Abattoir (2016)

Some interesting concepts, make the female character dress in 50's style drive a 50's car but have a smartphone on her dashboard, make the dialogue clipped 50's detective in delivery. The story should be good a demonic man collecting the rooms where horrific murders took place and assemble them in the town of New English as a portal to hell. We have a lot of ingredients to make a great film, unfortunately it fails, the plot is overly confusing, the dialogue is awful, there is absolutely no chemistry between the two lead characters and the end is depressingly predictable. I have given a 4 for the concept and at times the cinematography is excellent, shame this is really style over substance.

This wasn't the worst horror flick I've ever seen, but much like other reviewers, I felt that the end lacked a great deal of explanation.It had a lot of great ideas, but the way they were presented were confusing, and would likely require a re-watch to fully understand. For a lot of the movie, I was completely confused as to what time period it was supposed to be set in. It was addressed (sort of) in the beginning that the main character's flare for the "old timey" was endearing for the paper(?) she worked at, but this didn't help when they showed the boyfriend dressed in a similar era style. It wasn't until she was using a cell phone that I was more certain what time period it was supposed to be, and that she was meant to have unique tastes.Fast-forward to the last half hour. The house was super-interesting and very well done! However, the reasons for the main character to enter the house was a little unclear. It's pretty obvious by that point what the house is, and what waits for her inside. (It's painfully obvious why the boyfriend went in.) After they are both killed, the explanation for why all this was going on is confusing and somewhat unrealistic. Are we meant to think that the whole town got together and said, "Yeah! Let's get this mysterious bad guy's family back from Hell by killing our own kids!"? Or...was it just for random stuff that the various town citizens wanted? And why, after all that, didn't it show the villain's family being reunited...or Hell taking over earth...or...whatever was supposed to happen? At one point the main character keeps asking "Why?!", and the explanation is unsatisfactory. It seems to be little more than "Just 'cause." The villain's entire deal is what? He was a bad guy in his life, and that caused his family to get killed, and I guess him too? Is...is that what happened? What kind of bad guy was he? Gangster? Gun-runner? Drug-dealer? Underhanded canasta dealer? It's never said, which bugs me for some reason. He's just "generic evil, creepy old man bad guy". Not the devil or a demon, but...acts like one? I guess? After doing a little research, it seems that this movie is loosely based off of a comic series of the same name. This explains a LOT, as those who have read the comic may get a great deal more out of this movie than someone who just found it on Netflix randomly like me. One good thing, I guess: I'm now interested in the comic so I can fill in the holes!

9/10 LOVED IT! Some may find this too slow a burn at first but once it gets started Abattoir is a unique and enjoyable experience. I liked this movie for a few reasons. One of them being that the director didn't try to copy anyone in his attempts at crossing genres while combining themes from decades all throughout the 20th century until today. If you're a true film lover and have the patience to let this film get going, the second and third act and especially the end will certainly be worth it. This movie delivers an original, refreshing idea not yet scene in the mystery/thriller/horror genre(s). With the level of visual quality and production value overall t looks like this movie was made for $10M. Can't wait for the sequel.

I got to see this film at several film festivals and highly recommend it! Abattoir is a very unique and special movie that I am so happy was made. Its not your run of the mill slasher horror and its not your average, generic studio film. You can tell the director wanted to make a film that gives audiences more to chew on and a real mystery to follow. The script is nearly written in prose, with passages of dialogue that hark back to the noir detective movies of the 1940s and 1950s, which I love. The cinematography is also very special, by one of my favorite DPs who shot "Oculus," bringing forth saturated yet contrasted colors and a gorgeous color palette (it is Darren's best filmed movie). However, its the performances that really sell it for me. Dayton Callie in the role of Jebediah Crone is masterful. His persona on screen is mesmerizing and his dialogue in this film is rich with metaphor and color. I absolutely love where he goes with his character and what we see from his character is not expected! Jessica Lowndes playing Julia is fantastic. She brings both strength and real emotion to her character and that jumps off the screen. I love that she embraced her role not as a damsel in distress, but rather blends determination and vulnerability in her work. Joe Anderson plays the perfect detective, with dashes of Bogart and Sinatra at the core. He has the perfect swagger, and I really enjoyed buying into his relationship with Julia.But my favorite role is Allie, played by the amazing Lin Shaye. She always brings depth and dimension to her characters (have you seen her in "The Signal"), and in Abattoir, Lin plays Allie perfectly. Quirky, yet stern and veiled so you cant believe the twists and turns.The movie does have a long second act, as there is lots of story and character. I can also see why if your not paying attention or are watching this film with people who are not paying attention, a lot of the nuance can be missed. But the payoff is huge and once your inside the Abattoir, the film stands apart from anything else out there in the horror, thriller, mystery genre or otherwise. This film is also such a cool premise with an amazing ending that was even more enjoyable the second time I saw it. There were bits and pieces I caught on the second viewing, that missed the first time around. I hope you love it as much as me.