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Stars: Daniyar Alshinov, Asel Kaliyeva, Azamat Marklenov, Yerlan Prynsetov, Alamat Sakatov, Rustem Zhaniyamanov, Yerkebulan Daiyrov, Dulgya Akmolda | Written by Yernar Nurgaliyev, Daniyar Soltanbayev, Ilyas Toleu, Anuar Turizhigitov, Alisher Utev, Aybasov Zhandos | Directed by Yernar Nurgaliyev

We’ve reviewed films from all over the world, Estonia, Tunisia, Norway, Cambodia, even Mongolia. I’m fairly sure though that Sweetie, You Won’t Believe It is the first film from Kazakhstan that we’ve reviewed. How does this bloody black comedy from a country better known for producing Mma fighters than movies fare?

Dastan (Daniyar Alshinov) is stressed out by the thought that he’ll soon be a father. He’s even more stressed out by his wife Zhanna (Asel Kaliyeva) constantly nagging and screaming at him. So he decides that a weekend spent fishing with his buddies Arman (Azamat Marklenov) and Muram (Yerlan Prynsetov) is just what he needs. The fact none of...

To mark the release of Sweetie, You Won’t Believe It, out now, we’ve been given 2 copies to give away on Blu-ray.

Bickering husband and wife Dastan (Daniar Alshinov) and Zhanna (Asel Kaliyeva) are expecting their first child and Dastan is desperate to get away for one last weekend of fun before the baby arrives and he must finally settle down. He rounds up his two best pals for a boys’ weekend of fishing and fun, but little do they know their plan for a chilled trip to the lake is about to turn into mad and deadly mayhem.

After accidentally witnessing a murder by a group of thugs, the three friends are suddenly on the run to escape their violent clutches and then things turn even wilder. With a mysterious one-eyed man out for blood and a desperate wannabe bride and her pushy father in the mix, the body count starts to rise.

Kazakhstani caper sends Dastan off for one last fishing weekend with his mates before the baby arrives, but horror descends in more ways than one

Deliverance meets The Hangover in this wacky-but-slapdash horror-comedy from Kazakhstan. It’s juvenile, crass and gross-out, with funny bits depressingly few and far between. Daniar Alshinov is Dastan, a man who is under the cosh of his pregnant wife Zhanna (Asel Kaliyeva); her only personality trait is that she’s a nagging ballbreaker. Though to be fair, most of the characters here feel like one-dimensional stereotypes.

As a last hurrah before the birth of the baby, Dastan has arranged to go fishing with two old buddies. One of them, Arman (Azamat Marklenov) owns an online sex toy business, so arrives with a camper van full of cheapo factory seconds blow-up dolls. Things get steadily more unhilarious from there. An excruciating set piece on the road...

Stars: Daniyar Alshinov, Asel Kaliyeva, Azamat Marklenov, Yerlan Prynsetov, Alamat Sakatov, Rustem Zhaniyamanov, Yerkebulan Daiyrov, Dulgya Akmolda | Written by Yernar Nurgaliyev, Daniyar Soltanbayev, Ilyas Toleu, Anuar Turizhigitov, Alisher Utev, Aybasov Zhandos | Directed by Yernar Nurgaliyev

We’ve reviewed films from all over the world, Estonia, Tunisia, Norway, Cambodia, even Mongolia. I’m fairly sure though that Sweetie, You Won’t Believe It is the first film from Kazakhstan that we’ve reviewed. How does this bloody black comedy from a country better known for producing Mma fighters than movies fare?

Dastan (Daniyar Alshinov) is stressed out by the thought that he’ll soon be a father. He’s even more stressed out by his wife Zhanna (Asel Kaliyeva) constantly nagging and screaming at him. So he decides that a weekend spent fishing with his buddies Arman (Azamat Marklenov) and Muram (Yerlan Prynsetov) is just what he needs. The fact none of...

If you're a fan of Three Stooges-style silent slapstick but wish it came with a lot more gore, then, Sweetie, you won't believe what a treat you are in for with the latest from Kazakhstani director Yernar Nurgaliyev, which mixes physical comedy with a spring break vibe and throws in a handful of western and gangster elements for good measure. The result, while not always entirely successful, is most certainly never boring.

At its heart is the hapless and henpecked Dastan (Daniar Alshinov) - the gender definitions throughout the film are as broad as the comedy -  who despite his heavily pregnant wife Zhanna's  (Asel Kaliyeva) hectoring is determined to spend a day fishing with his buddies Arman (Azamat Marklenov) and Murat (Erlan Primbetov). The sensibilities of the superstitious Arman are clear from the off, given that he has a load of faulty blow-up sex dolls in the back of his van,...

One of the most bonkers films brewed in the genre kitchen this year is the Kazakhstan horror-sprinkled comedy ‘Sweetie, You Won’t Believe It’ directed by Yernar Nurgaliyev, a name to remember and watch for in the future. Nurgaliyev is not exactly a newcomer, but this is his first feature length film that crossed the borders of his native Kazakhstan to hit international festivals, clicking with the genre-drawn audiences. The film had its world premiere at the Warsaw Film festival back in October after which it screened in Sitges. We caught up with it at PÖFF in the ‘Midnight Shivers’ section.

Echoing the tropes from popular films around the turn of the millennium, ‘Sweetie, You Won’t Believe It’ is borrowing bits and pieces from many places, becoming a cabinet of curiosities of sorts. At the same time, it is as Kazakh as it can be, on one side mirroring the societal norms and values,...