15 recensioni
I had no idea Frightfest was showing the world premiere of this movie, but I did not regret watching this. The movie is not for the faint hearted and has some weaknesses of course, but our main character is so OTT that you would be forgiven for laughing with him from time to time and almost rooting for him too.
Of course you don't, because he's bad and the filmmakers made that obvious. But the whole story could be called "mental", in a good sense. Effects are good, acting from the main cast is pretty solid too. The story is kind of predictable, but that won't ruin the "fun" you're having with it. A neat little horror B-movie, that does copy from other better known movies, but if that doesn't bother you, go ahead and give it a try.
Of course you don't, because he's bad and the filmmakers made that obvious. But the whole story could be called "mental", in a good sense. Effects are good, acting from the main cast is pretty solid too. The story is kind of predictable, but that won't ruin the "fun" you're having with it. A neat little horror B-movie, that does copy from other better known movies, but if that doesn't bother you, go ahead and give it a try.
- foreversmom
- 5 ott 2013
- Permalink
Most serious historians consider the myth of Sawney Bean to be exactly that - a myth , someone who never existed and a dark fairytale . It's interesting that people who consider Bean to be based in reality can't agree on where he lived . Some say he lived in Ayrshire whilst others say he lived in Galloway . If you can't even agree on where someone is supposedly to have lived that might tell you something . No one said films had to be realistic especially horror films and this movie uses a premise of " What if a descendant of Sawney was living amongst us in present day Scotland " and from the opening titles reality goes right out of the window
It's not so much the lazy exposition of using captions and voice over that's the problem but feels the need to end it on a long mega laugh out loud that wouldn't feel out of place in a pantomime but if you're expecting high camp you're going to be disappointed if not alienated down to the lack of humour and excess of graphic gore . The action then cuts to a Doctor being driven through the snow clad mountains of the Scottish Highlands of 1990 . Right so the Sawney descendants of Ayrshire / Galloway have relocated to the Highlands ? You can guarantee that no matter what it'll never be revealed why Sawney's descendants have left their ancestral home . The Doctor is supposedly about to deliver a baby to a woman hooded and tied to a giant wooden cross but doesn't get to do this because the man who drove him there pulls out a shotgun and shoots him . So someone went to all the trouble of getting a Doctor to deliver a baby and then shooting him without delivering a baby . It doesn't make the slightest bit of sense but since we're now two minutes in to the running time things can only improve . Except they don't because we're treated to abysmal acting and a plot full of holes and contrivance such as busy city centre streets not having any CCTV cameras
Where the film does deserve some credit is for its cinematography and for a film that obviously didn't cost a fortune it does give the proceedings a haunted bleak feel , so much so it makes VALHALLA RISING seem like a musical comedy . However this is often negated by performances that give the impression the cast are reading out their shopping list . The only exception to this is David Hayman who thinks he's appearing as a villain in a pantomime . Sawney is also portrayed as a religious Scottish maniac but for some reason no one thinks of asking him if he's a Catholic cannibal or a Protestant cannibal . Now that takes some swallowing
It's not so much the lazy exposition of using captions and voice over that's the problem but feels the need to end it on a long mega laugh out loud that wouldn't feel out of place in a pantomime but if you're expecting high camp you're going to be disappointed if not alienated down to the lack of humour and excess of graphic gore . The action then cuts to a Doctor being driven through the snow clad mountains of the Scottish Highlands of 1990 . Right so the Sawney descendants of Ayrshire / Galloway have relocated to the Highlands ? You can guarantee that no matter what it'll never be revealed why Sawney's descendants have left their ancestral home . The Doctor is supposedly about to deliver a baby to a woman hooded and tied to a giant wooden cross but doesn't get to do this because the man who drove him there pulls out a shotgun and shoots him . So someone went to all the trouble of getting a Doctor to deliver a baby and then shooting him without delivering a baby . It doesn't make the slightest bit of sense but since we're now two minutes in to the running time things can only improve . Except they don't because we're treated to abysmal acting and a plot full of holes and contrivance such as busy city centre streets not having any CCTV cameras
Where the film does deserve some credit is for its cinematography and for a film that obviously didn't cost a fortune it does give the proceedings a haunted bleak feel , so much so it makes VALHALLA RISING seem like a musical comedy . However this is often negated by performances that give the impression the cast are reading out their shopping list . The only exception to this is David Hayman who thinks he's appearing as a villain in a pantomime . Sawney is also portrayed as a religious Scottish maniac but for some reason no one thinks of asking him if he's a Catholic cannibal or a Protestant cannibal . Now that takes some swallowing
- Theo Robertson
- 20 feb 2014
- Permalink
SAWNEY: FLESH OF MAN is another stab at low budget torture porn, made with maximum relish. The director seems to be trying to make this film as grisly and unpleasant as is humanly (and inhumanly) possible, and he certainly succeeds in that. But while in horror terms he summons up an appropriately oppressive atmosphere, in terms of scripting and narrative this is a complete dud.
The legend of Sawney Bean is a classic slice of Scottish folklore that's interested me for a long while. I've even visited the locales where he and his clan were supposed to live, so when I heard about this film I was eager to see it. What a shame, then, that Bean is reduced to such a typical cannibal killer with nothing to distinguish him from the bad guys of a dozen low rent American slasher flicks.
The film deserves kudos for casting the creepy and imposing David Hayman as the titular killer, but then proceeds to waste him for the entire running time, filling his mouth with B-movie lines. The plot involves one character ending up in his clutches, then someone goes looking for the first and becomes the next victim, and so on. Realising how thin that plot is, the writer throws in the most predictable 'twist villain' ever, alongside a random monster, but none of these elements makes this film anything more than completely forgettable. No story, no merit...
The legend of Sawney Bean is a classic slice of Scottish folklore that's interested me for a long while. I've even visited the locales where he and his clan were supposed to live, so when I heard about this film I was eager to see it. What a shame, then, that Bean is reduced to such a typical cannibal killer with nothing to distinguish him from the bad guys of a dozen low rent American slasher flicks.
The film deserves kudos for casting the creepy and imposing David Hayman as the titular killer, but then proceeds to waste him for the entire running time, filling his mouth with B-movie lines. The plot involves one character ending up in his clutches, then someone goes looking for the first and becomes the next victim, and so on. Realising how thin that plot is, the writer throws in the most predictable 'twist villain' ever, alongside a random monster, but none of these elements makes this film anything more than completely forgettable. No story, no merit...
- Leofwine_draca
- 29 lug 2015
- Permalink
I really didn't expect much, but I was pleasantly surprised.Not that it's a masterpiece by any means, but it's definitely worth checking out. I would call it a Scottish version of Wrong Turn.The acting was fine, and I found the special effects(in other words gore)to be quite well done.Overall, not too bad.....
- rherring-16040
- 10 set 2020
- Permalink
Trying to uncover the truth behind a rash of disappearances, a Scottish journalist traces a murderous clan of cannibals in the area and must stop them from serving up his friends for their insatiable thirst for human flesh.
This frankly turned out to be quite average overall when it really could've been something. What ends up working so well for this one is the fact that this one is really just so good at hiding the true criminals so well here that it really doesn't seem likely that it's a whole family. The deranged sons are all the focus here with their puzzling display of martial arts moves that come out of nowhere here but still contain a rather creepy edge to them so that their scenes work quite well. Put on display in the final half, with all sorts of action-packed confrontations including the tunnel ambush, the capture at the river and the cooking station shootout which makes effective use of their darkened lair and disorienting walkways for great effect with this giving off an extremely tight, dense feel for launching attacks and ambushes out of anywhere, causing this to get some chilling suspense moments here and there. Of course, none of this is really all that good compared to the effective treatment of the main killer who is utterly slimy and repulsive in great fashion. From the near-orgasmic blood-drinking on his victims, the delight of chopping and chomping bodies and the severely nasty and gruesome effects work here to make the kills look quite nasty, there's a lot to like here and this is quite effective in these scenes here. However, it still doesn't make up for several rater big flaws. The biggest issue is the fact that this one is really more of a crime drama investigating the family's actions around the town during the middle scenes which is quite dull and boring overall. Since this is played as an investigation angle, it hardly has anything happen as all we do is simply read newspaper articles, hear the investigator recite information already learned and basically do nothing while the brief intervals to acquire new meat is hardly enough to counteract this boredom. On top of that, the fact that this throws in the final twist the way it does here is quite a lame and overall stupid idea that's not even done with any real intent to do anything other than to totally screw over the audience by wasting all this time during the mid-segments that would've ended the film much earlier and causing these to just be as flawed as possible.
Rated R: Graphic Language, Extreme Graphic Violence, Brief Nudity, a Rape scene and drug use.
This frankly turned out to be quite average overall when it really could've been something. What ends up working so well for this one is the fact that this one is really just so good at hiding the true criminals so well here that it really doesn't seem likely that it's a whole family. The deranged sons are all the focus here with their puzzling display of martial arts moves that come out of nowhere here but still contain a rather creepy edge to them so that their scenes work quite well. Put on display in the final half, with all sorts of action-packed confrontations including the tunnel ambush, the capture at the river and the cooking station shootout which makes effective use of their darkened lair and disorienting walkways for great effect with this giving off an extremely tight, dense feel for launching attacks and ambushes out of anywhere, causing this to get some chilling suspense moments here and there. Of course, none of this is really all that good compared to the effective treatment of the main killer who is utterly slimy and repulsive in great fashion. From the near-orgasmic blood-drinking on his victims, the delight of chopping and chomping bodies and the severely nasty and gruesome effects work here to make the kills look quite nasty, there's a lot to like here and this is quite effective in these scenes here. However, it still doesn't make up for several rater big flaws. The biggest issue is the fact that this one is really more of a crime drama investigating the family's actions around the town during the middle scenes which is quite dull and boring overall. Since this is played as an investigation angle, it hardly has anything happen as all we do is simply read newspaper articles, hear the investigator recite information already learned and basically do nothing while the brief intervals to acquire new meat is hardly enough to counteract this boredom. On top of that, the fact that this throws in the final twist the way it does here is quite a lame and overall stupid idea that's not even done with any real intent to do anything other than to totally screw over the audience by wasting all this time during the mid-segments that would've ended the film much earlier and causing these to just be as flawed as possible.
Rated R: Graphic Language, Extreme Graphic Violence, Brief Nudity, a Rape scene and drug use.
- kannibalcorpsegrinder
- 9 set 2014
- Permalink
I have no problem with gore or the subject matter. But the way this film was executed and pieced together was atrocious. Every scene that was geared to either repulse or stir deep emotion only brought eye rolls and laughter. It was an hous and a half marathon that felt like an eternity. There's some very attractive woman in this mess, and the countryside is equally stunning. And that's where the positive notes end. We got an absolute idiot of a newspaperman doing the things one does in every low grade poorly written/directed movie. Berating the cops for not doing their job and overstepping the bounds of decorum. Tedious, predictable nonsense. David Hayman is about as menacing as a poodle with a very annoying laugh. All subplots add nothing and go nowhere. Dialogue is trite and the plot doesn't have many threads of coherency. The cinematography and editing isn't awful at least, and doesn't distract from the inane drivel unfolding onscreen. In more adept hands this movie may have been something but sadly this movie works neither as horror or thriller. Passable background while you clean the house or shop Amazon but that's about it.
- mcjensen-05924
- 24 mar 2023
- Permalink
High-quality, well-made Scottish (British?) made horror film with plenty of practical special effects. Aftr seeing the 4.6(!) rating I took a chance anyway and was stunned at what a good flick it is. U wimps that hate horror need to STOP reviewing it already.
- scrappy-87331
- 21 ago 2021
- Permalink
A journalist covering the case of a gruesome murder in Scotland, is lured deeper into the story...and a trap. As he happens upon the last remnants of an ancient clan of cannibals.
They were almost wiped out...but one member survived and the clan lived on. It now consists of the elder Sawney, two deformed parkour kids, a midget zombie, a guy named Bill who works as a police detective, and their mother...who will eat literally anyone.
And he must fight for his life, if he wants to survive.
While, entertaining enough...it has some major flaws. Mainly, the timeline surrounding the abduction of his girlfriend, and him happening upon the cannibals...that just did not make sense at all. The cinematography is really amateur too, but the scenery is absolutely gorgeous.
There is lots of gore in this. You could tell they were really going for something like Wolf Creek, but they just didn't quite pull it off. Sawney comes off as mostly humorous...though twisted and ruthless. And, while it does have a creep factor to it...it's not particularly scary.
The scenery really makes this film. The outdoor shots are absolutely stunning. And they make pretty good use of it, having the cannibals living out in the boonies, with an escape/chase scene, and all.
It's not the best movie or anything, but it's entertaining to sit through...though it's no Wolf's Creek.
5 out of 10.
They were almost wiped out...but one member survived and the clan lived on. It now consists of the elder Sawney, two deformed parkour kids, a midget zombie, a guy named Bill who works as a police detective, and their mother...who will eat literally anyone.
And he must fight for his life, if he wants to survive.
While, entertaining enough...it has some major flaws. Mainly, the timeline surrounding the abduction of his girlfriend, and him happening upon the cannibals...that just did not make sense at all. The cinematography is really amateur too, but the scenery is absolutely gorgeous.
There is lots of gore in this. You could tell they were really going for something like Wolf Creek, but they just didn't quite pull it off. Sawney comes off as mostly humorous...though twisted and ruthless. And, while it does have a creep factor to it...it's not particularly scary.
The scenery really makes this film. The outdoor shots are absolutely stunning. And they make pretty good use of it, having the cannibals living out in the boonies, with an escape/chase scene, and all.
It's not the best movie or anything, but it's entertaining to sit through...though it's no Wolf's Creek.
5 out of 10.
- meddlecore
- 28 ott 2017
- Permalink
YES, YES, YES.....If you're looking for the perfect Scottish pub to take your lassie to then have I got the place for you. The name of the pub is called...."McDONGLE'S". This highland horror house is the creation of hip hop chopmaster Sawney. This place has everything...a head on a stick, a Waterboardman licking contest and COCO BUSTING...That's that thing where you poke a Scottish cop from behind. Also inside you'll find a pair of hooded Parkour ninja brothers DJ'ing with a real life CHINSMIDGET. That's that thing where you have a chainsawing Scottish midget. So hurry on up to the Highlands for a Killer time...STEFAN.
Seriously, much better than anticipated. The cinematography and location sets were almost as breath taking as Sawney and the family. The writing, camera work and the dialogue were better than average for this genre. This is a good horror flick worthy of watching.
Seriously, much better than anticipated. The cinematography and location sets were almost as breath taking as Sawney and the family. The writing, camera work and the dialogue were better than average for this genre. This is a good horror flick worthy of watching.
- craigslistuserlvnv
- 28 lug 2013
- Permalink
- BA_Harrison
- 1 ott 2014
- Permalink
- peterp-450-298716
- 5 mag 2014
- Permalink
It's simple , this is not a family drama or a kids comedy movie. Agreed it's not an original either, but what do the audience expect when they come across a title like this , blood, gore, a passable story , decent direction and acting. So what's not to watch?
For all the jokers and self made critics out here on IMDb who wrote bad reviews for this movie, better not watch horror, thrillers in the future and waste precious review space.
My word , decent passable fun ,thrill ride.
- yo-520-863674
- 29 lug 2013
- Permalink