The Mountain Kings

This is a tough film to review, as it does everything in its power to deter, dismiss, and disappoint its audience. The truth is, however, that it does do something far more compelling: It remains compelling and does not broadcast a message, it forces you to experience it.

The story is of course disturbing and distressing, extremely strong performances, and highlights the fleeting boundary between reality and fiction. Overall it's a artistic-horror-thriller, raising many serious questions about violence.

I found myself sympathizing for the main victim in this film played by an unknown and exceptional young actress. She was constantly put in further peril for the sake of "entertainment". And for this reason, I was completely enthralled. I was glued to the screen, wondering what the group's exact fate was. It was at that point that I realized, the only way to help them is to turn away and leave the rest to my imagination as it becomes extremely clear just where everything is going.

I couldn't though. It may have been my addiction to violent tension, it could have been sheer curiosity, it could have been anything. However, one thing was certain, I could not deter my fascination. As a result, I witnessed bizarre and brutal events at my own expense.

This is not an easy movie to like, but it's almost impossible to not respect the impact it will have on you. The filmmakers of this have enough of a soul to call a spade a spade when they see one. The spade is that senseless violence devoid of context, moralizing, or affect is outright insulting coming from a society that is one, if not the most violent nations in recent history.

Dear everyone who had anything to do with making this movie;

I am charging you with battery. You have mentally assaulted me. You'll be hearing from my lawyer.

The clockwork orange vibe intrigued me and was drawn into seeing the film. Myself and the 2 people I watched this with love movies. We love thrillers, and we love horrors and suspense. We even love B horror and spoof comic horror. Unfortunately this movie effectively fails at all of these. it managed to remain devoid of anything funny. Sometimes a movie is so bad its funny. This couldn't even do that.

It attempts to shock and presents itself as pushing the limits. A partial list of movies that have accomplished what this movie attempts: For making us identify with a sadist and scenes of shocking violence "A Clockwork Orange" For jarring us by breaking the fourth wall and horrific violence, "Goodfellas". For cruel and dismissive homicide, Mickey & Mallory in "Natural Born Killers". For holding up a mirror to the USA, "There will be Blood".

The acting was the only thing that was convincing and above average. The young, lead psychopath was spot on. His character's girlfriend in the movie is good as the more sexually and mindlessly vicious of the two. The kidnap victim is great. She does an outstanding job of portraying wide wild-eyed terror. It was miserable though to watch. The gang's Uber-Wimp lackey was relatable, since like him, I didn't want to be there either.

There is some resonance to this movie, but not the good kind, it's more of an ugliness, a feeling of shame and a feeling of getting betrayed by believing that there could be something redeeming from the experience.

In my perspective, it's all about the actors chosen, and their performance. And I must say they didn't disappoint! In fact I think they all do an excellent job turning what could have been a disastrous endeavor into one very well done! I've never heard of any of the actors before but they definitely rocked it!

In general I think this movie is a great essay on evilness and Human's perversity. It's really sadistic, from the psychological point of view, and worst of all, it offers no chance to the victims to escape, from the beginning!

It's really a cat-mouse game where we know who will win... Evil! Since the beginning we see that evilness will triumph over goodness in this film. There's no chance to escape from it.Because evil also triumphs too many times in "real life", and the "heroes" that we're always watching in movies don't exist in a great number out there.

This film will keep you frightened and glued to your seat. Because one thing that this film is NOT, is predictable. It also contains a surprise scene that temporarily shifts into the realm of fantasy, which further bends minds and entertains the audience.

If you thought 2020 couldn't get any crazier, then you haven't seen "The Mountain Kings".

There is a scene in the middle of the movie with two meth junkies that was so gripping and raw that it made my skin tingle. Multiple times I felt mentally terrified and emotionally assaulted. The girl drug addict they assault reminded me of sister (no my sister isn't a drug addict) and I was genuinely fearful for her safety. There was a serious intensity to her performance here in this scene that made me feel devastated at times.

I suspect that this is going to be one of those movies that gets a lot of attention for how shocking some of the scenes are. There is indeed a lot of realistic violence going on, drug use, nudity and terror in general, but it never glamorizes any of it. It keeps it ugly, in the same sense that "Requiem For A Dream" made drug use look horrific, this movie has the same kind of effect but is done in a much different and much darker way.

The main character was a true force of nature. He was creepy and scary and his entire performance gave me the willies. Job well done.

I watch a TON of gruesome, strange horror movies so I was skeptical going into this one blind. After watching it I feel like now I need therapy, like I just survived a crisis and am still in shock.

The three main characters feel like more realistic versions of characters from Rob Zombie movies. They're on spree of anarchy and are filming the whole thing.

Most of the movie is in black and white which really added an extra creepy look to many of the scenes. The only other real color going on here is RED. And it feels like you are in Hell. It reminded me of that infamous scene in "Irreversible".

There are three scenes in this movie that could be among the best of being most intense and disturbing of 2020 so far, and that's all in one insane movie. #1) A daylight murder-spree/kidnapping in broad daylight in public. This classical music in this scene begins to really swell up from the background and takes over everything as absolute chaos explodes. I don't know what it was, I've heard it before obviously, but it was a perfect choice.

#2) The Meth Heads. Oh. My. God. This is a hard to watch/hard to not watch kind of scene. I watched. It was terrifying and it was so demented. The main character is toying/tormenting a meth head he found with such glee it was unsettling in the most believable way. The girl playing the meth head was quite the actress, I was disturbed by the performance to say the least.

#3) The Shower Scene. Not that kind of shower scene, no nudity here, lol. But it does take place in a great big empty locker-room-style shower. This is one of the scenes where everything turns dark red and feel like you're catching a glimpse of what Hell would be like.

All in all it was a rollercoaster of madness, very polarizing. Like I said, for me it was easily one of the most weirdly different and disturbing movies of the year. Love it or hate it kind of movie. I loved it.