some pretty terrible things, but I personally like films that are scarier.

Having said that, I think The Killing Gene was a very nice thriller. Stellan Skarsgård, unlike his role in Thor (and The Avengers) was dark and charismatic, and Melissa George was as great as always. The story idea was nice and original, and made it a little hard to pick sides. The twist towards the end did manage to surprise me, and the ending itself was a very nice closure. Notice most of the times I used an adjective, it was "nice". Not more, nor less.

As for criticism? The twist was very original, but I was kinda hoping for something a little deeper and more complicated. All in all, I'd say The Killing Gene was a gloomy combination of Saw, The Bone Collector and Kindergarten Cop.

I personally enjoyed it as a thriller, not as Horror. If you're thriller fans, you probably will enjoy it too.

I give 5 stars as this is one of those films that you can watch and then throw away. It's not bad but it's not good. I don't think it's the sort of film where you would pull it out of your DVD collection every couple of months to watch.

I'm not sure what type of 'film' was used but the director went for (what looked like to me) HD hand-held cams. Don't get me wrong, I don't mean Cloverfield 'all over the show' sort of filming but rather the film print it's self. I suppose this gives the film it's 'gritty' look, which I can appreciate sometimes but for this movie it just made the production look cheap. If it weren't for the famous faces you'd be forgiven for thinking you may be watching a lower budget movie.

As for the film itself....we've seen such ideas already done with 'Saw' and 'untraceable'. There's no real new context here to give a fresh light to the story. The acting was fine and I have no problem with the direction....I just wasn't drawn into the film in any way. It was difficult to hold my interest or really care about the characters on screen.

I don't really give insight into the 'story' of a film when I review as others do that better but as a film goer I'd say that this is a throw-away film.....the sort you'd rent or watch to pass some time. As I've said before, it's not a bad film....but it isn't great. Slap bang in the middle

I went to one of the first official screenings of this film last night at the frightfest in London, West End. It was brilliant! I wouldn't suggest that I was sceptical, but more open minded and intrigued to discover exactly what this movie was going to be like. I had heard mixed reviews about pre-completed screenings and at the end of the day, didn't want to waste my Sunday evening.

I am pleased to say that 'WaZ' is a perfect mixture of raw grit, commercial trends and generic cliché's. I am not always a fan of modern day camera work and cinematography, yet this film comfortably took it to the limit and told a great story in an innovative way. Well done to Mr Shankland and fellow cast and crew, as this film will (in my mind) no doubt keep thriller fans on the edge of their seats when spending the close approaching weekend evenings at the flicks.

When taking a chance on a sight-unseen, used DVD, my expectations are usually fairly reflective of the few bucks I shell out for it. "The Killing Gene," while boasting a fine cast, struck me as nothing more than another blurb-happy, sledgehammer obvious entry in the Dimension 'Extreme' line of hit-or-miss horrors. After having watched it, all I can say is...holy hell. Obviously targeting the audiences that made "Saw" and "Hostel" the New Torture Vanguard (one of the box blurbs directly references the former, not without accuracy), "The Killing Gene"--despite some transparently derivative elements pulled from the genre--comes very close to trouncing its competition. Remember that moment near the end of "Saw" when Cary Elwes does the unthinkable with the titular tool? Well, imagine that degree of gritty intensity stretched out over the course of 102 nerve-shredding minutes, and you have a good idea of what to expect here. Stellan Skarsgard (bearing an uncanny resemblance to Donald Pleasence) plays a homicide detective investigating a string of torture-murders with novice cop Melissa George; suspicions are running that the killer is targeting a group of vile gang members out of revenge for an equally hideous crime (which I won't reveal here; it's a truly horrifying scene). Clive Bradley's script doesn't use the torture angle as a mere marketable throwaway, nor does it treat the characters as meat for the machine; there is a surprising amount of development here, to the point where our sympathies and doubts become one and the same. From a visual standpoint, director Tom Shankland ("The Children") uses jerky digital video and claustrophobic close-ups to convey a sense of urgency within a decaying urban nightmare from which all hope has been drained (this could very well be the most squalid metropolis since David Fincher's "Se7en"). As an unapologetic, unashamed horror fan, I often find myself sitting through garbage that isn't worth the DVD it's pressed on, which makes something like "The Killing Gene" all the more refreshing. Yes, there are some parts you'll feel as though you've seen before; but damned if the overall experience doesn't leave you shaken and adequately disturbed afterward. (It also bears noting that this R-rated film contains some of the most unglamorous, boundary-pushing violence in recent memory.)