Srs bsns

Rating: 7/10 (13 May 2016)

As is often the case, the technical aspects like the cinematography and the production design are not what filmmakers goof up. It's the script, the direction, the handling of the tone, the decisions that are made when it comes to what the movie is supposed to do and convey where they drop the ball. This movie, isn't a complete failure in that sense. But it did make me scratch my head sometimes.
So the premise is great. It's a great idea for a movie. A great setting in which you can have a story take place which is... Well, what exactly? Thrilling? Thought provoking? Perhaps a story that makes a statement? I suppose you could go into various directions with it.
So what direction did this movie take it in then? Well, there's one death scene which is very reminiscent of a so-called "fatality" in Mortal Kombat where a vampire falls into a machine. I think the audience is meant to react in a similar way to it where they cringe and then perhaps laugh. So it isn't anything serious. It's just meant to be entertaining.
At the same time in that same scene a man who shot his wife and children because he didn't want them to die at the hands of the vampire horde loses part of his arm when it gets crushed in the machine and he's sitting there screaming in complete agony. A friend then decides to end his suffering by cutting his head off which requires two or three blows with an axe. It's tragic and bleak and not meant to be entertaining in any way.
I think that it would have been a more poignant movie if it for instance just told a dark story and didn't "spice it up" with scenes that are seemingly meant to please so-called "gorehounds". It seems to me that they tried to make two different types of horror movies at once resulting in a movie which feels slightly incongruous as a whole. I'm confused as to what the film exactly is trying to do and say at the end of the day.
The ending is great. It made a powerful impact. It's like it's the ending of a serious horror movie and it works very well. But in this movie there also seems to be a Pepsi commercial. Is there really a place for that in a serious film? Just seems kind of out of place?