Chuck Norris' films aren't things you call masterpieces, but more often they're fun and deliver good rollicking action. James Frago's "Forced Vengeance" (who directed Eastwood in "The Enforcer") is no exception to the trend, and is a raw, full-blooded Norris' chop-suey extravaganza. No surprises here, as it's basic (and campy) revenge on mind for Norris. The simple set-up is made up of expertly-executed martial arts set-pieces that are spontaneously well-timed and judged. It can be welcomely brutal and rough, but quite unintentionally obtuse. The opening silhouette stash in front of a neon sign was a neat touch, and William Goldstein's (no not Goldsmith) exhilaratingly flighty score takes shape. There's something about his early films, I found to be more enticing than a lot of his latter, popular mainstream efforts. Sure they might not be as well organised or impressionable as his well-known flicks but this different kettle has certain sincereness about them. The gritty action takes place in Hong Kong, and it's vividly projected with the exotically moody setting and street life being expansively brought to life. Director James Frago does a serviceable job. As I mentioned earlier the premise doesn't break any new ground, and is rather slight. It's a dog eat dog world, and Norris is on the underdog side and takes on the corrupt. Norris even gets his chance to provide another deeply thoughtful narration (ala The Octagon) that I found humorously pointless. Before he goes on his forced rampage (Chuck style!), he goes about collecting information, so when he gets down to business he takes out the right men. But another unsavoury reason comes into play, and this releases the fury waiting to explode, as it does push the motivation for vengeance behind Chuck's character even more. Watch out, as now you're going to get an ass-kicking! The staggering script is filled with constant corn, and Norris' delivers the majority of it. However his sly remarks actually satisfy and it just wouldn't be the same without them. As for the performances, well it's expected that we get something wooden within the acting range. Chuck Norris geared up in his cowboy hat, and suit with those boyish looks is stoic as usual. But that in mind, he knows his element and has a durably raw appeal that makes him utterly watchable. Mary Louise Weller is perfect as Norris love interest, and Bob Minor provides wonderful support as an ex-army buddy. Michael Cavanaugh makes for a fine sinister bad guy, and has a terrific boat-top confrontation with Norris.

Watch it for a good, relaxing time of utter beat-ups and laughs. This is one I'll never tire of, especially Norris fans.


Don't go into this movie expecting a modern action adventure film. It's a movie very much of it's time where the bad guys grimaced and the hero's were gentlemen. Hong Kong martial arts movies were and still are made in just a few days and the storyline is rushed through as the emphasis of the movie is the action, and that's not lacking here as Norris stars as the adopted son of a casino owner who is under pressure from the local mafia.

It's also one of the few Chuck Norris titles not yet on DVD and I can't understand why! He's on peak fighting form here only a few years after his Karate championship successes.


This is an above average Norris film, with a decent plot, and some good fight scenes.Chuck gives a pretty good performance here, and all the fight scenes were great, plus, the finale was awesome!. The setting was cool, and i really liked the aggressiveness Chuck had in this one plus, the 2 main villains were great!. it did drag a bit in the middle, and it is a bit long in the tooth, however i enjoyed this film, as it has lots of great fights, a decent plot and, some good eye candy. The character development is actually quite decent, and i liked most of the characters, plus Chuck was at his best here!. This is above average Norris flick,that i enjoyed quite a bit, as it had a decent plot, above average performances, and great fight scenes!. The Direction is good. James Fargo does a good job here, with good camera work, good shots during the fight scenes, and keeping the film at a good pace!. There is a little bit of blood and violence. We get a few bloody gunshot wounds, harsh beatings,decapitation and a face is bashed in on a boat (Nasty). The Acting is pretty good. Chuck Norris is fantastic as always, and gives a very good acting performance here, he is very likable, kicked that ass, had good charisma, only problem i had is, he didn't show enough emotion, he was great though! (Norris rules). Frank Michael Liu and David Opatoshu both do well as the main villains. Overall well worth a watch!. *** out of 5


Chuck Norris fans are a forgiving lot. As long it has their hero beating the beans out of whoever is stupid enough to cross his path, besmirch his honor or step on his hat, then it's body check time! CRUNCH! KICK! SPLAT!

"Forced Vengeance" follows the old tried-and-true story of Chuck going into action to protect the innocent and punish the guilty. This time, he's in Hong Kong and single-handedly (of course) eliminating the forces that conspire against his adopted family who also happens to run a prosperous casino that evil types would rather see under their control or (better yet) destroyed.

All goes well until they get Chuck mad by killing just about everybody he cares for... then they step on his hat! CRUNCH! KICK! SPLAT!

Anyone who's seen a Chuck Norris film knows what to expect. It shouldn't matter whether "Forced Vengeance" is good or bad to them. Well, it matters to me. He seems to be reading off cue cards for the drama scenes until he goes into high-kick mode.

Two stars. Mostly for what action there is.

You dare to disagree with my review? CRUNCH! KICK! SPLAT!


Chuck Norris played this movie to the limit!!! He showed his skills and then some. He is no doubt a professional in this movie. It was brief and to the point. Someone killed his girl and he takes vengeance. There was much action in this movie. Nothing but KICK ASS and take names in this movie.


Being a Chuck fan for the past month I caught this on cable and wasn't disappointed. Chuck plays Josh Randall, a Hong Kong casino bouncer. I like to look at this as a unofficial prequel to Road House with Patrick Swayze. Mainly because total strangers know him because he's the greatest bouncer ever. Only in this movie he's a loyal casino bouncer, not some sellout to the highest bidder like Dalton in Road House. Plus Chuck isn't afraid to use a gun.

Here are some memorable things to watch out for in Forced Vengeance:

1. Chuck lives on a boat way out in the harbor. This is because Chuck refuses to sleep on anything but American soil.

2. There is a flashback scene where Chuck has no mustache. He of course gets beaten to a pulp in this scene to demonstrate the power of facial hair.

3. Chuck wears many cowboy hats in this movie. People like to step on them to make him angry.

4. About 90% of the tough guys who Chuck beats the crap out of have mustaches. Almost all of these mustaches are noticeably unkempt and some are obvious fakes. This just goes to show if you don't follow proper mustache growing and grooming steps Chuck Norris will destroy you.

5. Chuck fights a sea boat captain, and eventually is forced to shoot him because he's going to miss his ferry boat ride.

6. Chuck catches a homosexual male prostitute in a bed sheet a douses him in lighter fluid and threatens to burn him if his lover doesn't talk and tell Chuck what he needs to know. Chuck then says the smartest man he ever met was a homosexual.

7. Chuck is the only person who thinks it's mean to fire somebody, then force them to leave the premises without any pants.

8. We, the viewers, are treated to the inner monologue of Chucks character. Either that or Chuck was using his telepathic powers to better educate me on what was going on at times during the film. Thanks Chuck!

No need to thank me. So enjoy people!


No one expects high art from a Chuck Norris film, but this one is one of his poorer outings. The pace is tedious, the dialogue bad, the plot weak, and the acting substandard. Norris is no Olivier but he can act better than this, and definitely outacts some of the other actors in this one. Some of martial arts scenes are competent enough, but don't make up for the overall poor quality of the film. Its surprising that it came from MGM, who must have been really disappointed with what their dollars produced. If you want to spend a couple of hours watching him go rent Delta Force, which is more entertaining and has Lee Marvin as the world's oldest US special ops commando.


Before you start viewing an early Chuck Norris flick, you certainly don't have particularly high expectations; you just want to kill two hours painlessly. "Forced Vengeance" is an utterly predictable, formulaic, often boring action film, yet it generally accomplishes its mission. Norris is as stiff as ever, of course, and there are plenty of hokey fight sequences, often filmed in slow-motion, although I can't quite understand the necessity of that "gimmick".


Attention: Chuck Norris is at it with his really, really unspectacular fighting moves and horrible acting. Are you looking for excitement, stay clear. In fact, this movie had potential. It's set in Hong Kong, and that's often a plus when it comes to fighting movies. Hong Kong is also mentioned by Norris as "The Place" in this movie. The great locations help a bit, but since Chuck Norris isn't' exactly "The Action Star", then this is definitely not "The Movie" (ha-ha). To be more specific, I guess people already know that the plot alone can't save a movie like this. It's the action scenes that make the difference or not. And as mentioned, Norris fails on every level in this movie when it comes to that. He's better suited to army/machine-gun movies (like "Delta Force") than karate-flicks like this one.


I just finished watching this. I have to admit, in terms of tone and emotions, this is definitely the heaviest animation that I have seen. In this sense, Oseam bears some similarities with Grave of the Fireflies. This is not to say, however, that the movie is sad through and through.

There is no point in revealing any of the plot - suffice to say, the journey is ultimately fulfilling. In terms of animation quality, it is second to none. It is especially impressive considering that it was hand-drawn. Last but not least, this is not your average Disney flick - teens may be able to appreciate the story, but younger kid most likely cannot handle it.


I'm assuming that this is a tale well known in Korea where this is from since this is at least the second version of the story and there is a note at the end about further outcome. I was going in a bit blind and it knocked me on my behind.

The story is a Buddist tale of a little boy and his blind sister who wander the country side begging. They are "looking" for their mother, whom the elder sister knows has died in the fire that left her blind. Through circumstance they end up staying with a bunch of monks and well... any more would be telling.

This is a heavy movie. The film has left me emotionally shot and thrown for a loop. Someone's compared it to Grave of Fireflies, which I don't think is fair, other than it leaves you with a strong emotional feeling. Its a very good film that I'll have to watch when I feel up to it. I recommend it to anyone who wants to see what can be done with animated story telling.

If you want to be moved, see this movie.

A word of warning :I don't think that it really for kids, especially children raised in Western, non-Buddist traditions. I don't think they'd understand some of what happens, especially when most of them don't understand how serious cartoons can be. Parents don't give this to your kids until you check it out yourself.


I find that it is a good animation movie. This a comedy and drama animation. The music was very good, and the drawings are well drawn, especially when they are made with the hand. It is a film which makes reflect on the good to be company. The whole, it does not have there a scene of violence like the majority of the American and Japanese animation. The main character is a trouble maker but he has a good heart.People will cry after seeing this animation. I recommend to all to look at, even to the children, although it is sad and too heavy for them, because it is an example to be followed for all, children and adults.


This animation is great. About everything is right. But be aware not to watch this movie with children! Despite that it is an animation, it is a sad movie and will be too much for most children.

Despite this, I recommend this movie to everyone who is able to get their hands on this!


I have just finished watching this movie, and I can say is WOW, it's definitely one of the best anime movies of all time. The story, music, and animation are great; you just have to see this movie right away. The movie is not out in theater, not in the U.S. anyway, so you should go get the Korean DVD instead, it has English subtitle, so you will be fine.


I saw this movie at a screening a few months ago and I really liked it. Horror movies aren't usually my thing but my friends were going so I saw it. Of course it had all the typical stuff like blood and breasts and gore. It also had the most gruesome scene ever! I almost couldn't look. But it was also an intelligent and original movie with a story that kept me interested until the end. It's the story of Pelle. His brother is missing and he goes down to San Francisco to try and find out what happened to him. It appears that his brother's disappearance might have something to do with a reality show called Public Enemy Number One. A show where people vie for Public Enemy of the year by sending in home made videos of murders. In my opinion, when you see this at a video store near you, it's worth picking up.


I watch a lot of movies, and this is one of the best movies I've seen in a very long time. The plot has everything to be desired. It delivers big for being a low budget movie. The writer/director is a breath of fresh air to an otherwise stale Hollywood scene. The story is new, and by far better than most of the blockbusters out on the big screen today. If you are looking for something different, then take a chance on this one. I know you'll be impressed. With the movies twists, and turns it will leave you glued to your seat waiting to see what happens next. The director will be around for a long time to come. I can't wait to see what he comes up with next.


I had a tough day busting baddies so I was in a desperate need to chill. I came across this film. The title caught my eye. I will investigate anything "Naked."

I was pleasantly surprised. I liked the setting -San Francisco. The subject is timely. All these reality shows. Well this one's a doozy, talk about twisted entertainment.

Does this picture deliver? For an Indie/low budget production... In spades: bombs, blood, guts and breasts!!

The writer/director has an original vision, that's for sure.

Definitely worth checking out.


I was fortunate enough to see the film when it played at the Sunset 5 at midnight. It's played in my mind over the past couple of months. Very strong visual style and lots of amazing sequences.

Overall I really enjoyed the movie although there were moments where it kind of slowed down towards the middle, but really picked up at the 3/4 mark. I was totally surprised and didn't see coming what was going to happen. For being a lower budgeted movie the filmmakers really did a lot! I can't wait to see it on DVD and pick up what I missed the first time.

My favorite part was the segments of the Public Enemy TV show & all the dark humor towards reality television. I wouldn't be surprised that some day we see something like the Public Enemy thing on the boob tube.


I worked on this show .. Don Adams WAS my boss on/off for about 5 years .. he ONLY wanted Marty Pasetta to direct .. and Don could persuade anyone to do what he wanted:) .. The pilot, James Caan, Patty Duke, Connie Stevens, Jason Miller was an hour .. there were 3 judges and just ONE winning contestant from the 4 . when we did the series .. (people flew in from all over the world to try to get on the show) .. we shot two shows a day every other day for a total of 24 episodes OR 12 days of shooting . it was quite a FEAT .. but both Marty Pasetta (he is just super) and Don Adams knew exactly what it was they each wanted and got along just GREAT .. got it all done 'on the button' . Universal, where series was shot, had never done TAPE before and all 'THE SUITS' would come to watch & see 'how is that done?' .. we gathered out audience from the tour center . the contestants had to fill out forms in various newspapers or magazines .. thousands were interviewed by casting directors on the back lot at Universal . then about 500 were seen by Don/Marty .. we had a script supervisor to help . also a censor from both NBC & CBS as it was syndicated and would be on each network around the country .. Don & I traveled around the country to promote the show . it was super . it was Don's way of 'showing how outtakes happen' .. Universal canceled the show after ONE season . but they were immediately sorry they did NOT let it run for at least ONE more season ..

that was NOT a man off the street playing FRANKENSTEIN . that was LYLE Waggoner . who graciously came directly from his workout at the local gym due to another actor/singer or would it be singer/actor? .. uhhhh .. leaving ..

Nancy E. Barr http://us.IMDb.com/Name?Barr,+Nancy+E.


I've loved old movie ever since I was a kid. I was 13 when this played on TV. I expected the worst but tuned in. Actually it was pretty fun! Seeing some "name" actors enacting scenes from classic Hollywood films with amateurs was...bizarre (but fun). The ones that stand out were Loretta Swit in "Werewolf of London"; Don Rickles (doing Marlon Brando) in "On the Waterfront", Ed Asner in "Psycho"; Danny Thomas (doing Burt Lancaster) in "From Here to Eternity" and Darren McGavin (doing Humphrey Bogart) in "To Have and Have Not". The show wasn't exactly hilarious but just fascinating to watch. The only bad thing is that Don Adams wasn't given enough to do. A fun short-lived show from the 1970s.


Director John Irvin must have a real passion for mob movies. He tries his best in both Schwarzenegger's Raw Deal and now Patrick Swayze's Next of Kin to create a violent, good action film but make it passionate and dramatic and all about crime family vs crime family. However, Next of Kin is the later creation and he must have fine tuned some of the mistakes from the rather slow moving Raw Deal. Next of Kin is a much better film and perhaps a big part of that is the strong cast of future stars Next of Kin carries. Liam Neeson, Helen Hunt, Ben Stiller, Bill Paxton, and even Patrick Swayze who was really at the height of his career in this film...between Dirty Dancing and Ghost.

Next of Kin takes a rather liberal view at a group of people not normally dealt with in films...mountain people...or hillbillies if you will. Swayze plays a former country boy who moved to the big city, became a cop, married his love, and is now urbanized himself. His little brother who aims to follow up in his footsteps ends up getting himself murdered by the crime family, Isabella. The rest of his "kin" want Swayze to avenge the death but Swayze is determined to let justice take it's course. Again, much like Raw Deal, Next of Kin is about vengeance and anger and it all bottles up until one big explosion of revenge in the end. The big difference is that Next of Kin stays interesting through the whole movie right up to and including the end and still has some really great action scenes to boot.

The cast as previously mentioned is very well done fortunately for Mr. Irvin. Swayze plays a convincing cop and mountain boy and him and Helen Hunt have decent chemistry for their brief on screen moments. Adam Baldwin as the blood thirsty villain does a good job (not as good his later performance in Joss Whedon's Serenity (aka Firefly) as Jayne but he is convincing as the bad guy. Ben Stiller's brief role is also quite good as the smarter villain but he doesn't last long. Overall Next of Kin is mostly forgettable but a decent entry in the eighties action genre. It has it's moments and is worth checking out for those full of nostalgia. 7.5/10


Reader, do you know all those cousins and distant relatives you have that live far off in such different places as Kentucky, Arkansas, West Virginia, Southern Ohio, Mississippi? Perhaps even North Dakota, or Iowa, or way out in Washington. The houses come complete with animal trophies mounted on the walls, bowling trophies displayed on the television, and piles of junk in the hallway and guest rooms and in the basement. They refer to our nations capitol as "Warshington" and in most of these places you can get a free shotgun if you buy a queen size bedroom set.

Liam Neeson simply owns this movie, even Patrick Swayze has a hard time matching Neeson's intensity. Neeson's portrayal of your average ass-kicking coal miner from Kentucky is all the more awesome when you figure in the fact that the dude is Irish. Reader, do you think it's entirely impossible that they have rednecks in Ireland too? In the end, the mobsters (including a young Ben Stiller, who comes across remarkably like an arrogant little prick) can't defeat the dirty-fighting Hillbillies because the mobsters are sissies who like to look pretty and the Hillbillies, hell they don't care how dirty they get. They're hillbillies from Kentucky, what did you expect?


This is a very enjoyable and underrated Swayze revenge film, that's pretty well made, with fantastic performances all around!. All The characters are wonderful, and the story was pretty cool, plus Patrick Swayze is simply amazing in this!. Liam Neeson and Patrick Swazye shared an excellent bond as brothers and had fantastic chemistry together, and i thought Adam Baldwin, was wonderful as the main villain, plus the finale was quite exciting!. Most of the critics panned this, and i can't see why, it's got plenty of action, suspense, and fantastic performances, plus i thought Swayze's acting was fantastic!. The fight between Neeson and Swayze at the bar was very realistic and tense, and this features Ben Stiller in a very different and early role!, plus The ending was very surprising in my opinion!. Sure it may not be exactly original, but i really enjoyed as you care for the main characters,and root for them, plus it has quite a few powerful and shocking moments as well!. This is a very enjoyable and underrated Swayze revenge film. that's pretty well made, with fantastic performances all around!, i highly recommend this one!. The Direction is very good!. John Irvin does a very good job here, with great camera work, good angles and keeping the film at a very fast pace!. The Acting is fantastic!. Patrick Swayze is AMAZING as always, and is amazing here, he is extremely likable, very convincing, fantastic in the acting department, had excellent chemistry with Liam Neeson, and Helent Hunt, did awesome in his emotional scenes, and was just a lot of fun to watch!. (Swazye Rules!). Liam Neeson is fantastic as the brother, he made a great vigilante, had excellent chemistry with Swayze, was very intense, and was really into his role!, i loved him.Adam Baldwin is wonderful as the main villain, he is extremely sadistic, cold, although that smug smile of his made me want to slap him silly, i hated his character, and he played it really well, one of my favorite performances ever by a villain!. Helen Hunt is very good with what she had to do as Swayze's wife, and had good chemistry with him. Ben Stiller is AMAZING as always, and is amazing here, although he didn't have much screen time, he had a great character, he was so vulnerable, and i just couldn't help but like his character i really felt sorry for him, he rocked! (Stiller Rules!). Andreas Katsulas is good as the father and did what he had to do well. Bill Paxton,Michael J. Pollard and Ted Levine all do great in there small roles. Rest of the cast do fine. Overall i highly recommend this one!. ***1/2 out of 5


The acting is fine. The cast is great. The script is lame, lame, lame. And did say it was lame? If the writers could exploit any ethnic stereotype in shameless fashion, they did. This story about culture clash and crime could have been told intelligently without resorting to over-the-top, sniggering, Hollywood-style bigotry. How could anybody take seriously a crime drama where two of the young mafia types' last names are Isabella and Rosselini? The only thing worthwhile to me was looking at all the Chicago exteriors and spotting the errors in geography.

It is kind of fun to see a young Ben Stiller as a baby mafioso. I am relieved that this movie didn't wreck Adam Baldwin's or Liam Neeson's careers.


For all the big names in this film, it is truly pathetic.

Shallow, cartoonish bad guys, and one-dimensional characters throughout. I can't believe this one was ever released theatrically, nor why it is being shown on TBS now. Back in 1989 some of the now-big name actors like Ben Stiller were just getting started, but others should have turned this one down, like Liam Neeson. His casting as a backwoods hillbilly out for vengeance in the big city of Chicago may be the worst casting I can remember. Patrick Swayze does his usual pathetic job of trying to be tough and sensitive at the same time, and again I am unimpressed.


Truly a horrible motion picture. I can't believe I wasted almost 2 hours watching this piece of crap. The acting was second rate at best by all involved. Should have been listed as a comedy. I see that this is the only movie script that was written by Michael Jenning, I can understand why. John Irvin must have been short of cash to agree to direct this. Found it kind of amusing that the Stiller and Baldwin characters last names came out to Isabella Rosselini and their first names equaled Joey Lawrence. This movie has no redeeming value even with a cast of well known actors. They should have all donated their salary's to the Chicago PD or Appalachian relief fund. I can't say it enough, horrible, horrible movie.


Okay...this is not a perfect movie, and it is hard to categorize because it is not violent enough for today's action movie label, funny enough for today's comedy tag or serious enough to earn the drama moniker.

We also have to realize that this is early in the career of some of the performers. Helen Hunt, liam Neeson, Ben Stiller and Bill Paxton are big today, but you cannot measure this movie by today's standards.

What a lot of people seem to have missed here is the theme about family and friendships. You had the hillbilly vs. the mob family -- hard to compare -- not really. The movie accented that their were more similarities than differences. There are too many examples to be worth singling any of them out.

You also had the loyalty/friendship theme. Think of how Michael J. Pollard, living in the basement of society, had high morals, or how the guys in the hillbilly bar could family up. You could measure that to the members of the bosses crime family against the character of Adam Baldwin.

All in all, this is not a great movie...good at best. But there are some interesting points worth pondering. And seeing an Irishman, Liam Neeson, playing a classic redneck hillbilly is worth seeing it all by itself.

Finally...another overlooked part of this movie is the excellent soundtrack. It is among my small collection of movie soundtracks, that should sum it.


Next of Kin

There's a lot of potential wasted here in this story of a redneck (Liam Neeson) whose big city brother (Bill Paxton in a brief cameo) is killed by crime lords (including a very young Ben Stiller). Taking revenge into his own hands, the redneck makes the trek to the big city and there finds his other brother, a cop (Patrick Swayze), doing virtually nothing about the case. Swayze tries to stop his brother from comitting murder--vengeance is up to the law--but he won't hear any of it.

This could have been an amazing sort of culture clash revenge movie fueled by some great performances (we've got a top-notch cast here!), but it's wasted because the film is (a) too long, (b) too stupid, and (c) far too inept to notice that the potential for great film is somewhere deep down below.

What a disappointment.

Rated R for violence and language.

**


Well, this movie wasn't serious enough to be a drama, too serious to be a comedy and only your grandma would think it was an action movie. I realize that Patrick Swayze isn't the best actor in the world but when you see a movie with Liam Neeson and Ben Stiller you'd expect that it wouldn't suck... you'd be wrong.


I have lived in Chicago my whole life and can tell you two things for certain: one, no honest cop(least not the ones I know) could afford a house like Truman's, secondly, the area where he lived is typically crowded with cars; there is no way the mob guys could have just pulled right up in front of it. Liam Neeson was completely believable as a hillbilly,and the train jumping scene was fun to watch. The flophouse he was staying at is EXACTLY where someone like that would end up. And I must say, that Patrick Swayze added a nice visual interest. Is a shame that his real life wife didn't recieve credit for playing the violin. But, if you're a native Chicagoan, rent this movie...just to see the sights. Lake Shore Drive never looked better.


This is one of the worst films made by many of the cast! Oscar nominee Liam Neeson as a hillbilly brother of Patrick Swayze! Hah! Bill Paxton and Oscar winner Helen Hunt went on to much greater success in 'Twister', but seem to just be paying their dues here. Ben Stiller looks miserable. Unfortunately, Patrick Swayze has made too many films like this one; he actually seems to belong here. Truly laughable from start to finish!


It's a good movie I saw with Patrick Swayze. However, there was some typecasting. But what did I care? This movie was great. The art of revenge, defending one's honor, that's what this movie was really about! Patrick Swayze plays Truman Gates, a Chicago cop with Bluegrass roots, who goes to Kentucky to find out that his brother was killed. The witness was a friend and partner of the brother. Why did he got spared? Who knows? Liam Neesom plays the other brother, Briar. He was bent on revenge big time!The same man that killed their brother kills a son from a family he's married to. So if you think the Gates family were out for blood? Well, think again! Mr. John Isabella(Andreas Katsulas, "The Fugitive") is the other vengeful one. The final fight scene is memorable. The hillbillies versus the mob. The home-front advantage went straight to the Gates. However, the final redemption went also to the Isabellas as well, when the father killed his son-in-law. A divorce that's fully final. The cast are great, the plot is fulfilling, the results is an all or nothing smack-down for the honor of family. 2.5 out of 5 stars!


Personally, I don't think the comments from the original poster are worthy of this movie. I don't thin the original poster would know a good movie if it slapped him in the head...

This was a very well done movie with a great cast. Patrick Swayze did an excellent job of portraying a redneck-gone-big-city cop. Liam did a fantastic job of playing the out-for-revenge redneck-vs-mafia role as well. There is not much that would have made this movie any better than it was. In fact, changing it would have ruined it. Perhaps if Bill Paxton would have had a larger role rather than a get-killed-quick cameo... but other than that, I don't see what would have made this much better...


Well about the plot and the characters, you'll just have to see, it is fairly well done movie, lots of good scenes, although some bring up thoughts of deliverence , but don't come close to 'Squeel like a pig boy'. Anyways Good Movie, makes you think what family will do for you. But don't take my word. See it. Good waste of time like most films.


Really enjoyed this one, primarily because of the vigilante angle. I like to see a guy get paid back for messing where he shouldn't. The bad guys messed with the family of the hero, so he came to town and paid them back in spades. Swayze carried a double rig shoulder holster, and knew how to use the hardware. Lots of gunplay.


And, it's one of the funniest, most outrageous B-movies you'll ever see! I pity MetalMike for not finding the humor in this. Of course the acting is terrible and the plot deranged and the action scenes silly, but that's the humor in it. What's even funnier is that it may have been a serious attempt at making a decent movie. There are so many classic scenes it's so hard to know where to begin. The karaoke scene, the fight at the end, the three nearly identical montages and various points in the film, and the list goes on and on and on. This movie was far more entertaining than most of the crap put out by Hollywood. Again, if you can't find this funny, then I feel sorry for you... stop taking yourself so seriously! Jeez...


I saw this movie whilst working on a movie shoot. We had finished for the day and one of the actors insisted on showing us just how bad a movie can be. This is it folks. THIS is a piece of utter excrement THIS is the worst movie ever to be made and not in a fun ED WOOD way. Chan's direction is incomprehensibly poor. It's the sort that the worst, homemade porn movies would reject. We actually found it in a bargin dump bin in a market running as a double feature for £1.50! Yes 75p or about $1.00 a film. That's about 20 times what it must have taken to make this garbage. Presumably Chan approached the city council to make the film as part of the DARE anti-drugs programme so that he could get his first feature on his show reel. After seeing this, you'll probably need some drugs. You might even want to take a fatal overdose.


In his first directing role Anthony Chan gives us Kindergarten Ninja. An anti-drug (DARE) film that forces you to indulge in a vast array of mind-altering substances just to make it bearable. Kindergarten Ninja is the anthesis of a family movie; e.g. drug use, womanizing, violence. It's more like a comedy, one which you laugh at. The film has an unclassified rating (UN) as no sane person could probably sit through the entire coma-inducing mess. I suspect the review board simply deny its existence and see the whole premise as a joke on them and all Americans. It's important to remember that even though this is a US anti drugs film it was brought by a Hong Kong based distributor (Panorama Entertainment). God only knows what they saw in this diabolical mess, maybe cheap laughs at the expense of a nation.

OK, so what is Kindergarten Ninja about I hear you ask? Well, football "mega-star" Blade Steel (Dwight Clark) is sentenced to 90 days community service for being a drunken sex addict. What is Blade's punishment? Well, being the model citizen that he is, he's forced to tutor kids at his local community center. But Blade is bored, then suddenly a kung fu teaching angel; "Bruce" appears. He's tired of hanging out with Elvis and Charlie Chaplin in heaven so begins to teach Blade useless kung fu moves whilst sacrilegiously uttering memorable lines from movies such as Enter The Dragon. Blade then teaches the kids his kung poo, and that's about it - coupled with poorly staged fights along the way. The fights themselves look like they were choreographed by a mentally handicapped chimpanzee. Credit must also be given to the writer, George Chung (not to be confused with the famous 70s cocaine smuggler). A man who took all the worse parts of Kindergarten Cop, Hustler Squad, Young Dragons - The Kung Fu Kids, Bad News Bears, etc and made them significantly more unbearable.

Overall, Kindergarten Ninja feels like a low budget homemade porno. The poor camera quality, bad sound and womanizing lead actor, but no porn. Just 90 minutes of z-grade kung fu trash. Chan's lack of direction is shocking. I'm guessing he couldn't afford a boom mic so was forced to use the camera's inbuilt one. I really hope he doesn't direct another movie. Chan should stick to producing nauseating kiddy fodder like "Adventures with Kanga Roddy".

To conclude, I think that the purpose of movies is akin to music. Both enhance your life and provide entertainment. Having this in mind, Kindergarten Ninja cannot be classified as a movie. Words cannot describe how mind-numbingly banal and tedious it was. Having said this, I do have to congratulate Anthony Chan on making, possibly, the worst kung fu production I have ever seen. It's so bad it's bad.


My local video rental store is eliminating all of their VHS tapes and as I am still trapped in the 80s and do not have a DVD player I was more than happy to take some off their hands. #13 pick in choosing my 13 for $10 "Kindergarden 'Ninja'" has proved to be just as the others have said, the most entertaining use of a dollar you can find.

I hardly know where to begin. Lets start with the cover of the movie. It is important to note that the creators in no way intended you to think there were real martial arts in this film. Ninja in the title is in quotation as if to warn you of the fighting skills. The cover also declares "Say no to drugs!". That's what got me interested in this film, but the best part is inside.

At one part in the film Blade Steel (ex-NFL star Dwight Clark) suggests that he and his date go to Clark's on the Bay, Dwight Clark real life restaurant. As he says this the number to make a reservation at his his restaurant scrolls across the bottom of the screen. As they have their meal Steel goes on stage to sing the Motown "hit" "25 miles from home". while on stage his date is suddenly kidnapped by ninjas. while continuing to hold the mic and sing Steel defeats the ninjas and returns to the stage with a wink.

During the final fight scene Steel, his martial arts mentor and for a few brief seconds (used as a weapon) the kindergarten children fight a clan of drug dealing ninjas who throughout the film had been played by children but are now mysteriously grown men. During this action scene slow motion is actually filmed by the actors moving in slow motion. Simply amazing.

The entire film is packed full of gems like this.

I doubt you'll ever be able to find this film, but if you do, please pick it up. It will definitely be worth the dollar you spend.


this film is so bad, there are adverts for local shops in it and it must have been filmed on a video camera.... ....its so bad its actually funny. There's a guy who is supposed to be Bruce lee, looks nothing like him, just is Asian..... It looks like they could not afford real actors so they used children as drug dealers.... I think its a production for a local community in America, how com i can buy it in pound land in the UK though!!!??? You have to see it to experience how rubbish it is, watch this film but don't pay anything more than a dollar, or pound or a euro... try and see if you can last till the movie ends...I couldn't the first time and missed the ending the second time, it now sits proudly with the rest of my DVD collection as it should with everyone, so you can say, I own the worst film eva made


I don't know what people have against this movie. Okay, so some of the special effects aren't great, but to be honest I prefer films like this which have interesting plots, solid characters and imaginative scenery to the kind of effects-dependent trash Hollywood is currently churning out without care or interest.

The story involves scientists intending to explore under the ocean with the use of a diving-bell. However, after they find a gold statue they, together with most of the crew of their ship, are abducted by a giant octopus and taken to the lost undersea world of Atlantis.

This is a classic and highly entertaining film with good performances from the cast and atmospheric settings with appropriately haunting music.


Brill film for youngsters, I loved the film as a kid, first saw it on bbc 1 or 2 in about 1985 when I was 8. Watched it not so long ago at around Christmas, my little twin brothers are about 7 and they were glued to the tv. Best part, oh poor old Jacko just been eaten! The Octopus still looks quite good now and the effects were good for then 1978. I would love to see a 2002 remake, its just a shame Doug's not here to play the good guy part.


What a great film! When ever I watch this movie, I sit with a big grin on my face. This was one of the first movies I saw at the cinema as a kid. This film didn't win any Oscars, but if there had been a category for FUN it would have won hands down. I don't thing this film was ever meant to be taken too seriously. Like many of Doug McClures movies, "At The Earths Core" and "The land that time forgot", made with a hint of tongue in cheek. Made before the onset of cgi effects, this film has an innocent, non-cynical feel. It has Monsters, the lost city of atlantis, guns, fight scenes and more monsters, what more can you ask for in a low budget sci-fi. Films like this are often belittled by people who cannot see beyond their De Niro's and Oscar nominations. The quality of a film, at the end of the day, is about it's entertainment value, hence 10 out of 10.


Warlords of Atlantis starts deep in outer-space as the credits play over a large ball of flaming Martian rock as it hurtles towards a prehistoric Earth & ends up in the Sea... The film then switches to the middle of the Atlantic Ocean during the Victorian period. A boat named the 'Texas Rose' slowly sails along, on-board is a rich Professor (Donald Bisset) & his son Charles Aitken (Peter Gilmore) who hope to find the legendary lost underwater city of Atlantis using American Greg Collinson's (Doug McClure) specially designed diving-bell. Captain Daniels (Shane Rimmer) warns the Professor about these waters, waters where boats have been known to just vanish but no one is interested & they carry on regardless. Both Charles & Greg dive deep under the Ocean's surface & encounter an aquatic dinosaur that tries to eat them, they also discover a solid gold ancient relic which the crew above manage to get aboard. Unfortunately for them a giant Octopus attacks the Texas Rose & the crew, Grogan (Hal Galili), Fenn (John Ratzenberger), Jacko (Derry Power) & the Captain are taken while the young deckhand Sandy (Ashley Knight) is left behind with the now wounded Professor. I'm not quite sure how but everyone ends up in a huge underwater bubble which houses the world of Atlantis & it's various cities. They are welcomed by a guy in a silver sequin dress named Atmir (Micheal Gothard) who takes them to the 3rd city of Troy, Charles is deemed clever so is separated from the group & taken to meet the supreme council who appear to be lead by Atraxon (Daniel Massey) & Astril (Cyd Charisse) while the others are condemned to a life of slavery & thrown into the dungeon's. Being a slave for the rest of his life is an idea which Greg isn't too keen on so with the help of a rather good looking female slave named Delphine (Lea Brodie) who luckily for any male viewers wears a skimpy cleavage revealing dress & some of the local wildlife they decide to make a break for it, but will they be able to rescue Charles & make it back to the diving-bell before they are either eaten by some monster or killed by the Atlanteans?

Directed by Kevin Connor this was the fourth & final 'lost world' film he & star Doug McClure made together, the first being The Land that Time Forgot (1974), the second was At the Earth's Core (1976), after that came The People that Time Forgot (1977) & Warlords of Atlantis rounded of the loose series of films which is probably my favourite overall. The highly entertaining script by Brian Hayles moves along like a rocket & is never neither dull or boring which always helps & it also manages to combine the swashbuckling adventure, fantasy & Sci-Fi elements that make these types of films so much fun to good effect throughout. It never takes itself too seriously with references to the Mary Celeste coming to mind & the bizarre notion that the Atlanteans are in fact Martians. There are a few plots holes & slightly underdeveloped ideas but hey, nothings perfect right? The characters are likable & the treacherous crew sub plot worked well, I was a little surprised about the end as Doug strangely didn't get the girl this time. Like the previous Connor films the monsters aren't exactly the pinnacle of realism, in fact most people would probably describe them as poor but I'd rather have the charm & personality of a man in a rubber monster suit than a cold lifeless fake looking computer graphic any day of the week. Along with the giant Octopus, flying prehistoric Piranha fish, dinosaurs & large Eels I especially liked the giant Millipede/fish creature that rises out of the water a couple of times, great stuff. I was impressed with the production design credited to Elliot Scott & the sets in particular, some of the Atlantis cityscapes were obviously just flat matte paintings but they looked good overall, from the dungeons to the higher cities which have a palatial feel to them & as a whole Warlords of Atlantis is quite a handsome film to watch. Forgetting about some of the less than spectacular special effects on a technical level Warlords of Atlantis is solid throughout, the acting is OK & I personally think the hot Lea Brodie as the love interest Delphine is easily the most attractive out of the four films & makes for the best heroine, the photography is nice enough & it has an all round decent polish about it. I really liked Warlords of Atlantis, much like Connor's other monster films this is terrific fun if your in the right mood & can forgive the generally dodgy special effects & as we all know good special effects don't necessarily guarantee a good film so surely the opposite is true as well, right? Well it is in this case, great entertainment for all the family & well worth watching.


When it comes to bad "B" movies, Doug is the King! Some movies are just plain bad (i.e. "The Grifters") while others are exquisitely bad ("Warlords of Atlantis"). I will say this, "The Land That Time Forgot" is much "badder"! Don't get me wrong on this--I love all Doug McClure movies for the simple reason that they are so wonderfully bad. And I cried when I heard he had passed away--long live Doug on the screen!


Greg Collinson (Doug McClure) has devised an experimental diving craft and, along with British scientist Charles Aitken (Peter Gilmore), uses it to explore the depths. They end up in the underwater city of Atlantis, whose citizens intend to have Aitken join them, hoping to exploit his superior intellect. In addition to fighting off assorted monsters, McClure, Aitken, and their associates set off on a daring escape.

One could complain about the cheesiness of the whole affair, or the less than stellar special effects, but for me it still adds up to likable, undemanding fantasy escapism. It's quite colorful and interesting. Most importantly, I felt it was reasonably exciting, with decent direction by Kevin Connor and respectable pacing. The monsters may not be that high tech, but I'd still take these kinds of creations over CGI any day. It just adds to the true old-fashioned, Saturday matinée type appeal of the whole thing. Michael Vickers' rousing score is simply wonderful.

McClure is a stolid hero, and the supporting cast is fine. Special guest appearances are made by Cyd Charrisse and Daniel Massey as high-ranking Atlantians. Especially effective is under-rated character veteran Shane Rimmer as Captain Daniels, with Michael Gothard, gorgeous Lea Brodie, Robert Brown, and future 'Cheers' mailman John Ratzenberger all enjoyable in smaller roles.

The kind of picture that we unfortunately just don't see a lot of anymore, "Warlords of Atlantis" is not particularly memorable but is a definite pleasure to watch in any event.

7/10


In 1973, British director Kevin Connor made the tidy and undervalued horror film, From Beyond the Grave with Peter Cushing. But it was the film that he made in 1975 that would signal the start of four Z grade creature features that would make him known to the discerning creature feature fan. That film was The Land That Time Forgot, where he was paired with American beefcake actor Doug McClure, and the marker that culminated with Warlords of Atlantis in 1978 was well and truly set.

Here with this, in terms of fun arguably the second best film of the four after At The Earths Core, Connor and screenplay writer Brian Hayles send McClure, Peter Gilmore and a few rough neck sailor types under the ocean, to where the lost cities of Atlantis be. All of which is a plot perfectly designed to create monster mayhem and meetings with an unknown race that speak perfect English! Into the fray comes giant octopus, various reptilian sea monsters, The Mogdaan, Zaargs and an attack by flying piranha critters. Sure the effects are up and down, even shoddy and befitting the Z grade budget, but oh what fun it is.

The cast also contains John Ratzenberger, who would go on to be a household name playing Cliff Clavin in the long running show, Cheers. Another notable name on the cast list is Cyd Charisse who earlier in her career had appeared in Singing In The Rain and Brigadoon. But it's McClure who is always the main attraction in these pictures. Obviously brought in to keep the American audience in mind, it's some what inspiring watching Dougie manfully work thru the movie as if it's a masterpiece of the genre. That none of the Connor/McClure collaborations are genre high points is irrelevant, no amount of dopey effects and string assisted creatures can detract from the fact that ridiculous can sometimes be hugely entertaining. And that is exactly what Warlords Of Atlantis is. Now, where did I put my jar of pickles ? 7/10


This film is the best of the Doug Maclure-Burrows films. Of course its bad, but in the best way. Tons of the monsters and effects that you loved as a kid! Harrihausen stop-motion animation in all its choppy glory still has an endearing quality that the sterile CGI effects of today could never duplicate.


OK a lot of folks complain about this film. It is a great storyline with great SFX for the time. Its like comparing a 08 Cadillac XLR with a 59 Coupe DeVille. Ya see back in the day...movies relied on good acting. Instead of mind candy SFX. This is a good buy and a joy to watch. I saw this movie as a kid at the Whalom drive-in Leominster Massachusetts. I remember it vividly! Dinosaurs and wicked cool sea beasts make a kids imagination come alive. A classic take of betrayal and good guy beats bad guys and wins girl. Anyone who complains about this would be the same person complaining about the guy in the rubber godzilla suit. Its about the story and the acting. 1978 guys! Star wars came out about the same time ya know!


Well if i had money for fun i would produce and direct a remake of this film. I have such great ideas, for both this film and at the earth's core. Somebody remake these films or give me the money to do it. I loved these films with the superbly cool Doug Mcclure. I remember as a 10 year old (1987) writing a letter to Doug McClure asking what new monster films he would be starring in but sadly he never did and you also had to appreciate Kevin Connor was the guy behind them as Doug was the Main Actor. Yes my childhood was full of anything with Dinosaur type monsters in, The land that time forget, at the earth's core, the people that time forgot, Warlords or atlantis were my favourites. I also liked Harryhausens stop motion movies too and both have more character than cgi has today. I would however use CGI in the remakes if i could make them, but they would have to be mint and the creature would have to have character too.


This was the fourth - and last - fantasy adventure for the actor-director team of Doug McClure and Kevin Connor after THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT (1974; undeniably the best of the bunch), AT THE EARTH'S CORE (1976) and THE PEOPLE THAT TIME FORGOT (1977).

The result - silly and terminally juvenile - is a disappointment: besides wasting a good cast (Daniel Massey, Michael Gothard and Cyd Charisse), the sci-fi trappings of the plot are ill-suited to the material; the hokey monster effects, then, seal the fate of this low-budget venture. In fact, the location shooting (in Malta, no less, and the smaller neighboring island of Gozo) is among the film's few assets!


one word to describe this movie: mediocre. sort of mad max (see the prisoners and the atlantean first cities ) meets sinbad (SFX would still be poor if dated 20 years earlier ) meets cable TV tripe, like those "lost/treasure island" short telepictures from the 1960-70s for a young audience. Acting is mediocre-to-poor. When gummy faced Mcclure plays the hot dud to impress the mad max belle, well...how corny can anything get? A superior race of martians defends itself using XIX century rifles and cannons? Do me a favor...lock the screenplay writer in a padded cell. They also try to add the victorian element, so well done and fitting in the earlier Dracula movies, yet with poor results here. All in all, rather than a real movie (yes, low budget and all ), it looked like an extended episode from some cable TV "adventure" series. They even try to add plot twists, but it gets even more laughable. Pathetic main actors; even ridiculous supporting cast. Perhaps Lea Brodie is the less pathetic one. Yes, you get monsters, but the Japanese ones decades older were much better. This tripe makes Harryhausen's SFX - a craftsman in his own right albeit very dated - look better than Matrix, Terminator II and Jurassic Park stitched together. Gummy faced Mcclure makes Arnold look like Laurence Olivier, and Gilmore makes Keanu Reeves better than Al Pacino, go figure.


Think the title is "Darkwalker" (one word), and was "Hobbs Grove: the Movie." It's not worth seeing under any title. Non-acting actors (but the male romantic lead and the woman who plays one of the owners aren't bad); silly demon suit (you can see the head of the guy inside through his mask); boring, nitwit script (including a training speech for the employees at the park); no sense to it anywhere (why is the demon killing people, and why only people who work at the park?); funny commentary by the producer and the director, as if they had made "The Godfather" ("we were so lucky to get this cast"; "this is a beautiful-looking film").

Only reason for this review is to plug Hobbs Grove, the setting of the movie, which has the best haunted house (and the best haunted wood) I've ever been to, and I've been to a few. It looks tacky in the film, as those things always do, but seen in person it's scary and imaginative and atmospheric. Skip "HG: the Movie," but if you're in California around Halloween, check out "HG: the Cool Spook House."


DARKWALKER is an average Teen Slasher film. Unfortunately being "average" as it relates to direct-to-video Teen Slashers does not make it "average" in quality. The film is somewhat entertaining in a dull, mindless, repetitive way. Even for someone like myself, who indulges in these type of movies, and gives every break imaginable, there's not enough meat (much less sense) here to justify 90 minutes of running time.

As a mindless type of film, I suppose it's good enough. It's certainly nothing extraordinary (meaning the two perfect "10" grade for this film is not to be believed), but it is not entirely bad.

Fun at places, but ultimately too generic, even for a genre of films built on a foundation of being generic.

4 out of 10

(go to www.nixflix.com for a more detailed review of the film)


This movie makes no bones about what it is and wants to be. A return to the 80s slasher flicks. A plot that movies things forward without being pretentious or deep. Plenty of eye candy. A horrific monster that does what he is supposed to do, kill up everything in sight for disturbing the lands. All the good things a slasher movie needs to be.

Most of all, it was FUN. I get the sense that the case and crew had an absolute blast in making this movie.

I won't say which but there is this one other movie which purports to goes back to those days, but with a super high budget pretending to be low budget. It fails because it feels like a carefully researched numbers crunched cheese substitute. It didn't have the heart of classic low budget.

Dark Walker is the real thing, a FUN low budget popcorn movie. Hang out with your date and friends at a drive in for this one.

I got this one based on the name of a great actor and acquaintance, Chuck Williams. Took 2 years to finally watch it but darned glad I did. Chuck, you got a fun movie here!

And awaiting the sequel with baited (no anchovy) breath!


I thought for the money invested it was a great little film. The plot was clever, without being overdone, and the cinematography was really good considering the budget. The effects were well done also, without looking too cheap (remember - "B" movie). If you want a fun movie for a dark night with a loved one this will do the job. No ... it's not an Oscar contender, but it is far better than most of the big budget horror garbage H-Wood throws our way currently. I love good horror movies and this title delivers - silly, fun, dark and entertaining. I thought the acting was also better than that in several of the most recent H-Wood releases, and a big BOO' shout out to Chuckie Williams - one of the nicest guys in the industry, and not a bad actor as the Dark Walker monster himself. A job well done.


I rented this movie because I love low-budget horror films. They are usually scarier and more honest than the teen-angst goof fests (Final Destination, I Know What...) Watching this 80 minute film, I was ready to forgive many flaws but what I got was the bad acting, non-stop handheld video, boring crap that is dooming most new horror flicks. Why make this film if you have no intention of being scary? A decent set-up finds a seasonal hanuted house built on a "haunted" track of land -- okay, I'm in. I should have known better when I saw rubber suited creature on the cover box but I gambled...

Slow, boring and less scary than an episode of 'Will and Grace.' Ugh.


This was a very entertaining flick. Danny Draven simply is one of the most talented directors in the low budget scene. The Darkwalker make-up is outstanding and the kills were cool too. Pretty bloody, but not really too gory. Check it out if you like good stalk and slash flicks.


Delicatessen is hard to pin down under a specific genre label; it's a surreal black comedy, a human drama, a post-apocalyptic horror movie, a twisted thriller, a futuristic fantasy; and all in all; one of the strangest and most original films I've ever seen.

In this fantasy world, the world has been ravaged and food is now in short supply. This has therefore made food invaluable and it is being used as currency. Things are traded for with grain, corn and lentils, but not everyone can afford the luxury of food, and some have had to resort to cannibalism to continue to enjoy eating. Our scene opens at a delicatessen in an unspecified location in France, and we are treated to an absolutely delicious sequence (no pun intended) in which a man is desperately trying to hide himself in the trash can. We later find that the reason for this is that this particular delicatessen hires handymen and keeps them long enough to fatten them up, and then they are eaten by the delicatessen's butcher and the inhabitants of the apartment building in which they live. The story really gets going when an ex-clown turns up at the shop, wanting the handyman's job, which has...become available. The plot thickens when the new handyman meets, and later falls in love with, the butcher's daughter; Julie. Julie knows what goes on at the delicatessen and can't allow her new found love to meet the same fate as the others, and therefore does the only thing she can do; hire a band of vegetarian freedom fighters to save her love from becoming dinner for the butcher and his customers.

Delicatessen is directed by the team of Marc Caro (whom, I'm afraid, I am unfamiliar with) and the more well known Jean-Pierre Jeunet, director of a few lesser known modern classics, but best known for the enthusiastic 'Amelie'. The film is brought to life by a brilliant ensemble cast. Dominique Pinon (who also featured in Jeunet's Amelie, Alien 4 and City of Lost Children) takes the lead role of the clown turned handyman. His performance is both understated and magical; as he simultaneously manages to entice the viewer into his performance, and yet keeps his character in the realms of reality (a place in which this film doesn't take place). Jean-Claude Dreyfus is the real star of the show, however, as the extroverted and over the top butcher. His performance certainly isn't subdued, to say the least; and every moment that he is on screen is a delight. In a stark contrast to Dreyfus, Marie-Laure Dougnac; the young lady that plays his daughter and love interest for Pinon is very down to earth, and is the most 'normal' character in the film...although there's still room for her to be a nearly blind klutz. The rest of the ensemble comes together excellently, and not a single actor in the film performs below par or looks out of place; and there's not many films that you can say that for.

This film isn't quite like anything else I've ever seen. In fact, the only film I can think of that is similar to this is Terry Gilliam's futuristic fantasy; Brazil. The film draws it's originality from it's plot mainly, which is extremely surreal and inventive in itself, but it's not just that which makes Delicatessen one of a kind; it's all the smaller plot points. How many films do you know that feature a bullshit detector? (that is set off when the butcher tells it that "life is wonderful", no less). The way that the film looks is also wonderfully different; Delicatessen has a yellow hue, which lends it a style that is very dull and dreary; and that does the film no end of favours when you consider it's core subject material. The yellow hue also makes the film almost feel like a moving comic book, which is one of the things that gives the film it's surreal and absurd edge. I'm a big fan of atmospheric films, which is one of the main reasons why I like horror so much; and this film also has an atmosphere like no other. It's the way that the yellow-ish buildings look next to the dark skyline, and the way that the film uses darkness and smoke to make it more horrifying (see roof sequence towards the end) that gives this film the finishing touch to it's already distinct style.

The love story in the film is sweet and tender, and this very much offsets the dark overtones of the rest of the film. This is nice, as during the scenes between the clown (Pinon) and Julie (Dougnac), the film allows itself to indulge in humour that isn't dark like the rest of the film, and you get the impression that it's enjoying itself a little more. This is just another thing in a long line of great things that make Delicatessen a great movie. Another of these things is the more minor characters. I have never seen a more motley crew than the one in this film. As previously mentioned, Julie, although not entirely 'normal', is the most normal character in the film; the rest of it is populated by lunatics. There's a man with a house full of frogs, a woman that continually tries to commit suicide, a man that puts cans on his deaf mother in law so they know where she is etc. The support cast's wackiness don't add anything much to the story itself (which only really requires them to be there), but the fact that they are different and imaginative is another of the film's absurd edges, and another thing that makes this film different from everything else.

Delicatessen concentrates more on being absurd and surreal than it does in posing deep and philosophical questions. Personally, I have no problem with that, but those who do want a movie to be deep and meaningful might find the film disappointing because of that. That is not to say that the film completely lacks depth or meaning; although a moral to the story doesn't seem to present itself, the film takes it's depth from the 'what if' scenario that it presents; "if the world's food supply became too short to feed the population, would you resort to cannibalism or join the vegetarian freedom fighters?". It's a very general message; but it's definitely there.

Overall, Delicatessen is a sublime piece of cinema. You wont find imagination and inventiveness to the extent that it is shown here in most films, and that alone is reason enough to warrant this classic status. Delicatessen is everything I say it is and more; and overall the film is one of the true highlights of the 1990's. A gem.


If Citizen Kane is the number one movie to see to learn anything about cinematography, this might as well be at number 2.

Delicatessen succeeds at creating a totally separate, consistent and believable universe with a very distinct atmosphere. The brown and green colors add to the weirdness of this universe.

Is it horror? Yes and no. Is it a comedy? Yes and no. Is it brilliant? Oh yes!

Everybody involved in the making of this picture gave it its best. The camera work is brilliant, the sets are simply amazing (with the final bathroom scene at the pinnacle), the editing and pace is breathtaking.

This could have been a very dark movie (and I guess a few Hollywood directors would have tried to turn it into a splatter movie and fail miserably), but the humor is just light, off-beat and hilarious enough to make it into a consistent and bearable whole. Every universe has its humor, and a strange universe has strange humor. Jacques Tati would have loved Delicatessen.

Julie's 'tea ceremony' without her glasses, the mattress spring test, Aurore's failing suicide contraptions, it's all funny as hell. I hope everyone who is even marginally involved in making movies gets to see Delicatessen and learns from its greatness. We could sure use a touch of genius in most of them ...

10/10


'Delicatessen' is a very original comedy from Jean-Pierre Jeunet, who also directed the great 'Amélie'. It tells the story of Louison (Dominique Pinon) who is the new helper of a landlord named Clapet (Jean-Claude Dreyfus). Clapet is a butcher and in a world where food is rare he prepares cannibalistic meals for the people in his building. Louison is the new meal and the people in the building wait for Clapet to kill him so they can eat. Clapet's daughter Julie (Marie-Laure Dougnac) falls in love with Louison and to save him she seeks help from an underground group.

You have read the above and you must understand 'Delicatessen' is not a normal movie. Although its subject is close to very scary the movie is a comedy and to be honest it is very funny at times. Listen to the way people talk here. Especially the conversation between the butcher and a mailman is very funny. The underground group gets a lot of laughs as well. The movie hints at real horror images but never gives us that. Most of the time the tension is broken with something funny.

'Delicatessen' is not only pretty funny, it looks terrific as well. From the great opening sequence to the last shot it is visually perfect. The production design and especially the cinematography add a lot to the movie's whole atmosphere. May be it is not for everyone, some will find it ridiculous or the idea too lugubrious, may be it is, but the way the subject is handled is the right way. At least it is interesting and therefore already worth seeing.


Clapet (Jean-Claude Dreyfus) is a butcher who runs the generically named "Delicatessen" housed in a bombed-out looking apartment building filled to the brim with eccentrics. Since food is scarce in the film's world, Clapet has devised a scheme to provide himself and his tenants with a regular supply of meat--he runs ads in the local paper for handymen, and after they fix a few things on the building, they become the main course. When the film begins, we see a man who tries unsuccessfully to escape. The bulk of the film is the story of Stan Luison (Dominique Pinon), who is the latest person to answer Clapet's advertisement.

This film is definitely an acquired taste, so to speak. I've acquired the taste, and for me, it's a 10 out of 10. Delicatessen is set in a weird, post-apocalyptic, alternate universe that is not entirely dissimilar to the setting of Terry Gilliam's Brazil (1985)--in fact, this could very easily be the same world as Brazil, just that that film is situated in its titular locale, and this would be a less fashionable section of France. Like Brazil, most of the production design--the costumes, music, television programming, etc.--suggests an historic setting, say about the 1940s, but it also seems to be set in the future, or at least an alternate present.

In place of Brazil's elaborate, chaotic technology, directors Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet have created a multi-leveled Rube Goldberg construction. Goldberg was an American cartoonist and sculptor known for drawings of incredibly complex contraptions that often performed simple tasks. This recurs from small scales--the interconnected tubes in the building and the uses of the "Australian", to medium scalesAurore Interligator's (Silvie Laguna) attempted suicide set-ups, to the grand scale of the film, where each character, or set of characters, is interlocking in different ways that has a small, but complex causal effect on the whole. Sometimes, these concatenations are more simultaneous than causal, as in the ingenious "bedspring symphony" near the beginning of the film.

Appropriate to its ultimate subject matter, the visuals are focused on decay and dinginess. The delicatessen is filthy and the apartment building is falling apart. The tenants own a lot of broken things, and for those things that aren't broken, there's a good chance they'll get broken as the film progresses. (And by the way, if you love the production design and atmosphere of the film, and wouldn't mind seeing something with a similar mood, but serious instead of a surrealistic "black comedy" like Delicatessen, check out David Cronenberg's Spider (2002)).

All the tenants have various eccentricities, often involving food. One of the most interesting tenants is an old man who decided to harvest his own meals by turning his apartment into a swamp, via regularly running water flooding the apartment, and inhabited by frogs and snails. He has a huge pile of empty snail shells stacking up in a corner. Water is a motif in the film--probably because of its relationship to food, as a means of necessary nourishment, although ironically, in a world characterized by food shortages, water is mostly wasted in the film.

While not a depressing film (it wasn't to me, at least, although not that I dislike "depressing" films), Delicatessen isn't exactly uplifting, either, although there is a message of hope at the end, I suppose. It's definitely not for all audiences, but if you're a fan of Gilliam, Cronenberg, David Lynch, and similar directors, you should definitely try a meal at this Delicatessen.


Clever ideas and good notion of filmmaking are at the core of this movie, whose storyline is the smallest asset. But you won't really care when you see it, because even though the story isn't really elaborate, what you have here is one of the most original movies you'll ever get your eyes on. The setting is perfect, with no historic or geographic references, only an estranged building, which doesn't have a single straight normal tenant. The result is a magnificent work of actors, cinematography and set dressing, that makes the most of visual resources for a movie. The directors Jeunet & Caro show their true potential in this movie that will keep you glued with its naive-like comedy style, and its unique set of characters, which could generate a separate movie about each and every one of them. Magnificent, and truly original.


Melding the perfect mixture of the visual grace of a silent film with a modern soundscape and bearing a twenty-first century post-apocalyptic sardonic sense of humor, Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro's "Delicatessen" becomes one of the finest contemporary films.

This pitch black comedy delves into cannibalism and oddball romance in the same breath with equal gusto and therefore feels horrific, humorous, and haunting all at once. Every frame is a wonder of detail and originality that reinvigorates even the most jaded and long-time film viewer with the sense of rediscovering the art form. This is film-making in the highest regard worthy of praise, awe, and multiple viewings.


This is a superb film. The look and design of the sets is unique and the narrative is certainly original!! I would place this film along with others like Being John Malkovich as it really did make me sit up and take notice. There are some truly great set pieces in the film particularly when the whole house starts to get into the same rhythm as the love makers on the top floor ( ripped off by an American Beer company I note in an advert ) and the botched suicide attempt too - hey I said it is darkly amusing!! I would say that there is not a weak performance amongst the cast in this evocative tale of futuristic cannibalism!! Basically, trying to describe this film makes it sound too bizarre but I highly recommend it to anyone who likes originality and their humour on the edge of darkness.


If you think the cannibal movie subgenre has been milked dry... think again! This one will have you from the opening credits. It's set in a crumbling apartment building in 21st century, post-apocalyptic Paris where food is at a minimum, grains are used as money and the butcher downstairs runs a black-market deli providing clientel with what seems to be the only meat product available, and it ain't chicken.

Dominique Pinon is an ex-circus clown who answers a personal ad doing odd jobs there and encounters assorted weirdos while being targeted as the main course. There's a noncomformist who eats snails and frogs, a band of grimy cave-dwelling looters, an unhinged woman whose botched suicide attempts are comic highlights and an amazing musical sequence featuring a cello, creaky bed springs, machinery, drills and other noises combining to create a symphony of sounds.

The oppressive atmosphere and murky brown color schemes could have easily turned this into a dreary disaster, but the directors keep it offbeat, surprising and clever throughout, and don't miss their chance to throw in some inventive black comedy.


Jeunet & Caro have created a masterpiece. While certainly this film will not be everyone's cup of tea, I cannot recall anyone I know seeing it and not being delighted. No other movie I've seen so far could top this one for its combination of wittiness, dark humor, love for detail and collection of regular people holding a mirror up to each and everyone of us, showing us how strange we really are.

Indeed this movie will not be constrained by a classification as romance, comedy or science fiction or horror. It is much more than the sum of these - it is a work of art and the painstaking work and love for detail which Jeunet & Caro have put into it show everywhere you look.

This movie is definitely off-beat and I definitely love it!


In the late 70s, french director Jean-Pierre Jeunet and designer Marc Caro met and found they shared a lot of interests in the visual arts, their friendship soon became an artistic team that would spent the whole 80s making short films where the duo was able to explore and master the cinema language, perfecting their storytelling abilities and visual design skills, preparing themselves to make a career in film-making. Their efforts were crowned in 1991, when they were finally able to take their craft to a full feature length film, in the project that would become their breakthrough in the film industry and the proper beginning of their careers as filmmakers: the post-apocalyptic comedy "Delicatessen".

The world of "Delicatessen" is a dark bleak France where there is apparently no law and food is incredibly sparse (and is now used as currency). In this post-apocalyptic world, the residents of an apartment building in the middle of nowhere have found a solution to the hunger thanks to their landlord, the butcher Clapet (Jean-Claude Dreyfus), who from time to time kills the building's handyman to feed the bizarre group of tenants. One day, former clown Louison (Dominique Pinon) arrives to the building and gets the handyman position, but unfortunately for Clapet and the other tenants, the butcher's daughter Julie (Marie-Laure Dougnac) has fallen in love with Louison, and will do whatever is necessary to stop the madness of the delicatessen.

Written by Gilles Adrien (who also wrote many of the previous Jeunet & Caro shorts) as well as Jeunet & Caro themselves, "Delicatessen" is a wonderfully imaginative tale of sweet romance and hilarious black comedy that gives an unexpected light-hearted twist to a plot that most writers would treat as a serious subject matter. And surprisingly it works, as while the story is anything but complex, the assortment of strange (yet very human) characters that populate the world of "Delicatessen" truly become the movie's soul. And not only the main characters, as every single one of them (no matter how small the role is) is highly detailed and serves a specific function as if the whole building was one of the odd machines that still work in this post-apocalyptic portrait of France.

Visually, the film is simply sublime. Since the directors decided to divide responsibilities, Marc Caro took full control of the production design and the artistic elements of the movie, so with this freedom Caro's inventive artistic vision reaches new heights creating a movie that could be described as a moving canvas. Highly atmospheric, the french duo takes the cinematography (by Darius Khondji) to the next level mixing techniques and showing a whole range of influences that go from German Expressionism to 40s modernism, resulting in one of the most beautiful looking movies ever done. Still, the movie is more than a visual fest, as Jeunet (in charge of guiding the actors) shows a complete domain over his cast & crew keeping the many elements of the film working nicely in the right place.

As written above, the characters are the film's soul, and the ensemble of actors playing them really made a terrific job in the film. Dominique Pinon (who would become one of Jeunet's regular collaborators) delivers a subtle and charming performance as the ex-clown Louison. He is very believable in the role, and gives the character a very human touch, essential for the kind of character he is playing. The same can be said of Marie-Laure Dougnac, who plays Louison's love interest, Julie, one of the "more normal" characters in the movie. Jean-Claude Dreyfus as Clapet the Butcher is simply delightful as the story's "villian", and basically every member of the cast delivers an unforgettable performance no matter how long or short is their screen time (Silvie Laguna for example, is really wonderful).

"Delicatessen" is a solid debut by this two skillful french artists, and it already shows why the two quickly became an important team in the French fantasy cinema. Their very own brand of surrealist fantasy flows freely through the film making a unique visual fest (although it definitely goes a bit over-the-top at times), and while it doesn't reach the artistic level of their follow-up (the 1995 classic "La Cité Des Enfants Perdus"), it's still a nicely done movie that most importantly, never gets boring or tiresome. Unlike their later films, "Delicatessen" may not be for everyone, as it's mix of black comedy and surreal fantasy may seem at times too close to absurd to be enjoyable. However, those with a taste for the bizarre will find a great movie in this French comedy.

While "Delicatessen" still shows the excess of the young and raw talent of Jeunet & Caro, it's not hard to see why they became known worldwide after this initial success, as this movie shows the enormous potential of their skills as filmmakers. This brilliant mixture of genres is definitely a very recommended movie, and like "La Cité Des Enfants Perdus" ("City of the Lost Children"), an essential film of the 90s. 8/10


Being a big fan of Jeunet's more recent films, I was happy to find this one on cable last week. I found myself chuckling through the whole thing; not just at the jokes, but at the painstaking way Jeunet and Caro plant plot, scenic, and sound details that later play important parts in the film. (They even took time for things like designing and filming one of the cleverest opening credit sequences I've seen.) Jeunet's films are a feast of color and sound, where almost every character is memorable in his/her own way.

The plot is simple, but why complain? The directors have created an entire world for us to enjoy, filled with quirky people (the suicide woman, the guys who make animal-noisemakers...for whom?), weird set design (there must be a plumbing fetishist on the crew), and painstakingly-created set pieces (the flood, the fight on the roof, the squeaky bed). Relax and let your eyes and ears be dazzled by this offbeat comic romance.


Wow! I was really shocked when I have seen this movie.

Film is made with Sepia technique, but I didn't realized that it will be so "experimental". Everything in this movie is so fresh, and unpredictable, and new, and fantastic, and there is even a beautiful love story incorporated! :) Delicatessen differs so much from today's Hollywood movies, which all are filmed in similar fashion. I have picked this one from one of the "Best off" SF list, and I am glad I have watched it. I don't have much time to spend, and I tend to preselect movie on which one I will spend two hours of my time.

European movies are so interesting and rich in comparison with US films, and I don't get how is possible that people still watch low quality stuff, when there are masterworks like this one.


This visually impressive and imaginative movie is probably Jeunet's best. Here he and his usual team create what they do best, namely weirdness. Take Amelie, remove everything that people label "so French" and turn it inside out. That's the feeling of Delicatessen.

The plot is goofy but works very well in the movie and has so many little twists and turns it never lets go of your attention. The quirky(for lack of a better word) characters and the great dark humour is not for everyone, but if you can appreciate it then you won't be disappointed.

The acting is good, and the various weirdos in the apartments are very convincing. A personal favourite was a guy who grows frogs and snails in his apartment. His insane look was a treat.

If you really liked Amelie then you might also like this. That being said, they are very different while maintaining the same basic mood. Do yourself a favour, delve in the mind of Jeunet and check out this dark and twisted comedy for those with good taste...


I watched this movie on dirty heads, so the picture was continually jumping. This disappointed the people I was watching it with, so they left. This did not stop me, however, from watching and, in turn, loving this beatiful piece of cinematic masterpiece. I am a huge fan of any movie (or thing) that is off-centre, and not-quite-right. "Delicatessen" fits this perfectly with its distorted camera angles and equally distorted characters. Jeunet and Caro have made one of the best movies ever!


The elaborate, carefully planned comedy - even in the opening credits, in which nothing moves - must have been maddeningly difficult to shoot. It's a pity Jeunet and Caro sought to top their efforts when they made "The City of Lost Children" five years later. The result was lifeless and over-elaborate; here, the level of elaboration is just right, with no sequence allowed to be more complicated than it is clever. And even the most gratuitous fantasia - like the montage with the creaking bedsprings, the ceiling repair, the cellist and the metronome, the knitting, the drilling, and the bicycle pump - grows naturally out of the story, like a flower on a vine.

But the biggest surprise to someone expecting another "City of Lost Children" is how real the sentiment is. Both films are populated chiefly by grotesques; the difference with the earlier one is that we're allowed to see the human beings underneath, without being invited to laugh ironically. It's worth noting that in the later film all finer human feelings were given to the mentally deficient - a retarded loner, a complete madman, and a child - as if sanity and intelligence precluded the possibility of any other admirable trait. But in "Delicatessen", Louison, however naïve he may be, is no fool; the enchanting Juliet, even as she fumbles her way through a disastrous date because she feel embarrassed wearing glasses, is no object of ridicule. Nobody, in fact, is completely an object of ridicule. Even the butcher is allowed a moment or two when he is neither a joke nor a threat but a human being, one who finds he regrets the life he now leads but is not persuaded to abandon it.

Even if "Delicatessen" had been recommended to me I doubt I'd have seen it in its original release. The fact that it was being praised as black comedy would have scared me off. It is indeed black comedy, but I urge you not to be scared: there's nothing nasty about the taste, and the dominant tone is one of optimism. We don't know the nature of the calamity that has struck this world. (It's not, as some people have mistakenly thought, anything so mundane or so easily comprehensible as nuclear war.) We don't know if the plants will ever grow back. But there's so much genuine hope it's hard to believe they won't.


This is based upon the Special Edition. I've been wanting to watch this for years, and I was not disappointed in the least. In fact, I could not take my eyes off this for a second. This takes place in the future, in a post-apocalyptic time where natural food is so difficult to come by, it's used as currency. A butcher decides to take on this problem with a very hands-on solution... cannibalism. The story is well-told. Editing and cinematography is amazing, and this has some unforgettable images and sequences. The black comedy is hilarious, and hardly any joke or gag falls flat or feels forced. Characters are well-developed and interesting. Everyone is well-cast, including Pinon, who keeps getting hired, and with good reason, by Jeunet(whose efforts I continue to follow with great anticipation for every production of his that I get to view). The acting is flawless, even the kids are convincing. This has a great pace, and is not boring for a second. I don't know enough to say if the concept is completely original, but it didn't remind me of anything I've seen or read before(I hear that at least one aspect is similar to Brazil, though). This is immensely creative and imaginative. The script contains plenty of surprises. This builds atmosphere impeccably well, and is rather exciting when it goes for that. Parts of this are rather surreal. Not speaking enough French to judge it, I can only comment on the understanding of the dialog that I got from the English subtitles; a lot of it is quite clever. There is a little strong language, a couple of hints at sexuality and several instances of disturbing content. The DVD comes with an excellent director's commentary(albeit sans Caro, since he does not care for them), two featurettes that I will review on their individual pages here on the site, a teaser, a trailer and a photo gallery. I recommend this to any fan of this style of humor, dystopian settings and/or the duo of Jean-Pierre and Marc. 8/10


Delicatessen

Brilliantly inspired lunatic genius. This movie is set in another universe that looks like maybe a post-apocalyptic French village. It's along the same lines as Terry Gilliam's "Brazil," a world in which too much has gone wrong and there's an underground group trying to right things. It's another "best movie you've never heard of" candidate, directed by Marc Caro and Jean- Pierre Jeunet; starring a bunch of French actors you've never heard of. (Well, I've never heard of them.)

I'm unwilling to try to summarize the plot, I won't even try to describe it. It's a bizarre, funny movie that you'll love or hate. The characters are wonderful, the situations are delicious, and the possibilities are intriguing. As I sit here remembering the movie, the scenes wash through my mind, and there is nothing I can recount here that would make any sense.

Caro has done nothing else I've heard of. Jeunet wrote and directed (in the American English titles) "A Very Long Engagement," "Amelie," and "The City of Lost Children," all of which I've seen, and "Alien 4" (also known as "Alien: Resurrection"), which I've seen parts of as I've surfed the channels. "Delicatessen" is nothing like them, nothing like anything else you've seen.

Ultimately it's a series of more or less loosely connected skits that are fall off your chair hilarious, tied together in building with a street-level deli and people renting rooms on the five or so floors above. The originality of the scenes is unequalled.


This movie really is as good as it gets. The cinematography, the dialogue, plot, structure, acting, and especially editing rank with the greatest movies of all time from any country. Don't even consider missing this, you'll regret it.


Masterful French comedy. Brilliant visuals, and fantastic use of music and choreography alone make this a joy to watch. But Delicatessen has so much more, which may only be revealed after repeated viewing. It is moving, funny and thought-provoking all at once, excelling in every aspect a film should. At least as good as Caro and Jeunet's next film, which is often put above this, the City of Lost Children. Exceptional viewing.


First of all, u must see this movie at least 2 times, to fully understand what the hell is happening there! A butcher, who really likes to cut meat, whatever (or whoever) it is, his daughter, with [a very beautiful] conception of love from the last decade, a poor but very talented circus artist. One thing that is really exceptional in the movie is the amazing (and weiiird) soundtrack, and the unique musical scene that happens with everything that can probably create a sound, or noise, in the context... A MUST SEE!!!! (bis)


I love this film! Far better than "City of Lost Children"...which I liked, but not as much. The way the movie jumps into its setting, the quirky characters and its sense of calm at the core. I've always viewed it as a triumph of youth, creativity, and love over greed and treachery. Absolutely a must film. Especially if you liked "Brazil" Now if I could just find an affordable VHS copy!!!


Get this for a weird plot: Set in a run-down apartment building sometime in a dystopian, post-apocalyptic future, the landlord, who is also a butcher, keeps the neighbourhood supplied with meat by slicing up applicants for the job of assistant in his shop. His daughter, who falls in love with the newest applicant Louison (Dominique Pinon) helps keep the butcher from chopping up Louison until he learns of the danger he is in, and escapes with the help of a band of vegetarian freedom fighters, and his new-found love. It is an incredibly bizarre film that contains painstaking details of the lives of some of the apartment's peculiar residents.


When I was about to watch this film, I didn't really know what to expect from it. I didn't really know what it was all about, and I wasn't familiar with French avant-garde movies or the work of Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet. But it was an instant delight. It's not at all gruesome even if the plot is about cannibalism, and it's so comprehensible. It's such a good movie that I don't know how to explain why. It's so funny, well-directed, lovable, whatever. It's just a real delightful movie. And I love the 2 leads, Julie and Louison, especially when they played music together. Speaking of music, I even remember just how good the score was, too.


Yet another movie aimed at the 'not for everyone' crowd, This simply fantastic movie about a clown who tries to survive as a tenant in a cannibalistic butcher shop has 'Jeunet et Caro' written all over it. The visuals are awe-inspiring, and the film is contains with numerous scenes where sound and visuals combine to give the viewer a gritty feeling of rhythm within the movie. Beautifully choreographed and staged, well-written, and exciting. Pardon the irrationality of this review, but I get excited even when writing of it. Go see.


Jeunet and Caro managed to make the best film ever... Then they made another one :)


I was rather disappointed by this movie. Why? The reason is pretty much the same as when I went to Prado and afterward visited Reina Sofia. Prado features Velasquez, Goya, Bosch, El Greco... It was very hard for me when I found myself in front of Miro's painting that is called "Sin titulo" (no name). The painting features white canvas and 12 to 15 symmetrical black spots in the bottom left corner. I'm not the kind of guy that dislikes thinking about the movie and interpreting the plot but here there was just too much to interpret. The movie consists of various elements and one of them is the script. If I have to make out more than half of it I prefer writing it myself.

When I heard about the movie I thought that the subject was very interesting. I do not understand why it's full potential wasn't used. We just know that they are eating people and see just one little scene of the butcher at work which was, by the way, happening in a dream. He could have had a farm, like there are many for animals, and raise little children which he would be feeding until they got fat enough an then slaughter them and sell their meat. Meanwhile he and the other tenants would make other children (I won't use the word). That would have been hilarious. Also I thought that the chimpanzee could have played a crucial part in this movie considering their cannibalism. They eat other, smaller, monkeys (not out of necessity but for pure pleasure) and they have (if you want to believe yourself a monkey) 98% genetic match with humans. Do not misunderstand me. I hardly ever eat meat and wouldn't kill a fly. But this is a movie and as such has the obligation to use everything that an idea like this has to offer.

There is no real comedy here. Monty Python is still the right choice if you want to see some real humor. All the people that use their imagination don't have to go to see a film and imagine 70 percent of it. They can just sit at home and imagine what they want. I am giving it a 4 because of the idea which will hopefully be used by somebody else and made into a great movie which this should have been.


This is one of the weirdest and most original films I have seen in a very long time. The film is about a post-apocalyptic future, though the future looks an awful lot like France circa 1950 (as well as having burned out hulks of buildings and the sky is brown). The set design and costumes look very much like the future world of Terry Gilliam's film, BRAZIL. It is supposed to be the future but the design is purely rooted in the past--as if on some alternate reality Earth.

In this dystopic world, there isn't much to eat and society has disintegrated. The film is all set in and around a dilapidated apartment building where the tenants all survive thanks to the landlord--who butchers newcomers for the consumption of all!! Despite being a very dark subject, this cannibal fantasy is actually quite funny and charming (that is, apart from when they are hacking the unsuspected into cutlets).

Into this sick micro-society comes a rather homely man, Louisan--the next unsuspecting victim. Now that I think about it, this film abounded with strange looking cast members--as if Fellini somehow were involved with the project. However, the landlord's daughter falls for this new guy and is determined to do her best to help this poor guy to escape--even if it means enlisting the aid of the dreaded troglodytes! As you no doubt can tell from the summary, this is one weird and original film. However, had the film not been done with such a light and comedic touch, it would have been yet another schlocky teen blood-feast films. But with the tongue in cheek attitude and lots of wonderfully dark little vignettes, the film is remarkably charming--even if it is about cannibals.

Exceptionally well written, amazing visuals (you can't help but be riveted) and a wonderful freshness make this a very enjoyable treat. However, because of the subject matter, I am sure this sick film won't be to everyone's taste! Also, because there are so many clever and small little touches to this film, it sure bears repeated viewing so you can catch it all.


This is one of my favorite foreign films ever. Like "Brazil" it takes place in a "futuristic" society which looks like it takes place in the 40's. After a nuclear war a small band of people in a town survive by trading, scrounging, and eating each other. This has some absolutely wonderful performances by an excellent cast. This is a dark black comedy, which at times is whimsical, and at other times, somewhat gruesome, and sometimes both at the same time. An outsider comes to town and finds employment doing "odd jobs" for a butcher. He falls in love with the butcher's shy daughter. Little does he know that plans are being made for him that probably don't fit in with his intentions. This movie has so many little things that it must be watched more than once to catch them all. There is a sequence featuring a bicycle pump, knitting needles, a man and a woman in bed making love in a bed with squeaky springs, that is just incredibly entertaining. Another highlight is a depressed and suicidal woman who makes several unsuccessful attempts at doing herself in. And that's entertaining? Yeah, it is, you have to SEE it. This is a totally bizarre film, equal parts light and dark, with very likeable characters and somewhat of a good nature to it despite its subject matter. Highly recommended, and if you see this and DO like it, you will want to see "City of Lost Children" and "Amelie", which are both by the same people, also containing some of the same actors. 10 out of 10!