The Unforgiving

Is this movie a joke? Generally, I always rate movies higher than most people, mainly because I'm easily drawn into a good story and interest characters, even if the overall movie has some flaws. But this is awful, all around. It's almost "so-bad-it's-good", though slightly below the threshold.

This movie was described on this website as a South-African take on the "Saw" genre. Of course, I was gullible enough to rent this, based on that kind of feedback.

Bad actors, bad storyline, awful music (the type of "suspense.mp3" you can download from a free soundbank website)... The worst is the cinematography. Can we stop the yellow-ish, high-contrast look of these movies? It looks dreadful, and only leads to headaches. The fast-moving shots will give you nausea, too, so you'll get the full sensory experience.

When it comes to the gore, well, let's just say it's as bad as the rest. Squishy sounds at every opportunity, like the characters are made out of strawberry jam. Laughable. "Saw" worked, as the lack of budget was compensated by talent and a vision for an overall story. This is just a cheap cashgrab, absolutely uninteresting on all accounts. I gave it a 2/10 instead of a 1/10 because the main detective character is pretty handsome. But that's it.

DON'T FALL FOR THIS TYPE OF CLIKCBAIT MOVIES!

The first half an hour of the film feels like a SAW rip off, but the film shoots off in a very different and exciting direction in the second act. The film uses a very novel way of telling the victims' stories, and this keeps you engaged as it builds to a bloody climax. The film uses the idea that the audience thinks they are watching a SAW or HOSTEL and flips those expectations on its head.

The film is inspiring to see what you can get away with on a very limited budget, and I'm not talking about Hollywood limited budget, I'm talking about bare knuckle, no budget filmmaking.

The film won't win any Oscars, but I am interested to see what these guys can do given even a B Grade straight to DVD American Budget.

The cinematography is very original and the editing is outstanding. The script could be a little more original but the actors cover the flaws in the script with decent performances.

Being a South African, i was excited to support this movie so i rented it from my local store. I know of budget constraints and all other challenges facing a local production, but i do feel the dialogue could have been done better, as well as the acting, it felt too South African soap opera-ish (ala Sevende Laan), the actors were not convincing at all especially the cop and the villain. As there were only 4 actors in this movie, that should tell you something. There were too may plot holes, escape for the victims could have been easily achieved. The worst line in the movie for me was "...the clock face may tell you what time it is, but i think its time for you to start telling me the truth". Some improbabilities, being able to limp off after having your knee cap drilled through, having your head smashed (really hard) into tar numerous times (consecutively) and still surviving (no brain damage) and still be able to run around as if nothing happened, being stabbed twice and not dying after hours of bleeding(not to mention bleeding form other orifices as well). The worst part for me though was the music and its timing (or lack off), there was no build up, everything was all loud all of the time, no silence before the big "ta-da", just continuous synths and strings and big bass, sometimes even drowning out the dialogue, you have to use music as if its a character in the movie. And lastly the HD camera work (doccie style) was a lil too erratic, with heavy music and a vibrating pic, things got a bit nauseous. The twist in the movie had a bit of redeeming quality, but because of the above mentioned personal issues with the movie, i was zoned out before it even happened. Can't wait for your next effort though, with constructive feedback (nudge, nudge...) i am sure it gonna be off the chain.

I have no what the budget of this film was but I'm guessing it's pretty darn low. A pity this was completely ignored on its theatrical run out here considering it's an okay-ish little suspenser. It's not really a horror film - at no point is the film ever truly disturbing and this, essentially, is my main problem with it.

I think it was marketed as a balls out gore to the wall horror film and it just isn't. You can't compare something done on this budgetary level to something like a "saw" or a HOSTEL. The characters are very underwritten, the dialogue pretty dodgy containing way too many clichés for my taste, some of the performances are a bit flat and there just isn't any real gore.

If you're out to make a gore film you have to show the gore - you can't just splash blood in someone's face, grade the $hit out of your picture (overdone in my humble opinion) and use way too many closeups to the point of the viewer saying - okay so where the %uck are we? If you have a needle - show it going in - don't imply it. You're marketing the film as an all out bloodbath but then all you're doing is teasing the audience.

The editing is tricksy and needn't be so. The script is tired and somewhat cliché ridden - we've seen it all before with more money and done better, but, and this is a big BUT, for a South African film this is leaps and bounds ahead of most of the crap that litters our screens.

At least these kids tried to make a halfway decent movie. At least they've produced something very flawed but also watchable at the same time and they deserve a tip of the hat for that. Well done for taking the time and at least trying to make a good movie guys...and for that they deserve a solid six out of ten at least.

Long live South African genre films may there be many more to come! Long live the new flesh!

Two survivors of a brutal attack by a masked man are interrogated by a police detective, the survivors both tell their account of grisly events more shocking than anyone could've imagined.

Unlike with other films that I'll just simply buy I decided to rent THE UNFORGIVING before buying it, this being a South African production shot on a shoe string budget I had to find out first whether or not this film was a professional job or did it look like it was shot with a cell phone camera.

When it got started I was pleasantly surprised by how well the film actually looked, the storyline itself immediately established the mood, set up the tone and maintained a steady pace throughout, it even at times came off as a SAW rip off but at a certain stage it started turning the whole concept on its head and went towards a more intriguing and exciting direction and at latter stages it seemed to merely reference SAW but it never at any time felt like a rip off.

The acting was very good considering this is practically a first time cast, the actors all did a very good job for them to be considered for future projects.

Also unlike both SAW and HOSTEL its not an all out gore fest, its actually pretty tame in the gore department, its more content with the plot than with gore but I can honestly say the climax is pretty intense.

Overall, THE UNFORGIVING can stand tall alongside SAW and HOSTEL as one of the best known films of its genre.