Havana Darkness

It's not bad at all. I had fun following these three guys on their journey to sorrow and pain. And, yes, there is a little bit of SAW and a little bit of HOSTEL but not as gory as either. The actors do a pretty good job and then there is a very cool twist at the end. I think i got my money's worth on this one. And, no, it's no CITIZEN KANE

Odd movie. Firstly I don't think they had permission to film in Cuba. All the external scenes are filmed from a distance and in very short segments, like they were hiding something from government officials. Kinda like that guy who made a feature film in Disney World surreptitiously.

That kind of makes a weird movie even weirder. So I agree with the other reviewer who gave this 5 stars. It starts out as a slow tension building thriller and then literally 40 minutes into it BANG!!!!! it's a different genre!

The dumbest part of this second half is that the group of "hunters" walk absurdly slow -- like slow motion slow -- so the three tourists can pretty much out run them.

Some of the bad reviews here are clearly from people who didn't watch the movie and just wanted to leave a bad review, because they make references to scenes that never happened!!!!

So is it good? Well it's good the way movies like this are good. Movies like Hostel and Turistas. If you like those you'll find something here to like.

When you start the film, the first 30 minutes play as basically a mystery/thriller that has some intrigue, although a bit cliche.

However, at about the 35 minute mark, it turns into a totally different movie! The best way I can explain what I mean is like this:

Imagine you were watching a movie that was like The Ninth Gate/ (or any mystery thriller that leans horror) ...and then out of no where, it turns into You're Next or SAW!!

Yes, I know...what a weird, jarring turn that would take right? Well that's this...it started off as what could be a decent thriller mystery...and out of no where, turns into your typical "man hunt" movie...which tells me the first 30 minutes were nothing more than the film trying to be smarter than it really is. It was trying to give depth to a run of the mill "run for your life, because..." movie.

I'll give it credit for TRYING to be more than a shallow man hunt film...that's about it.

I personally did not like it. terrible acting. lame story. irrational behaviour. among all the men-hunting movies out there this was a disappointing one.

This movie takes awhile to get going but it does set up an intresting premise. When the action towards the middle of the film gets going it decent. I love the fact the film was shot in Cuba the first English spoken horror movie to be shot there. We get to see locations not usually seen in movies, the actors aren't great. Carolina Ravassa puts in a good acting performance toward the end of the movie. The tie into hemmingway is dubious and ends up having a more simple plot despite the movie trying to over complicate its own plot. Its essence its a simple story added with alot of unnecessarys.