WΔZ (2007)

Bodies have started turning up with W∆Z carved into their skin, cops Eddie Argo (Stellan Skarsgård) and Helen Westcott (Melissa George) investigate and find something truly disturbing is afoot.It's cut from the same cloth as Saw, Seven and to a degree Hostel, in that it's torture pornish in narrative essence, and aesthetically grim with its neo-noir greens and browns. Tom Shankland's movie is undeniably bleak, but sift through the blood and the grime and you find there's an intelligent film at work, one that opens up an uncomfortable can of worms about human nature. But of course if you like it bloody and mean, then that is served up with relish as well, with all the key scenes packing an emotional whack to go with the jolts.Brains to go with the splatter, some very smart photography (Morten Søborg) and engaging lead performances, these all lift this above average. If only it hadn't cheapened things down with the daft finale then this would have garnered more support in horror circles. 6/10

I kept changing my rating for this because while it is a movie that keeps your attention...the plot has no twists at all. Everything happens the way you would expect it to. The fact of their secret relationship is pretty much known because what other reason would he have to protect him. So no real jaw dropper there. Then, the girl is understood to be the murderer about quarter-way through the movie. Even though it is totally telegraphed, the acting was incredibly good. This is what held the movie together. I can't say much for the plot, it's basically completely obvious. So I give this 7 stars for keeping my attention.

Wowee what a film, from the first minute I was hooked, totally glued to the screen. A cop thriller that isn't afraid to hold back, beware that this movie is gritty, gruesome and very graphic. A lot of reviews compare this to movies such as Saw and Se7en and I can certainly see similarities, particularly with Saw but this is so much more than a torture porn franchise which has no end.The story is about a killer committing gruesome murders against the gangs in new York, with each new body there is a carving etched into the skin "wDeltaz", the police soon find out that the person they are hunting is someone they are already familiar with. Movies as good as this don't come along very often, the smart script, the acting, the thought provoking subject matter, the exquisite way the director handles the murder scenes to not just make them cheesy horror movie killings is fantastic.Melissa George and Stellan Skarsgard work well together, they both have a great screen relationship, I particularly liked Melissa's character, a woman who at first seems fragile and not a very brave cop but who soon becomes tough as nails, Melissa George is a very fine actress and it's great to see her do something very different. Also, Sally Hawkins stands out once again as a drug addict mother who commits the unspeakable, she's just stellar.When you find out who the killer is and why they're doing these horrible things, that's when you'll really start to question everything. This movie is definitely worth seeing, it will spark a talk afterwards and will certainly leave an impression, a brutal but brilliant revenge thriller.

When taking a chance on a sight-unseen, used DVD, my expectations are usually fairly reflective of the few bucks I shell out for it. "The Killing Gene," while boasting a fine cast, struck me as nothing more than another blurb-happy, sledgehammer obvious entry in the Dimension 'Extreme' line of hit-or-miss horrors. After having watched it, all I can say is...holy hell. Obviously targeting the audiences that made "Saw" and "Hostel" the New Torture Vanguard (one of the box blurbs directly references the former, not without accuracy), "The Killing Gene"--despite some transparently derivative elements pulled from the genre--comes very close to trouncing its competition. Remember that moment near the end of "Saw" when Cary Elwes does the unthinkable with the titular tool? Well, imagine that degree of gritty intensity stretched out over the course of 102 nerve-shredding minutes, and you have a good idea of what to expect here. Stellan Skarsgard (bearing an uncanny resemblance to Donald Pleasence) plays a homicide detective investigating a string of torture-murders with novice cop Melissa George; suspicions are running that the killer is targeting a group of vile gang members out of revenge for an equally hideous crime (which I won't reveal here; it's a truly horrifying scene). Clive Bradley's script doesn't use the torture angle as a mere marketable throwaway, nor does it treat the characters as meat for the machine; there is a surprising amount of development here, to the point where our sympathies and doubts become one and the same. From a visual standpoint, director Tom Shankland ("The Children") uses jerky digital video and claustrophobic close-ups to convey a sense of urgency within a decaying urban nightmare from which all hope has been drained (this could very well be the most squalid metropolis since David Fincher's "Se7en"). As an unapologetic, unashamed horror fan, I often find myself sitting through garbage that isn't worth the DVD it's pressed on, which makes something like "The Killing Gene" all the more refreshing. Yes, there are some parts you'll feel as though you've seen before; but damned if the overall experience doesn't leave you shaken and adequately disturbed afterward. (It also bears noting that this R-rated film contains some of the most unglamorous, boundary-pushing violence in recent memory.)