Kolobos (1999)

I remember viewing this little gem many years ago during the late 90's early 00's wave of slasher movies. And during that time a lot of junk came and went and very few stuck in my head, but this was the one that stayed in my mind and I was so glad that I got to view this again.I'd to say that "Kolobus" is very stylish and effective movie that tells the story of 5 people people enter a reality based TV series house where they hope to gain fame and fortune, including one of the characters is already an actress, a fallen actress with a hope to regain her time in the spotlight. But as soon as they arrive they are locked in with a sadistic killer who has set up an array of gruesome traps.The movie has a eerie nightmarish quality to it and the sudden darkness with just flashing red lights adds a great creepy Gothic tone to the proceedings, and especially when the characters sets off the one of the traps which are very nasty and effective and adds a brilliant amount of tension and fear, especially when the first victim gets sliced apart in the first trap as it totally comes out of the blue and the gore is really unsettling and brilliant. The others include eye impalement, disembowelment and an acid shower each done brilliantly.Amy Weber is a definite standout in the cast as the final girl and gives a good chase at the end and shows layers to her character throughout the movie. Illa Volok as Faceless the killer was very menacing in his little screen time which made his character all the more scary too much of him would have lessened his creepiness. All in all "Kolobus" is very tense and unsettling, although it doesn't keep it up all the way through and the last 40 minutes does try to pack too much in, but the twist ending is very well done though that was a real head scratcher.

Kolobos might have been a pretty good little horror flick if it had even a half-decent ending. It's got a talented cast, a script with a nice beginning and middle, above average gore effects and a distinctly 1970s vibe to the look and rhythm of the production that sets it apart from most of its low-budget kin. It does have too much annoyingly stereotypical "scary" music on its soundtrack, but I was able to put that out of mind after a while. Unfortunately, all of the quality work here is just build up for a big conclusion that falls flatter than western Nebraska. This movie has one of those finishes that leaves you saying out loud to the screen "Wait…that's it? Seriously?" It's the sort that leaves you so let down and disappointed, you almost forget everything you liked up to that point while being reminded of all the loose ends and holes in the plot. I don't know what these filmmakers thought they were doing with this ending. All they accomplish is betraying their otherwise admirable efforts.The story is about 5 people who agree to live in a house for some kind of ill-defined experimental film. No one ever references or even alludes to MTV's Real World or similar such reality television when talking about the project, which is part of the 1970s feel to Kolobos. There's little about this film, either culturally or in technique, that brands it as being from its particular era. If you'd told me it was made in 1978 instead of 1998, I would have absolutely believed it.In the house are Kyra (Amy Weber), a young artist with psychological problems; Tina (Promise LaMarco), a sassy kid with a zest for life; Erica (Nichole Pelerine), an ambitious and somewhat full of herself actress; Tom (Donny Terranova), an assertive but unfunny standup comic; and Gary (John Fairle), a pretentious college student. The tale is told in flashbacks as members of the group are killed off one by one while Kyra has hallucinations about disembodied voices and faceless figures. The flashbacks end with Kyra leaving the hospital after recovering from her ordeal, and that's when the wet fart of a conclusion kicks in.Now, maybe I'm missing something so I'll lay it out for you. Kyra is specifically and repeatedly described and portrayed as having serious mental health issues. She's tried to commit suicide, is generally skittish and emotionally shaky and constantly sees and hears things that aren't there. So, the mindblowing twist at the end of Kolobos is…wait for it…Kyra is crazy. No, I'm not leaving anything out. The crazy chick turns out to be crazy. That's it.I'm at a loss because the rest of the screenplay is rather well written, at least for this kind of thing. It's not high art but the characters are clearly established and their interactions are relatively believable. The scenes are solidly constructed and the direction, while clearly bound by financial limitations, is intelligent and sharp. The five main members of the cast all come off like folks who should be acting for a living, which is not something you can say about a lot of low-budget cinema. Promise LaMarco appears to be someone who could have a good career as "cute horror chick".Yet all that leads to closing scenes so awesomely lame that I almost lost the use of my legs through osmosis. Something else…hell, literally any other type of finale would have been better than we get. I went into Kolobos thinking it was going to suck. I'd never heard of it or any of the people in it before. The DVD had a lot of the signs indicating cheaply made gunk. When I popped it into my DVD player, it doesn't even have a menu with set up options or scene selections. It's just an image of Kyra and Tom, the title and the word "play". As I watched it, however, I grew more and more pleasantly surprised and interested. It seemed to be a hidden gem. Then the last 5 minutes left me thinking it should have never been unearthed.I can't call Kolobos bad but I also can't recommend something that falls down so severely at the end. Decide for yourself and don't come complaining to me afterwards.

I first caught KOLOBOS several years ago on Cinemax and remember enjoying the film quite a bit. Hadn't seen it in years though, and decided to give it another go after someone mentioned it on one of the message boards. Glad I did. Though KOLOBOS is not a perfect film by any means, it has most of the elements I need to keep my interest.A group of 20-somethings respond to an ad in a newspaper looking for participants in a reality-style TV show where they will live with each other in a house for some period of time. Once inside, the group gets to know each other, and consists of a female semi-headcase that resides in a halfway house, an un-funny male comedian, an aspiring actress, a male college student, and a free-spirited female fast-food worker. Things go wrong when the house is "locked-down", and someone, or something, begins picking off the occupants in gory fashion...Many will rightly compare this film and MY LITTLE EYE to each other, as they do share similar premises. Though MY LITTLE EYE tends to be more of a straight-forward film, and KOLOBOS ends up as more of a psychological thriller/horror film that is much more vague in it's resolution. Personally, I'm not sure I really understood where the director was trying to go with the ending, but the film as a whole was enjoyable enough not to worry too much about it. There are several gory and well-depicted kill-scenes - much stronger than your typical "mainstream" horror films. This was definitely a plus too. Those that compare some of the deaths to ones found in Argento and Fulci films would be dead-on as well. It is obvious that the film-makers are horror fans and pay some reverence to the Italian "masters". Overall, a solid if somewhat confusing film that delivers on most levels - though the lack of nudity from any of the female leads is noticeable and hard to ignore or forgive. KOLOBOS would have gotten another 1/2 point from me had their been some tits-n-ass thrown in...8/10

tailless = êïëïâüò, ÷ùñßò ïõñÜ kolobos, choris ouraso "kolobos" mean tailless in Greek... Enough said...Not a terrible movie though... The infra-red operated slicer 'n dicers were a nice touch... Acting?? Eh, seen worse, and obviously have viewed better... The story was original, which is a nice break from the schlock we see over and over in these newer horror movies...Let's wait and see what these guys do next with some better actors/actresses and a better budget!!Till next time...