When it comes to extreme films, there aren't many films out there that are more extreme than Hate Crime. This is filled with anti Semitic material from start to finish, as a Jewish family is brutalized by a rampaging trio of Neo Nazi home invaders.
We don't get much character insight at all before the carnage begins, which is the exact problem with the movie. Here we are supposed to sympathize for the characters, which the director succeeds in doing, but only because of the level of violence inflicted upon them, as opposed to generating some characters with any depth in them. Cardboard cutouts who have no name, no personality, just the capability of screaming to let the viewer know that they are in pain and remind everybody of how bad the situation is. Its like the horrible acts of violence that we hear on the news every night. We sympathize with the victims because of the situation, but we forget about it days later, because we didn't know them. That is the best way I can sum up Hate Crime. Yes, the victims are going through some very bad things, but we don't know these people. We don't know their interests. We don't know their names.
Hate Crime will appeal to those who like shocking acts of violence on screen for the sake of being rebellious, but if you want something with depth, then you are better off looking elsewhere!