Red Miller and his girlfriend Mandy Bloom have a peaceful life in America's Pacific Northwest until a strange cult arrives in the area. Mandy catches the eye of the cults Mansonesque leader, Jeremiah, and he has her and Red kidnapped by the Black Skulls; a biker gang on acid with a penchant for human blood! Needless to say bad things happen. Red is left by their tormentors and the next day he sets off on his personal mission of revenge. This will involve a crossbow, battle axe and a chainsaw fight before he ultimately faces Jeremiah again.
This is a distinctly strange film but very effective. Once the bad things start to happen the violence is intense and quite disturbing. As Red sought his revenge many things that happened I couldn't help thinking of the quote from Friedrich Nietzsche 'He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster'... Red certainly does some monstrous things. There is something very surreal about what is happening; almost as if it were meant to be viewed as a nightmare or a bad hallucination rather than real events. Nicolas Cage is on top form as Red; his performance is more than a little crazed but that is what the role demanded. Andrea Riseborough and Linus Roache also impress as Mandy and Jeremiah. This clearly won't be for everybody but I'd recommend it to horror fans who enjoy the weird as well as the gory.
This is a distinctly strange film but very effective. Once the bad things start to happen the violence is intense and quite disturbing. As Red sought his revenge many things that happened I couldn't help thinking of the quote from Friedrich Nietzsche 'He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster'... Red certainly does some monstrous things. There is something very surreal about what is happening; almost as if it were meant to be viewed as a nightmare or a bad hallucination rather than real events. Nicolas Cage is on top form as Red; his performance is more than a little crazed but that is what the role demanded. Andrea Riseborough and Linus Roache also impress as Mandy and Jeremiah. This clearly won't be for everybody but I'd recommend it to horror fans who enjoy the weird as well as the gory.