Citadel

Citadel is one of those movies that have a very effective, intriguing and startling beginning, but loses its steam after its tricks and twists are revealed. I did think the movie was atmospheric from beginning to end, with a couple of suspenseful moments here and there. The film starts off with young parents to be, who just finished packing up their things to move from their run down apartment building. The wife is soon attacked by unknown hooded youths, while the husband watches in horror as he gets stuck in an elevator. The attack leaves the wife dead, but forces the baby into the world prematurely. From there on we witness the father's struggle to raise his baby daughter on his own, while dealing with the loss of his wife and becomes agoraphobic. That raw, heartfelt, terrifying and emotionally powerful first half is boggled down by the unrealistic hooded figures that he fears the most, but for me I just wasn't sold and didn't find them scary. They reminded me of the creatures from The Brood.

The performances really save this film, most notably from Aneurin Barnard who plays the emotionally scarred, widowed father Tommy. He gives such an emotionally challenging role and does it in such a gripping fashion than most actors under 30 couldn't pull off. James Cosmo was also great as the Priest and gives such a dead pan, eccentric and commanding performance. James reminded me for some reason of the actor Brian Cox.

Director and writer, Ciaran Foy definitely knows how to get under your skin and stay there, with his claustrophobic atmosphere. I just thought there was an inconsistency with his story; sure it was gripping for most of the running time but just wasn't effective as a whole. The ending was just pretty weak to me and the hooded figures have been done before in a much scarier fashion, like in the film Them. The whole twist was just a sham to me and undermines the harrowing first half. He has the skills and knows how to use them for this genre but got quickly lost here. I still think that it's a pretty decent start for a first time director.

Overall, the movie that comes to mind that dealt with urban violence in a way more effective matter is The Brave One. Citadel had a great start and had one of the most heartfelt and gripping performances from an actor in a horror film in 2012. The villains were just not that scary and kind of silly to me once they are revealed and yanked the effectiveness out of the movie for me. It's a decent horror film but also a disappointment.

I do normally take a look at other reviews of the films I watch, just to see if other people got something that I missed. Here, I think I must have been watching a completely different film. If you check out a lot of the online reviews of 'Citadel' then you'll be told it's one of the best modern horror films ever.

It just bored me.

It's an Irish horror film about a young man who witnesses his wife being murdered by demon children, leaving him an agoraphobic. He later meets up with a - slightly bonkers - old priest and they team up to fight the aforementioned demon hoodies.

It's an okay enough idea (I've seen worse), but I didn't find any of the characters interesting or likable, plus the children weren't that scary (well, no more than their identical clones you see hanging around every off license up and down the country).

Yes, it was presented in a reasonably different way which made it clear they were trying to steer away from the Hollywood style of film-making. But, at the end of the day, it didn't take away from the fact that it bored me.

Others obviously disagreed. Fair enough.

Although this film was made thanks to sponsorship from the Irish film board, it is far from a piece of Catholic dogma. The character who plays the priest renounces religion entirely and the film's horror is an original and recent addition to the genre. It's full of good ideas and can be related to relatively recent phenomena; the urban sprawl and the creation of enormous flatblocks outside city centres, prevalent across the United Kingdom. Most frighteningly perhaps it represents the disaffected youth who hide themselves from the enormous collection of security cameras which dictate their life. Spawns of drug selling youth hide their identity behind hoodies; who'd have guessed 20 years ago that being approached by a group of youth wearing tracksuits would be such a menacing phenomenon. In this film creative use is made of this fear. The film is far from perfect, but most important is its originality, fear is created the way it should be, as suspense, and the implication of the horror created by its themes don't require an enormous spilling of blood or disgusting special effects to disquiet and disturb you. I'm glad I saw this film; it proves again that truly good additions to the genre, don't originate from Hollywood and don't require its approval to be made.

I was teetering between 6 and 7 here, and settled on the latter because this IS a genuinely scary and disturbing film. We've definitely had a shortage of that lately in this genre - so it was nice to have some moments where, even at 39 years-old, I felt a little uneasy.

"Citadel" has many strengths and a few weaknesses. I'll touch on a bit of each while trying not to give too much away from what is a basic storyline. Now, it didn't have to be basic.

I think where the film misses is diving a bit further into the villains of this frightening tale. The back-story there is a bit vague to say the least, and the rest of the story doesn't do much to clear it up.

I'm sure that the budget constraints limited the production in certain ways, BUT I think all involved deserve more kudo's than criticism. After all, the intent with these types of films is to scare, and this is as "uncomfortable" as I've been watching a film in quite some time.

Think of a darker, scarier spin on Harry Brown. "Citadel" actually borrows quite a bit from "Harry Brown".

The film is extremely brooding - never really stepping into the light for more than a few seconds. I think it's definitely a strength. The film does have it's own sense of Style.

You have the feeling during this film that you are completely alone. There is no help coming, and you'll have to fend for yourself.

The film is without question under-rated at present on IMDb. I pulled up the rating on my phone after renting it from the redbox, and due to time, I nearly put-off watching it altogether. Glad I fit it in. I've seen 62 films from 2012 so far, and this is definitely in the top 20 for now. It's one of the better entries into the horror genre over the last few years, and could have been incredible if they would have just finished the film.

The ending needed a bit more carnage and revenge to put this over-the-top into the "true-gem-of-a-sleeper" category. They were so close... literally a few heads being axed-off and an explosion away from sheer low-budget glory, and a 9 ranking. Why do I get the feeling we'll see an American version of this that spends 10 times the money but has no sense of style or scare value?

The acting is way above average for this type of thing, and it's that acting and the mood that keeps it afloat. The lead and the priest are great. There are only 4 speaking roles in the whole film! 4! Rather than nit-pick the plot and the ending(which are easy targets) - let's step back and enjoy some of the strong characteristics of this film.

You might like this if you liked:Candyman(better), Winter's Bone(better),The Road(about even or ever-so-slightly better), Eden Lake(about even or ever-so slightly better), The People Under The Stairs(even), and The Brood(even).

If you want a sleeper horror film to rent - it's usually a dangerous proposition. That's one of the many reasons why I can recommend this one. Far from perfect, but boy this little low-budget Irish entry packs quite an uneasy punch.

67/100

Honestly, I love the whole concept and the story. The thing I found so difficult to watch was the main character, Tommy Cowley. Granted he's agoraphobic, but I'm a bit irritated with such weak characters, especially when they're men. So you'd better have a lot of patience for Tommy's constant cringing if you want to finish the film.

In a nutshell, I thought the decisions the main character made were all short of idiotic, but then again, maybe it's attributed to his "condition". It didn't hamper the fact that the cinematography was quite good, the atmosphere--excellent, and the acting convincing. The spin of the story was also very interesting and I liked that they added an element of supernatural in it.

The pace of the movie is a bit slow, but I thought that worked quite well for the film. There's not much action involved, but I thought the ending was quite good. I still don't regret watching the film and would recommend it.