Territories

The film tells the story of five friends who are stopped by two border guards. Typical border questions turns into humiliation. They are then kidnapped, held in cages and tortured. Turns out they are ex-soldiers and they think the innocent friends are terrorists.

The first 50 mins or so of the film is a decent horror film. But then it turns into a moral story about Guantanamo Bay and torture and the film loses the plot. I lost interest and have no idea what the private detective had to do with the plot. I also flicked to the end and have no idea what happened to the friends.

Its a shame as the film does start out as a decent horror torture film but it feels like they changed direction and tried to justify the film. I think this ruined it as it was very well acted and had good suspension and effects.

How this has a score of 5.0 on here is beyond a joke. The first 25 mins or so were quite good with an interesting premise but then it just went completely downhill. Everything just seemed completely pointless and is never really explained. And the ending was, well, I don't know what is was but it made no sense whatsoever. The acting, music and camera-work were competent enough but the whole film seemed like it had just been made up as they went along. If you're going to make a film, at least start by having a point to it, this one didn't. So if you are looking for something interesting or exciting then avoid this one like the plague. It left me feeling cheated and quite depressed.

It's always interesting when one takes a genre like horror, or horror-porn and uses it to address larger themes and social issues. It doesn't always work, but when it does, as it does here (and even better in Aleksey Balabanov's far more horrific, but also more complex "Cargo 200") it can be a potent use of cinema.

A group of young Americans returning from Canada are kidnapped by a pair of ex-soldiers dressed as border guards. These men were in Iraq and at Guantanimo and want to continue the torture and 'information gathering' they were part of as soldiers. So in the name of protecting the country, they lock up and torture these kids, largely because the driver of the kids' 4x4 has an Arab name.

And soon you realize, given the number of innocents it's now acknowledged were (and probably still are) locked up among the 'real bad guys' in the war against terror, that this nightmare isn't very far from real ones that real people are going through right now in the name of national security.

Surprisingly well acted for the budget and genre, as well as nicely shot, this certainly has moments where it shows its roots as low budget horror. There are awkward scenes, and forced bits of exposition. Logic gets stretched (but not too absurdly) at times. But it's not really all that gory (despite the allusions to 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre' on the video box), and it's most effective terror is caused by tension and fear about what might happen, rather than any blood and guts you see.

Among other things, this is an interesting examination of what happens to borderline personalities who are given permission by their country to torture in the name of good. Will these people be able to let go of the monsters we willingly unleashed inside them?

Movie review:This movie has some of the most top and bottom of the board type ratings on IMDb. You will have to judge for yourself. 5 friends are on their way home from a wedding in Canada and are stopped at the border before returning to the USA. Seems simple enough, but who exactly are they stopped by? Well if you guessed a couple of lunatics that are played to absolute perfection in being the epitome of terrorist fearing wackos, you win a prize. So after an extremely long, drawn out process of taking them in (in other words, abducting), the group is taken into custody where they are tortured into admitting that they are enemies of the United States. Granted one of them was of foreign decent, so I guess he MUST be a terrorist. This is the premise of the whole movie. The entire movie is secluded to where they are held captive, which is basically outside in animal cages so can't say much for scenery unless you are a big fan of forests. A part of me was drawn into this plot, though after seeing just how some people will stereotype people in everyday life and frightens me to think just how realistic this actually could be. Since it never goes over the top, it really just keeps you at a numbing, "what if" type feeling as you watch the psychological torture they are put through. I can't really say the acting aside from Michael Mando who plays Jalii, the aforementioned "brown" guy, is all that good. Mando does deserve credit though for making a few scenes very believable. They do toss in a sub plot of one the kids parents hiring a PI to find them after they have gone missing, but it is completely underdeveloped and could've been removed completely with no impact to the film. In the end, I overall was disappointed, as it had the tools and actors to make it work, it just dropped the ball in tension creating situations or just a natural feeling of caring at all. If you do see it, you will probably understand why one review will say "total garbage" while the next will say "loved it" I somehow stayed in between. It may be classified as horror, but it is more thriller than anything. 4.7/10 IMDb 5.0

When I read the synopsis of this movie I was so excited to see it. The concept just seemed so interesting and original.

It starts off with a kick, within minutes I was feeling the uneasiness that this movie is meant to inflict.

Most of the actors are phenomenal, it's when I see movies like this that I don't understand how Hollywood can't cast better actors 90% of the time.

The movie keeps a good steady pace, I wasn't bored at any point. Which is a feat considering my minuscule attention span.

It was such a great movie until there was about 20 minutes left in the film. It takes a strange turn. I can't say much without giving it away. But when you see it you'll understand what I mean.

I completely suggest it because other than that it's great. And who knows? You may like the ending more than me.