Ferocious

Ferocious is a thriller that takes place in a night club. Not while it's open, but closed. Amanda Crew is back in town (she plays the lead character) to get something back she forgot. Turns out, it's a video tape. Have I seen this before? Yes and no. Despite this having elements from previous films, it plays out in a unique enough way to have kept me interested. There are not a lot of actors in it. Everything is sparse. But that's probably how it should be. Michael Eklund is in it. He's an employee of the bar. He's good (last saw him in The Call). But the real stand out is Kim Coates from Son's of Anarchy. He's so slimy you slide off your chair just watching him. What a good actor. I'm glad they let him have fun with it rather than being just an everyday bad guy. He's fun to watch. I give the movie a 6.5. But since IMDb doesn't let me vote in half number increments, I'll give it a 6. No, a 7

Whoo. Spicy. K Coates was born for this role. The other actors have a hard time keeping up, but do pretty well all in all. It's obvious this is a low buck arrangement (to my eyes, anyway), but the filmmaker seems to make the best of it. Dim lighting and sinister music don't hurt. But it's mighty creepy, just in a different way than the conjuring or other thriller/horror out there. This is like being caught in a room with the world's sleaziest man and having to sit on his lap. This is what we're seeing a lot of now, small movies, usually thrillers or horror, some do quite well, others disappear. Not sure what to say about this one. It's good, but it's slow pace may not be to everyone's liking. This is not Speed, nor is it Transporter. But that's not taking anything away from it.

Kim Coates gives a two-for-one stellar performance in the film. Amanda Crew is terrific too, as is Michael Eklund. I found the screenplay well written and very well delivered, making for a relatively fast 93 minutes -- a fine fulfillment of the thriller's vision. Director Robert Cuffley's treatment of the story's monitor-and-mirror motif, definitely 'dark' in tone (much of the film is set in a dimly lit nightclub, after hours) becomes very big on the big screen; if we are paying attention, we recognize this 'monitor' as a mirror (and that any mirror can itself be a "mirage," as much as a monitor can). And to me an upclose- and-personal look at this reflection of archetypical truth, contextualized in clever and at times comical narrative, worth an evening's and a few dollars' investment.

Successful actress heads back to her old hometown to exact vengeance on an old employer that did her wrong. A jumbled mess of a movie. Could've been(should've been) done so much better. Amanda Crew is good but given little to work with, not her fault. This movie needed a revised plot with twists and an exciting tempo. I wonder how much the editor left on the cutting room floor, was it worse than what I just watched?

I'm a fan of thrillers that take place in one place. Cube, Buried, movies lake that. This is mostly similar as it takes place in a bar in a small town. Lee (Amanda Crew) comes home to where she grew up and has to get something sorted out from before she was a famous actress. She's a TV star. That takes her to the bar where Kim Coats works. Kim Coats is Dennis Hopper good. Could watch this guy all day. It's a creeper pot boiler. Pacing wise, I get what the director was trying to do by pacing it slow. That's a cool thing. BUT, sometimes it's a bit too slow. Matbe a result of lack of budget? I don't know. Could have used a bit more gore. But Kim Coats as the baddie is a no lose scenario.