Brutal (2007)

"Brutal" is a decent if not exactly spectacular entry.**SPOILERS**After a wave of bizarre mutilations, Sheriff Jimmy Fleck, (Jeffrey Combs) and his Deputy Zoe Adams, (Sarah Thompson)try to keep the community safe from the mysterious killer. When the killings continue, they try harder to solve the crimes, putting their affair on hold to solve them. Unable to find a way of doing they, they decide to solve the killings. With the help of Leroy Calhoun, (Michael Berryman) they eventually find the murders has a pattern to them, in that there's a flower around each one who's seeds are tied into everything, and quickly race to stop the next intended target on the list from becoming a victim.The Good News: There was a couple of good things about this one. One of the big areas is that the film has some really graphic kills in here, much more than expected. Several are cut up with a chainsaw, including one in half at the waist, one is stabbed in the throat with a large metal rod and is later forced out the other side of the throat, a couple of impalings with a tree pruner to the stomach, a whole slew of hearts ripped out and hedge-clippers stabbed in the back of the neck, among others, leaving it with a satisfactory sense of gore. The aftermath is also nice as well, and there's also the film's inclusion of the flowers on the bodies, which is another good point. The film's big twist with the killer, where they use a special secret about flowers as the basis for the victims in the spree. This is ingenious, original, innovative and comes with a highly entertaining and well-thought-out revelation sequence that nicely ties in all the evidence in a nice bundle. The other plus to this one is the fact that the film has some rather nice confrontations with the killer, as the scenes of them around town playing with the oblivious victims are a little comical at times. These here are the film's best parts.The Bad News: There's only a couple flaws in here, but they are significant. The main fact is that the film decides to focus on the killer for the duration of the film. We know who the killer is when the film starts, so there's no suspense to be had from trying to use the clues to solve it along with the detectives, the scenes of them interacting with the victims are comical rather than suspenseful and it doesn't generate anything, which tends to play heavily against a film. There's also a point where most of the attacks taking place at night are way too dark to see a whole lot. It's incredibly hard to spot what happened for most of those scenes and it detracts from the film. The last, and it's biggest one to overcome is the incredibly unneeded and unnecessary subplot involving the two detectives in their affair. This doesn't do anything for the film other than fill the beginning with endless scenes of the two of them making innuendo at each other but not capitalizing on it, or later scenes where the case has taken priority and talk turns to making the relationship into a more normal one, not exactly some of the most enjoyable or entertaining avenues to explore for a film. It just makes the film incredibly hard to get into and dull to sit through once it has, two factors which nearly cripple this one detrimentally and are the biggest issues to overcome, along with the rest of the film's flaws.The Final Verdict: Not exactly the worst entry made, but it's big flaws are somewhat distracting and do serve to knock it down some. Give it a shot if it sounds interesting or if this is the kind of film you find a lot of enjoyment from, while those who prefer more straight-forward slashers should seek caution.Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language and Brief Nudity

This movie was terrible. I couldn't even get myself to watch it to the end so if anyone wants to discredit my comment for that reason go ahead. I rarely, even when it's bad, actually turn a movie off.The scenes the actors and the settings along with the props and lights all made you associate it to porn - low budget porn.In a small town, small enough to only have two policemen, what are the chances of 2 women wearing mini-skirts and offer you sexual services spontaneously as well as one lesbian couple making out in a pub and offer an uptight biology teacher a "free show"? The scene build-up to the killings where all with the build up to sex in a classical porn manner - but instead of sex you get people being brutally murdered or hacked to bits with a chainsaw.I like horror, I don't mind slasher movies, I don't mind brutal content but this movie wasn't even bad in a funny way this movie is nothing but porn for serial killers. The plot is bad, acting is bad, lines are bad and poorly delivered the build ups are silly and unrealistic to lead up to the climax - murder.

Why is it that every released low budget film is labeled the worst film of all time or utter garbage? Every single one gets trashed, and it's a shame, because the better efforts get lumped together with the lesser ones. Speaking of lesser efforts, this film is more or less a sequel to the BLACKWATER VALLEY EXORSISM. As far as I'm concerned, it was just another straight to video genre movie. Brutal however, every aspect, from writing to directing, to visual look, has greatly improved.It's an intriguing murder mystery with a "brutal" edge. I found the characters interesting. Rather than a cliché, foaming of the mouth serial killer as the central villain, the film presents a much more human and compelling antagonist. Performance wise, I felt that Combs and the villain were very solid, and the film moved along at just the right pace to keep me with it.Technically, the film movie was very cinematic looking, despite being shot on what I believe to be High Def. The musical score was very effective. And I enjoyed the twists in the screenplay along the way. However, some of the gore and nudity felt a little excessive to me. It felt a bit obligatory. And one or two of the supporting players weren't up to the level of the lead actors. But all in all, I found it to be one of the very best straight to DVD movies I've ever seen, and worthwhile rental. Ghostwatcher 2 this is not.

This movie is poorly made. Hate the scene when two people makes love on (with the red fabric). The girl makes a good attempt at it but the guy just lie there with open eyes and a silly smile, like he never done it before.Following that scene the girl dump the guy into a SUV and when closing the door killer stand being with some tool looking silly. I have never been so NOT scared in my life.Another thing I noticed is the camera shaking in many scenes. It is clear that the camera is hand-held. The photo besides that is not entirely bad, just very low budget.It annoys me more that the lightning is very poor or non-existent which takes down the quality of the camera mans work. Lightning seems to limit itself to silly light from below to create "scary" effects.The killer and the male sheriff manage to do some really bad acting. It really sucks, because the people that appear in the most of the scenes should be the best. Even with a poor script a good director could have saved the picture by helping the actors through the scene. Actors cannot watch their own acting and need the support of the talented director. Some of the actors did have potential.The guy to blame for the end result is the writer and director which happens to be the same man. What a coincidence! As a producer I would never give him another work again.