Hostile (I) (2017) User Reviews

Swing and a miss

[julyanstephens · 5/10 · 2 August 2018]

I love a good post apocalyptic thriller so I was looking forward to this one. It starts really well, and then quickly becomes odd, then frustrating, then just plain eye-roll worthy.

The entire movie jumps back and forward between timelines but does so in a way that feels very jarring. The entire relationship between the two leads felt unrealistic... so many plot points and character decisions just became too much of a stretch for me. I can suspend my disbelief to a certain point but c'mon guys...

I really wanted to like it, it was shot beautifully, the creatures were genuinely creepy, and it had potential.

Points for originality, I definitely wasn't expecting what I saw (though I did call the 'twist' about 20 minutes before it happened). The message that the writer tries to leave us with is a nice one but feels out of place in this genre and left me with too many questions.

A bit slow but actually a nice film

[mfrdsocial · 6/10 · 24 November 2020]

It stands out in the overused zombie genre with its combination of horror (a bit?) and drama. Pace is slow with the amount of flashbacks but it pays off in the end. Don't expect to get a lot of explanation behind the apocalypse though.

Needed more Hostile, less flashback

[cjbasil · 6/10 · 19 May 2022]

Movie has a great premise and an interesting setup similar to "Buried", "Locke" or "The Wall", where most of the action is just the lone protagonist communicating with disembodied voices on a radio or cellphone. The post-apocalypse narrative was what I came for, so I was disappointed that so much of the film's scant 83 minute runtime is given over to a distractingly creepy "Pretty Woman"-style romance subplot presented as flashbacks. And when I say it's creepy, I don't mean in the way you want your horror movies to be. I mean the way the controlling, wealthy romantic interest, having met the main character once, later follows her home and then later still imprisons her in his own home until she kicks her heroin habit and falls in love with him. Stockholm Syndrome? The movie acts like this is normal and sweet.

Back in the main storyline, the titular "Hostile" creature is well designed and well played with the correct kind of creepiness to his movements and appearances. The standoff between the creature and Juliette eventually reaches its necessary showdown, to good effect with some nice echoes to "Predator".

Hostile is How I Felt After Suffering Through It

[zandertowne · 2/10 · 15 June 2019]

Starts out interesting enough, if a bit clichéd. When the girl takes a sharp turn off the road and traps herself in her car the film takes a turn toward interesting...and then slides into unbelievable, and then down to tedious, continuing to the depths of tediously unbelievable, before tumbling with a splat into the sucky-tank. There are some decent scenes in the trapped vehicle which are then disrupted by flashbacks revealing unlikable characters and unbelievable relationships. Then everything decent about the post apocalyptic sequence is hurled out the window as the pain of a broken leg is, for the most part, forgotten; monster behavior is inconsistent (supposedly hates a flashlight beam but will move toward a brighter flare pointing at it?) and even the leads ability to aim a gun, or a willingness to use it effectively varies as the "script" requires. Cap that off with the stupidest, least believable or logical ending I have seen in decades! I understand it's supposed to add unexpected depth but it is so far fetched and contrived, and worse, rather obvious before it occurs, that it is the thinnest thought passing itself off as an idea. And it didn't help that, not only did I hate the lead character, I thought the actress playing her was equally bad. I kinda hate myself for watching it. Life is wayyyyyyyyy too short.

Quality Picture But That Ending?

[gregoryroman-88635 · 7/10 · 13 July 2021]

No lie...I was really enjoying this movie right up until the ending. The post apocalyptic movie genre has always intrigued me mainly because I like to judge the decision making processes (or lack thereof) of the protagonists as they dart from one sticky situation to the next. The one common denominator in nearly every single one of these flicks is "OMG! Did you really think going into the dilapidated farm house by yourself and without a weapon or flashlight was going to turn out well?" This movie was no different. Our protagonist played by Brittany Ashworth immediately hit the right notes by coming off as capable, confident, and extremely self sufficient in the desolate landscape she was forced to survive in...and then she rolled her "Mad Max" Battlewagon when a "pre-end of the world photo" she obviously treasured blew out the window, and got a compound leg fracture in addition to an upside down hunk of useless metal, AND was stranded alone. Of course she'd be alone! But to her credit she did a good job fighting off the "things" you'd expect in a world gone to Hades. Then there was that ending. Oh boy. Up until then, not a bad run and I think most people would like it. Grade: B.

Pretentious, badly written and laughably acted

[kuarinofu · 3/10 · 25 July 2019]

This movie fails on each level and with every its element other than the creature effects.

Ok, here we go. Even though there are not as many actors in this movie, all of them besides the husband are horrible. The lead is the worst. Her facial expressions are so fake and confusing. It makes you laugh when you see just how much she tries and fails, everything from her voice to her facial expressions is terrible, her body language is a mess as well. She's also distractingly pretty and in no way believable as a character. She's too beautiful for a post-apocalypse scenario as well as for a drug addict with a broken life one. It's like having a Hollywood top model in a WWII movie as a soldier. I thought that she is in the film because she is in a relationship with the director or the producer, this is not uncommon these days, but I have found no proof to back this up. The supporting cast besides the husband was probably just the people from the production crew, there's not a lot of them, but they all overact like crazy (the doctor lady, the old man buying drugs and the others).

The dialogue was atrocious. I guess I should give some credit to actors trying to act while saying such nonsense after all. I think the idea was to sort of form a dynamic genuine love relationship since French directors love to mix up love, sex, and violence. But yet again, this failed.

Character-wise the lead gives you no reason to root or care for her whatsoever. At times she's saucy and aggressive for no reason, probably to indicate drug addiction or mental issues. Sometimes she's tough and acts like a Rambo, other times she's weak and defensive. Her arc is vague and is probably meant to indicate that she finally opened herself to others. Yet I'm not sure about that. The husband character is a stereotype of how insecure single women in their 40ties imagine a perfect man. Single, handsome, educated, rich yet always has free time, caring, selfless, and always understanding - no bad traits or drawbacks. His motivation is mostly sex, and he's quite dull. He has a couple of pretentious lines about how hard it was for him to cope with becoming rich or something, not particularly interesting either.

The story is a mess with as many holes there are in a cheese grater. They attempt at using two parallel timelines and storylines that go side by side. In both of these, the lead is hostile towards the husband, who for no reason (besides sex in the first story) cares for her and tries to help her. This substantiates the idea of true love that has no limits. Besides the fact that the ending was utterly improbable, they still failed with the message as well. This is quite literal "love till the end of the world" (and after that) story built on nothing. They had zero chemistry together, the lead most of the time just acted like an attention-hungry wench while the husband was unreasonably caring while being driven by sex (which makes his character pretty sexist). The child losing scene was so badly acted and misdirected it makes you wonder why would they even go for such intense scenes with such horrible writing and directing. I would probably give the film some credit for the ending scene, but I've already seen a similar story that was done better. REC 3 Genesis was a funny little B-movie with the same ending message done a million times better. The foreshadowing in this is just kindergarten level. Look closer to see the man behind the monster, pictures of hands, Jesus Christ.

I guess I should address a couple of holes in this. Well, we don't know anything about the world ending event other than a gas attack in the middle of the city. However, the lead doesn't seem to age at all, so I assume that the world died and turned into a desert quite fast. There's also no indication of survival on her. They also mix USA-type gas station with obvious French trucks which just makes it even more confusing. The creatures are probably resurrected or heavily mutated people, as indicated by the ending. Or if not, the conclusion starts to make even less sense. Their capabilities are unknown. Sometimes the lead can quickly kill them in a melee fight in a trailer, other times she can't, and the bullets and explosions don't seem to hurt them anymore. The armored car she drives in has metal grates that can easily be removed with bare hands. The's a survivor, but she doesn't know how to use a beacon. The handling of her broken leg was incredibly unrealistic. The creature's intentions were purposely made unclear to ensure the twist (since it's obviously aggressive at first). They are sometimes slow, sometimes fast, sometimes strong, sometimes weak. They seem to be blind, but the light hurts them. They are attracted by sound and can teleport. Loved the dialogue when they bait her into activating the beacon only to tell her they are not coming for her, and she verbally assaults the only person that can save her life now :D I mean, I would not want to go back for her either.

Overall, I enjoyed the creature make-up even though it was a complete rip-off from the Fallout game series Feral Ghouls. Opening shots were kinda cool and... this is pretty much it.

Hostile is a bad movie, and I didn't like it.

Not bad at all.

[frankie142622 · 7/10 · 11 February 2020]

Up late and found this movie. No need nitpicking this movie, just enjoy it. It's pretty damn good.

"Hostile"?!?....More like "Horrible!!!"

[knightox · 1/10 · 4 July 2019]

I'm not sure where half of these reviews that are positive are coming from. It must be a different movie than what I watched. The one I viewed suffered through had a pitiful (but good looking) lead actress stuck continually switching from ridiculous present and flashback sequences which destroyed any tension or plot buildup. Speaking of the plot, what a joke! The supposed bad ass female at first, quickly deteriorated into a helpless damsel in distress for some reason. She went from a crack shot to not being able to hit the broad side of a barn with a shotgun. And outta all the zombie monsters that she came across and killed, the one that nearly killed her at the end turned out to be (Oh the IRONY!!!) her lost love. So what's she do? She kills him and herself! Oh, this is after he had her promise to "Never give up!". Yeah such a glorious, wonderful ending....WTH ever. I felt "Hostile" at the directors and producers after they made such a cringe worthy, vomit inducing creation.

Not feeling great about the ending

[ravenclaw_girlrules · 7/10 · 26 May 2020]

This movie had quite an interesting and well-filmed backstory. The male lead had a bit of a savior complex, but that can be forgiven. I have to say it: he might be one of the most beautiful humans I've ever seen.

The creatures were well done. Even when we saw the creatures in full, they were realistic and terrifying.

That said, I really don't know how to feel about suicide endings. The male lead specifically stated that he didn't want her to give up, and then she decided to pulled a Romeo and Juliet.

LOVE STORY and THE WALKING DEAD had a love child, see, and...

[S_Soma · 3/10 · 12 May 2018]

There are reviewers here on IMDb that whinge on relentlessly about this or that movie not being "original" or "nothing new". Well, as far as I know, HOSTILE is completely original at least insofar as it synthesizes a post-apocalyptic/zombie story with a hand-wringing, chest-beating love story, which is certainly something I'VE never seen before. And as original as it may be, it did nothing for me. I found this very surprising because the originality whingers certainly seem to be of the opinion that originality and "freshness" is virtually the single attribute to which all movies should aspire. And yet, here I am, all unimpressed with HOSTILE, originality and all.

HOSTILE generally appears to be two movies in one with the heroin character apparently the only shared element between the two parallel plot lines. Until the very last scene of the movie, with the single exception of the heroin, the two plot lines appear to be completely unconnected. It LOOKS as if we are simply watching our heroin's life as it is in the post-apocalyptic time as contrasted with her life in the "before time", prior to whatever happened which resulted in the apocalypse.

The movie opens with the more or less stereotypical collection of scenes depicting post-apocalyptic life for your average survivor. A bundled up character (our heroin) going about a dry and dusty, desert-y landscape, everything looking completely dilapidated and rusty and run down, trying to collect what survival resources she can find. She's armed and very careful, always on the lookout for what are apparently post-apocalyptic monsters (which are HOSTILE's version of zombies).

And then suddenly, with an abrupt scene change, we're in a metropolitan art gallery in the context of an art show where we see our same previously dusty heroin attending an art show but only for the purposes of getting out of the pouring rain outside. Within moments, the interminable flirtiness and romance with the owner of the art gallery commences, and with all the Kleenex-inducing vicissitudes of a stormy romance and blah blah blah.

And so it goes for the rest of the movie, flipping back and forth between these two disparate plot lines; a few minutes of life and death struggle between our heroin and a post-apocalyptic zombie-thing (which looks for all the world like a concentration-camp-victim with a terrible skin problem) which is apparently grimly determined to eat her, and then we jarringly swap over to some romantically angsty moments in the before time, and then meanwhile back at the apocalypse...

Certainly the pre-apocalyptic through line has all the great romantic elements for the unimaginative: the male romantic interest is wealthy, tall, darkly handsome, has an accent, and "saves" our heroin from her own self-destructive tendencies and... snore.

It's never made clear what caused the apocalypse. Toward the end of the movie there is some vaguely referenced rather small scale terrorist chemical attack which does significant damage to the art gallery owner, but there is no clear relationship established between this event and the apocalypse. At all. But I think we're supposed to make that assumption.

Only at the very last moments of the movie are the deeper connections between the pre-and-post-apocalypse made clear. Depending upon your taste I suppose SOME people may view it as very romantical, but it struck me as utter twaddle and as believable as a winged pig.

Look past the ugliness

[torroutedipz · 8/10 · 27 June 2020]

This was definitely not what I was expecting, it was actually much better, and deeper. I'm sure this movie, like most with flashbacks, will get panned by some reviewers because of it. However, after watching it through, the movie is actually more in the flashbacks than the "present" storyline. It has a really cool and moving symmetry at the beginning and end, using the gunshot. I actually let the movie begin to play over again at the end, which is where I really noticed it, and by rerunning is where you catch all the foreshadowing that you may not have caught. One of the first scenes, in the art gallery, with the "look past the ugliness" explanation of the Bacon artwork, is the basis of the story. I think you'll enjoy the movie as long as you're not looking for it to be the typical, gory, zombie-like post apocalyptic movie. Also understand that one flashback doesn't pick up exactly where the other left off (this threw me off at first and is why I enjoyed watching it a second time after understanding). The flashbacks are linear, but time passes (weeks to months) between them. This was a pleasant surprise, since I sit through quite a few bad movies when I look for free movies to stream.

'Hostile' is equal parts tense and emotional

[dustin_pryor-02848 · 7/10 · 3 March 2018]

The apocalypse happened. "How" morphs itself into "What Now?"

Behind a plethora of sweeping landscape shots depicting the years following an apocalyptic event, Mathieu Turi's feature debut Hostile gives us the story of Juliette (Brittany Ashworth) and her struggle to survive.

Sounds cliche, right?

Wrong. It took a while to digest this film as initially I had written it off as "just another post-apocalyptic film." Let's face it, there are so many in this genre.

The film centers around Juliette and her struggle to stay alive following a debilitating car accident while on a scavenging mission. She must not only survive the barrenness of nature while badly injured, but a threat far more sinister.

We're offered abbreviated glimpses into her life pre-apocalypse as she longs for the days before everything went sideways. During these sequences is when Ashworth really gives a believable depth to her character. There's a palpable honesty in her interaction with the people in her previous life's sphere - most notably the sophisticated and charming Jack (Gregory Fitoussi).

Juliette's memories throughout the film not only to provide a contrast to her current situation but also provide a good break in the inescapable dread of being surrounded by unknown dangers.

The tension in the film is abundant and while the idea of the damsel Juliette needing to be saved borders on tongue-in-cheek, the climactic confrontation is equal parts tense and emotional.

A tedious mess of a film

[Leofwine_draca · 2/10 · 5 March 2020]

HOSTILE is a Belgian post-apocalypse film, of all things, and absolutely dreadful with it. Things start out routinely enough, with a girl battling zombies and the like in a MAD MAX-looking world, but then somebody had the genius idea to pad out the meagre running time with endless flashbacks revealing the lead's relationship with her partner. In other words, a sci-fi thriller turns into a slow-burning romantic drama, and the viewer's interest drops dead. By the time of the oh-so-predictable twist at the end, I was struggling to stay awake through this tedious mess of a film.

Apocalyptic Editing

[TheAlmightyFinger · 5/10 · 18 September 2018]

This post-apocalyptic love story could have been very good, even great, had it not been for the jarring back-and-forth jumping between two different timelines.

The main plot-line finds our heroine injured and alone in a barren, zombie-infested no-man's land, hunted by a spindly creature with a bad skin condition. This situation could have been a nerve-wracking viewing experience, had the director not decided to splice scenes of her "life before" throughout the full run-time of the movie. This breaks the tension EVERY TIME, in both narratives.

If you want to tell a backstory, just tell it and get it over with!

The acting, music and cinematography was adequate.

Did someone say apocalypse?

[bobgera · 7/10 · 6 September 2021]

Ending was horrible. I concur with most of the user reviews. I could deal with the flashbacks but one explaining what caused this apocalypse would have been welcome.

Here We Are... Another Movie to Avoid

[Fox_Prime · 1/10 · 15 January 2020]

This movie is so far fetched it's practically impossible to get into it.

SPOILER ALERT... You've been warned...

So we have another disease ridden apocalyptic destroyed future movie. This one does give us a background in to our main characters through flashbacks before the end times.

The problem is... the story is garbage. Rich French man picks out prostitute in his gallery and instantly is in love. Even though she shuts him down on a couple occasions he comes back for more. Must be a glutton for punishment. He forces her to get off her hardcore drugs and finally cupid strikes. Now they're together, getting a house together, going to start a family together. Please, should've called this movie "To Save a Ho" not hostile.

Then in the present time the creature she's been fighting and practically kills turns out to be her long lost lover. He shows her by a gesture that he only ever showed her once before in the movie and she magically remembered. She's a terrible actress, the guy is actually pretty good and believable. The girl ruins it. Stay away unless really board.

Solid movie.

[stuartsanderson · 7/10 · 9 February 2020]

Not the best film ever made but it's not so scary and tells a good story. Have a watch and decide for yourself.

An excellent struggle against all odds and ugly creatures of dark night.....

[kashidomar · 7/10 · 24 November 2017]

Hail...Mrs. Juliette ....what a lone survivor...against all difficulties and danger...The speciality of this movie is this survival story with all those unfavourable conditions. Yes , I agree the plot is a bit more supernatural and superstitious but when you will see the movie you will find that it has been adjusted with the surroundings very well. Those unnatural power or killers or hunters coming at night for flesh and blood...Despite hunger and thirst her surviving for a longer period...A broken leg without any gangrene or complication inspite of not treated well...All will be very much possible to you..Such is the staging of this movie...

Another plus point is the director has been able to produce the suspense , horror mood or paranoidism whatever you say. So as soon as the movie starts it engulf you into a sac of attraction and you will find it very difficult to ignore that.

Lot of interest will be aroused around your mind about the finishing...about the after effect of juliette's life...her ultimate fate...these questions will draw you towards the climax of the movie...

This movie is a mixture of adventure...mystery and horror ...those who love any of this please have a go....

Awful just awful

[paulwattriley · 2/10 · 27 October 2019]

Just watched this nonsense on SKY and its awful. Drawn out bore fest, no need for the constant flash backs. The Creature that looks like a malnourished human with one stomp totally smashes an humans head hahaa give us a break seriously. Low budget B movies from the 70s come to mind however this movie is trying to be serious.

Metaphorical ending...

[davidjkovalik · 8/10 · 4 December 2019]

I enjoyed the movie overall (even the ending) but I was a bit disappointed in critic's take on the final scene. I did not once consider that Jack had returned as The Reaper. I believed that the monster had regained just enough strength to make one final attack on Julia, which was a gentle clawing down her face. Immediately this reminds Julia of her rocky marriage with Jack. She is able to see the beauty within the monster (foreshadowing from the art gallery) and gives her a chance to finally say 'I love you' and 'goodbye'. But what do I know 🤷‍♂️

2 stories in 1

[meydiana-65242 · 6/10 · 10 January 2022]

Fancied a horror so after reading the synopsis of this 2017 film which I'd never heard of, thought why not.

Basically the film is set it to time lines, before and after and you know at some point they will converge but your never entirety sure until........ then it all falls into place.

Strange film because of the 2 time lines, one a love story and the other a fight for survival, but the love story story for me was far from realistic but in the context of the underlying message carried by both story lines both acted as a way to get this message across.

In out lives we may have to face our own monsters, real or events which we may not want to face but we know we have to do so, this film with the 2 story lines uses both real monsters and the monsters we may have to face in real life and joins then up in a way which made for a rather enjoyable watch. Rating 6 out of 10.

Brittany Ashworth is a horrible actress

[Jay_Rusty · 1/10 · 9 January 2020]

As the title of this review indicates, Brittany Ashworth is an absolutely horrible actress and playing an extremely unlikeable character. As she's present in literally every scene, this movie becomes an incredible chore to sit through. A better actress would've elevated the proceedings considerably and made this low budget flick a true B movie little gem.

Dumb beyond belief

[nextpart · 2/10 · 3 June 2019]

A decent horror flick until the last 5 minutes. I mean really? The long dead husband becomes a reaper in the middle of nowhere and finds his wife for dinner. The only two beings in GOD ONLY KNOWS HOW MANY SQUARe miles.

.

Another movie that requires patience

[mistela67 · 6/10 · 7 September 2021]

Hostile is actually a good movie, but you have to make it to the end to figure that out. There is not nearly enough backstory to make much sense of things, and the ending, although touching, doesn't make logistical sense. Maybe fate? My suggestion? Lower your expectations. Don't analyze it too much. And expect a love story more than anything else. You do that, you'll enjoy this movie.

6/10- Comes together nicely (although not logically)

An unlikable character ruins the movie

[burnerrag · 1/10 · 11 June 2020]

This movie was a struggle to sit through.... the main lady julie is as pathetic as they come. This movie wants to focus on her backstory 90% of the time, which I couldn't care less for because she has no likeable traits. First of all this film could've lasted 40 minutes had they not focused on her life before the apocalypse. To sum it up shes a heroin junkie that blamed the death of her baby on the father of the child for pushing her to have a child even though he only mentioned once that he liked the idea of being a father. She refuses to take blame for anything causing the one man that got her life back on track to leave her. She started out a prostitute heroin junkie screwing for her next fix before jack came along to help her. She then manages to throw it all away by being an absolute trash person. Infuriating enough the ending couldn't have been worse. It was as cliche as they come with the monster being none other than man she screwed over in all those flashbacks. What a head spinner, it was jack all along, the man she could never say "I love you" to before he got chemically mutated into a spunk goblin. As soon as she realised it was jack she coddled the foreskin looking creature and told it she loved it, she proceeded to hold the gun up to their heads in a murder suicide formation. I dont know why anyone is expected to be saddened by the end of this film. She got what she had coming and I had a celebratory clap when she pulled the trigger. 10/10 will never watch this sad excuse of a movie ever again. I do not recommend.