Repellant

Rating: 1/10 (11 February 2007)

This film is an appalling attack on the senses with repetitive scenes of graphic murder and torture with no real purpose but to numb and desensitize the audience.
If the brutality were removed or lessened the film would still be lousy because the story telling is so poor. The main character is so detached from her own fate that her actions are just not compelling to watch. She's a child who deals with a horrifying reality by escaping into a fantasy realm. Here she subconsciously deals with reality through fantasy scenarios and dream symbology and takes action only when directed by her mythical pal, the faun.
Problem is, although there are many scenes of horror, there is no scene where she witnesses any of it. So what the hell is she escaping from? How do we identify with her if we are not made to see the "real" world depicted in the film through HER eyes? As an audience member I certainly wanted to escape the ugly real world depicted in the film but since the main character wasn't seeing anything I was seeing, I wondered why I was following her to begin with.
I would like to recommend the stunning production design and truly imaginative and effective visual effects (or the excellent performances of the cast) but the fear that I might inadvertently convince anyone to go see it would keep me up at night. The films high rating by critics and audiences not only confuses me but makes me very, very sad. The pointlessness of the violence in this film makes it pornographic rather than illuminating. It won't be long before audiences will be eating popcorn and watching snuff films. What's happened to us?