The Unforgiving

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!

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!

Given the current genre of Horror movies out there i watched this movie with out any lofty expectations and almost purely based on the reviews of the many others who seemed to have a favorable opinion of it. Add the fact that the budget used to make this film was minuscule and i truly felt that i was about to be hoodwinked. Not at all. I was locked in from beginning to end and was very pleasantly surprised. Definitely one of the more suspenseful horror movies i have seen in a while. Now having said that, this is the kind of movie that requires your full attention and while the movie provides enough interest to captivate most viewers, I admit i had to watch it again after seeing the ending. I did so without hesitation though because it was an enjoyable enough of a movie to do so. I don't know anything about making films but i would think something has to be said about a director and a cast that can make such a decent film with so little. Easily worth watching!

I'm not sure what movie other reviewers were watching here...ten star reviews?????? crazy or what?????? this was just rubbish! If this is ten stars then what do you give great movies like saw or hostel?

I tried to stay interested but I was bored...very bored...

I did like saw...7 or 8 stars easy...and I love films that follow suit...so what if its already been done...long as its good then why not...but this just ain't...the camera just wants to give me a headache! I mean zoom out for fu@ks sake! I couldn't see anything! It just felt like it was one scene all the way through...

a nice bit of blood...but no more so than that...

I simply could not recommend this...sorry...

Maybe i'm missing something here with this one...mmmmmmmmm...but i don't think so...could have been a good film...just ain't...

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.