Following the cult Brazilian TV series "City of Men" (2002-2005), Acerola (Douglas Silva) and Laranjinha (Darlan Cunha), two orphaned, teenage street kids living in Morro da Sinuca (one of Rio's 800+ favelas), are now about to turn eighteen and face the issues of adulthood. Fatherhood -- in a social milieu where most kids grow up fatherless -- is the key theme here: Acerola is now a teen dad who has to take care of his baby boy when his teen wife moves to São Paulo to work as a babysitter; and Laranjinha is on the search of the identity of his unknown father, only to discover he's alive and is an ex-convict on parole. On the background, the violent, destitute, lawless, drug-gang controlled life in Rio's favelas.

A sort of mix of Fernando Meirelles' (co-producer here) "City of God" in visual style and "Oliver Twist" in spirit, one of the major problems of "City of Men" is its contrived plot solutions: we have to deal with Acerola's impossibly fast finding of Laranjinha's father whereabouts. And Acerola's grandmother ending up homeless and abandoned by her family (in the film's phoniest solution). And trafficker Nefasto suddenly changing sides in the gang war; and Acerola's one-chance-in-a-million spotting trafficker Fiel still alive, and the phony solution linking Acerola's and Laranjinha's fathers in the past, etc.

Director Paulo Morelli -- who made the practically unseen "Preço da Paz" and the insipid "Viva Voz", and directed some episodes of the "City of Men" TV series -- comes from the publicity world, and it certainly shows. His images are (too) soigné: the black bodies have a golden shine, with pearly sweat drops and blazingly white teeth. He adopts cinéma-vérité style (in the camera-work, dialog, performances), now de rigueur in films dealing with "stark realities". Oscar-nominated editor Daniel Rezende ("City of God", "Motorcycle Diaries") tries to keep things moving fast so we don't have time to think about plot holes and contrivances. Antonio Pinto's music is beautiful but inexplicably old-fashioned for a movie about teenagers. On a positive note, the sound design and effects are superb.

The cast -- most of them from the TV series -- is asked to do more of the same. Douglas Silva (Acerola) relies on his intuitive acting and his big, expressive fish face. Jonathan Haagensen (as drug lord Madrugadão) again acts with his pout and bare torso in his usual laid back bad-boy style, looking suitably stoned. Babu Santana does his usual scenery-chewing in a bit as a trafficker. Camila Monteiro, Luciano Vidigal (a sensitive actor with an impossible part) and others repeat their TV roles. Eduardo BR as Nefasto suggests a blooming talent; Rodrigo dos Santos as Laranjinha's father has a great movie face, and first-timers Pedro Henrique (Caju) and Naíma Silva (Camila) are sensitively directed. The best is Darlan Cunha as Laranjinha: no-nonsense, nonplussed, witty and resourceful, his deadpan acting is the essence of the "carioca cool".

But there's something bothersome about "Cidade dos Homens": it's hard to concentrate on Acerola's sex troubles or Laranjinha's unlikely instant attachment to his shady father (are Rio's street kids really this naive?) when characters like Caju (the dim-witted, glamor-seeking teenager who joins the drug gang) or those really original characters -- the teenage girls that have "upgraded" from "gangsta molls" to becoming gangstas themselves -- screamed for attention and development. The fact is it's weird to take "City of Men" for its face value, i.e. a buddy-buddy movie with the favela drug war on the background, though we all know ordinary life somehow always goes on even in the most violent, crude realities.

By focusing on the personal problems of Acerola and Laranjinha, director Morelli and writer Elena Soárez ("House of Sand", "Eu Tu Eles", lending a sensitive touch to what could have been a stolid buddy movie) choose to concentrate on plot and characters, using a lot of big close-ups of the kids' faces so we won't be distracted by the hellish favela background -- and yet the "background" jumps right on our laps. Poverty, segregation, racism, drugs, guns and violence, the absence of schools, hospitals, formal employment or government assistance, the dire conditions of life in the favelas that affect over one million people in Rio are, in fact, the cause of most of Acerola and Laranjinha's "personal" problems. Maybe one day we'll all be desensitized enough to take that sort of background as routine scenery, but not right yet.

"City of Men" has a major asset, anyhow: the final scene is lyrical, ingenious and filled with humor -- it's a great finale for the successful series that dared put on Brazilian TV favela teenagers as protagonists, teenagers who usually just show up in movies and TV (and, many times, and tragically, in real life) as traffickers, junkies, thieves or corpses.


I just saw it and despite of the rough theme is a sensitive and emotive movie, very different from City of God. City of God was frenetic, full of effects, City of Men is more traditional and the narrative is more conventional. The traffic and the violence is in the background, the theme here is the paternity. Acting is first class, music is melodious and integrate to the scenes, photograph is similar to City of God. Above the summary: Laranjinha and Acerola are preparing themselves to adult life! At the age of 18, each boy has his own problems: Child, women, family, job, forgotten wishes and dreams are some of this adventure's spices, which, to add another pinch of thrill, tells about a war on the hill that will expel the young adults from their community. Will be definite all those changes?


The film City of Men is a fantastic Brazilian film. It's directed by the same creator of City of God and the City of Men TV series. Now, personally, I recommend you watch the TV series before watching the movie due to many flashbacks throughout the film. The TV series also adds more depth to the characters that add to the overall enjoyment of the film. The film is still set in the favelas in Rio, but instead of focusing on the gangs as in City of God, it focuses on two 18 year old boys. The film is similar to City of God, but with a more light-hearted feel to it. The film also has similar cinematography. Overall, I prefer City of God to this film, but it is a worthy follow up to a fantastic film. 9 stars out of 10 in relation to City of God, but as a film in general, compared to the majority of films created this would deserve 10 stars.


It has been estimated that 19 percent of the population of Rio de Janeiro live in favelas, shanties crowded onto hillsides not far from luxurious apartments and world famous beach resorts. Notorious breeding grounds for poverty, drug addiction, and gang warfare, the favelas with their picturesque street names such as Dead End Hill, have been the subject of critically acclaimed films such as Hector Babenco's Pixote and Fernando Meirelles' City of God. Based on a long running television series that ran on Brazilian TV Globo for four years and was watched by 35 million viewers, Paolo Morelli's City of Men is a follow-up to the more flashy Meirelles film. While it lacks the earlier work's kinetic energy, it is more emotionally satisfying and has characters that we care about.

The film focuses on two friends, both turning 18 and without fathers. The two boys, Acerola and Laranjinha, (given Americanized names Ace and Wallace in the subtitles) have unresolved father issues. Wallace is trying to locate the father he never knew and Ace wants to find out how and why his father was killed. Actors Douglas Silva and Darlan Cunha both appeared in the TV series and footage from the TV series is used for flashbacks in the film, shown in a faded color palette. Both are natural actors who do a remarkable job. Ace, though only 18, lives with his wife Cris (Camilla Monteiro) in one of the shanties and is the father of a young boy named Clayton (Vinicius Oliveira). Ace is immature enough to leave Clayton alone on the beach in an early sequence but must grow up quickly and assume complete responsibility for Clayton's care when Cris takes a job in Sao Paolo.

Shot by cinematographer Adriano Goldman who provides sweeping panoramas of the hills, mountains, and beaches, the film begins on the top of Dead End Hill on a day so brutally hot I could feel the sweat gathering on my forehead. Gang members with handguns and automatic weapons led by Midnight (Jonathan Haagensen) decide to head down to the ocean, establishing a perimeter of guards who tell the cops that they are on route. The emotional center of the film is the relationship between Wallace and his newly discovered father Heraldo played with strength and dignity by Rodrigo Dos Santos. Heraldo is out on parole after having served fifteen years of a twenty year sentence for robbery and murder. The circumstances of the murder that he committed becomes a central issue in the relationship between Ace and Wallace and secrets about both of their fathers' pasts threaten their friendship and lead to their involvement on different sides of a new eruption of gang violence.

Somewhat melodramatic but never manipulative or false, City of Men transcends the familiar format of hand-held camera hyperactivity and gangster clichés to become a tender and deeply affecting story about abandoned children and how the cycle is repeated from one generation to the next. While the film explodes into warfare between rival gangs led by Midnight and Fasto (Eduardo BR), it is devoid of typical heavily stylized and frenetic violence. Ace and Wallace are characters we get to know and identify with. We want them to defy the odds and survive until adulthood though the tragic history of life in the Rio slums is never far from our mind.


In the slum in Morro da Sinuca, a couple of days before turning eighteen year-old, Laranjinha (Darlan Cunha) tells his best friend and also orphan Acerola (Douglas Silva) that he misses his unknown father. Acerola decides to help his needy friend to find his father and they discover that he is in prison convicted for killing a man during a robbery and near to be released on parole. Meanwhile, Acerola's wife and babysitter Cris (Camila Monteiro) is invited to work in São Paulo and she sees the chance to raise money to buy a house of her own; she tells Acerola that he must take care of their son Clayton alone for one year. When the owner of the hill and Laranjinha's cousin Madrugadão (Jonathan Haagensen) is betrayed by his right-hand Nefasto (Eduardo BR), he is expelled from the slum and Laranjinha and Acerola have also to leave the hill. While Madrugadão plots a plan to invade and recover the hill with the support of the gang of the drug lord from Morro do Careca, Acerola and Laranjinha unravel the past of their fathers.

"Cidade dos Homens" follows the success of "Cidade de Deus" showing the life in one of the slums of Rio de Janeiro through the personal drama of the two lead teenagers, having as background the war between the rival gangs. The story is very realistic and the cast is amazingly natural in their performances, therefore the work of the writers and the director Paulo Morelli are awesome. The cinematography is also top-notch, with landscapes from the hill and well-choreographed and impressive action scenes in the slum. The producers certainly have an agreement with the real drug lords and owner of the hill to shoot this great movie. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Cidade dos Homens" ("City of the Men")


Director Fernando Meirelles' Brazilian gang warfare epic "City of God" made its mark in cinematic history as the premier film on depicting the horrors of drug trafficking & gang violence in Rio, Brazil's favelas. So why not a "city pass" on a sequel? A few years after the "City of God" fame, Meirelles and other collaborators including Director Paulo Morelli decided to produce a Brazilian TV episodic series entitled "City of Men" on the same premise. They casted young Brazilian actors Douglas Silva and Darlan Cunha as two charismatic best friends living their lives in spite of all the gang warfare that surrounds them in Rio's favelas. The series was a success, and the time to hit the silver screen came calling to the story of "City of Men". Even though "City of Men" does not involve the same characters of "City of God", it still does incorporate the same themes of it predecessor including: friendship, loyalty, drugs, poverty, violence, and survival. However, the overlying theme of "City of God" was drug trafficking with all the aforementioned as background themes. While the forefront of "City of Men" is the young protagonists' quest to find their unknown fathers with all the aforementioned also incorporated as background themes. "City of Men" does not excel in masterful storytelling and character development as "City of God" but it does hit the mark on the survival fortitude of its main protagonists. Meirelles only served as producer this time around and wisely transplanted the talents of Director Morelli and stars Silva & Cunha to the big screen adaptation. All of them hit the mark with their efforts. Even though many of the themes are terrifying and at sporadic times disturbing to look at, "City of Men" continues to keep it rio on the realities of a drug & gang induced life in Rio's favelas. **** Good


This sepia-sunbleached feature derives from, and features the same main characters as, the eponymous 2002-2005 Brazilian TV series about (mostly) boys in the "favela" hill ghettos above Rio for which Morelli did some of the writing and directing. The series, starring Darlan Cunha as Laranjinha (Wallace) and Douglas Silva as Acerola (Ace) --growing up from year to year and episode to episode--sort of grew out of the Fernando Meirelles/Kátia Lund film, 'City of God,' which in turn was based on Paulo Lins' tumultuous and partly autobiographical novel about three decades in the slums and the involvement of youth as dealers, assassins, and victims. Actually the Ace/Wallace characters as young teenagers, always played by Silva and Cunha, predate 'City of God' by two years; they appeared in a short film called 'Palace II' in 2000. The history of these films and stories is as intricate as the world they depict. Douglas Silva was the prepubescent tough in 'City of God' known by he moniker Dadinho--Lil' Dice.

'City of Men' is warmer and more intimate than the original film. 'City of God' has been both admired for its virtuosity--it's full of tours de force of visual violence and equally brilliant feats of rapid storytelling--and condemned as reveling too much in blood and gore, making teenage killers who terrorize neighborhoods into little glamor boys. That's quite true. It's unfortunately also true that in the ghettos of Rio as of other places such as the USA, young gun-toting drug dealers are the sexy local pop stars. Maybe the earlier film fails to take a sufficiently clear moral stand, or too much reflects the viewpoints of the young favela males it depicts. Nonetheless it's exhilarating film-making. Paradoxically, it also has a more positive arc than 'City of Men,' because its hero works his way out of the slums and into mainstream Rio de Janeiro to become a photojournalist. In 'City of Men,' nothing like that happens. Instead, there is a difficult reconciliation between the two boys, on the brink of eighteen, despite a stunning revelation about their lost fathers, and one of the fathers comes back into the picture and, reluctantly at first, chooses to be a warm presence in the life of his son. Both of the boys endure moments of terrible loneliness and isolation, which reveal how isolating the world of shifting and dangerous loyalties and hills fought for and lost is for a boy who in the first place lacks parents. But the focus is on the reconciliations.

In the TV series, the boys are in school. They face difficulties even showing up, and only one of them, Ace (Silva) really hits the books (he's also fascinated by guns of all kinds). Laranjinha is closer to turning into a young hood.

Thugh the new movie 'City of Men' is less specific than the TV series (judging by the DVD collections of episodes that I've seen) and suffers a bit by comparison with either it or 'City of God,' the vibrancy of the life on offer in all these films is still unmistakable, as well as the attractiveness of the young actors, the warmth of the world evoked--and vernacular swiftness that of the filming and editing, which somehow is both relaxing and unnerving.

Wallace/Laranjinha is trying to find out who his real father is; he doesn't want "unknown" to be on the place for "father" on his papers. Acerola knows his father is dead, and he wants to know what happened. He's faced with the local problem from the other side. His wife Cris (Camila Monteiro) keeps leaving their toddler son Clayton (Vinicius Oliveira) with him to take care of. He doesn't want to accept the responsibility. But if he reneges on it, he'll leave Clayton in the same place he and Wallace are in. Ace abandons Clayton on the beach early on when Madrugadão (Midnight, Jonathan Haagensen), the gang leader of the hill where they live, risks assassination to descend on a super-hot day for a swim in the ocean. He also turns some flashy cartwheels and shows off his spectacular pecs. Madrugadão, like Wallace (i.e. Darlan Cunha), is handsome and charismatic. Ace is so childish he forgets his own son; but he rushes back and finds him. And when Cris gets a job in the wealthier city of São Paulo, Ace, with great difficulty, forces himself to take on the responsibility of raising Clayton.

Wallace (perhaps a bit too easily) finds his father, a bearded man named Heraldo (Rodrigo dos Santos), who has just gotten out of prison after serving fifteen years of a twenty-year sentence--for murder. Heraldo's beard cannot conceal the fact that he is not very mature. He hasn't shouldered the responsibilities of being a man. But he also carries the weight of suffering and gratitude.

When rival gang leader Fasto (Eduardo "BR" Piranha) takes over Midnight's territory on Dead End Hill, a new gang war breaks out right in the middle of Ace and Wallace's journey of self-discovery.

'City of Men' is a more tender, individual and grownup story than 'City of God'; from what I've seen of the TV series it grows out of, it's less specific and less witty. It works as a kind of antidote to the amorality one feels in 'City of God,' and its warmth is touching. Nor is it visually ineffective, or its sense of the milieu less rich--except. Except that it quite lacks the momentum and adrenaline-rush brilliance of 'City of God's' virtuoso film-making and editing, or the rich range of minor characters the latter has. It is a little bit meandering, and its fast jump-cut slides from scene to scene sometimes seem out of place. As the AV Club reviewer says, much has been gained in this new film, but much has been lost as well. Still 'City of Men' is well worth watching.


"City of Men" is a companion piece to Fernando Meirelles' 2002 film "City of God," but it's a much different animal from the earlier film. Both are set in the slums of Rio de Janeiro, and both are about young men fashioning lives for themselves out of the only resources available to them. But whereas "City of God" was kinetic, angry and immediate, "City of Men" is more reflective and conventional, and it comes to a much more hopeful conclusion than the earlier film.

"City of Men" is by far the weaker of the two. The carefully crafted screenplay was full of the heavy themes and plot twists of a Shakesperean tragedy, but I found myself missing the unscripted, documentary-like feel of Meirelles' film. "City of Men" is about the absence of fathers, and about two friends who find themselves fighting on opposite sides because of deeds committed by their own dads -- sons literally inheriting the sins of their fathers. But the script is too often heavy handed, and the director, Paulo Morelli, chooses to communicate too much about the lives of these people through blunt exposition. We don't learn about them from what the actors playing them do or how they act, but rather through the lines they read, and we're almost always aware that they're reading lines.

Nevertheless, the acting is strong enough that I found myself caring for the two leads and fairly engrossed in how their stories turned out. Morelli isn't as accomplished a director as Meirelles, but the film is still well directed on its own more modest terms. If I didn't already have "City of God" to compare it to, I might have liked it even more.

Grade: B+


"City of Men" is a feature film version of a blockbuster series that ran on Brazilian TV from 2002 to 2005. It is also a sequel of sorts to the earlier "City of God," an award-winning movie directed by Fernando Meirelles.

Paul Morelli's "City of Men" focuses on Laranjinha (Darlan Cunha) and Acerola (Douglas Silva), two honorable teens who are struggling to make a decent life for themselves in the slums of Rio de Janeiro. The former is searching for the father he's never known, while the latter is only beginning to learn what it means to be a father to his own son. Their personal story is set against the backdrop of a violent turf-war between two rival gangs that are battling it out for preeminence in the city.

"City of Men" reveals its origins as a TV series in the novelistic approach it takes to storytelling and character development. From the beginning, we feel as if we have been thrust into the midst of a story "already in progress." With little explanatory background, the screenplay (by Elena Soarez) introduces us all at once to a multiplicity of characters, whose relationships with one another we are forced to pick up almost on the fly as it were. This allows us to become both an observer of and an active participant in the drama that unfolds.

Certainly, one of the most important characters in the movie is the city itself, since it is this very environment of poverty, hopelessness and violence that, in large measure, determines the kinds of lives these people will lead and the types of futures they will have.

Morelli's directorial style is up-close-and-personal in the more intimate moments, and vivid and exciting in the pulse-pounding "action" sequences. The sense of immediacy that he and cinematographer Adriano Goldman bring to the work acts as an effective counterweight to some of the more melodramatic elements that creep into the screenplay towards the end.

With excellent performances and a surprising amount of optimism given its generally depressing milieu and setting, "City of Men" is a tale of friendship and adult responsibility that will move the spirit and touch the heart.


Terribly disappointed with CITY OF MEN after being swept away by CITY OF GOD. Lost is the exciting and unpredictable storyline, and instead, in its place, is bland predictability with the obvious attempts at audience manipulation by a superficial pretentious production and distribution team. This story ended up feeling like a sappy soap opera rather than a gritty indie feature, which is what is should have been. This is what happens when distributors try to seek a wider audience (ridiculous sweeping shots of the Rio coastline, etc) at the expense of a gripping story and characters. I really couldn't care what happened to any of the characters in this film - they were all so 2 dimensional. In short, sad waste of potential that should have been a slam-dunk following the exceptionally inspired CITY OF GOD. Boo!


Quite an interesting movie - filmed in an almost 'cinema-verite' style. It is extremely authentic. The slums (or favelas of Rio), the dialogue, the gang members, the innocent by-standers are all depicted with a reality, that if it were not for the poverty, grimness and violence, would be considered refreshing. From that point of view it is much like 'City of God' but less nihilistic and the focus in this movie only centers on Rio de Janeiro. There is a positive out-look in that both the central characters are concerned with fatherhood; one is already a father and both do not know their real fathers (although this changes during the film). This creates a counter-balance to the slum and gang warfare.

It took me awhile to understand or pick up on the storyline  one must pay close attention during the first 30-40 minutes to the characters and dialogue. I realized after, when I watched the DVD out-takes, that this was based on a TV series so that may be a reason for those difficulties.


Amidst poverty, racism, drugs, guns and violence, the absence of schools, hospitals, formal employment or government assistance, life in Rio's favelas is a constant challenge.

Here, we watch two young men grow up fatherless. Laranjinha (Darlan Cunha) is trying to find his father as he turns 18 so that his name can be on his identity papers. Acerola (Douglas Silva), his best friend, is dealing with his own fatherhood. He has to care for his son while his wife goes to work in another city as a babysitter so they can get a house.

While Wallace (Laranjinha) is dealing with his father, who was recently released from prison, Ace (Acerola) is mixed up in a battle over turf on the hill. They find that their fathers are intertwined, and there are some tense moments when the two deal with their friendship.

The cinematography was beautiful and the sound during the gun battles was excellent. It seemed more like a war zone than a city, but that is a fact of life for the millions who live there.


"Too Many Husbands" impressed me as the best of the three main versions of this plot (the others being "My Favorite Wife" and "Move Over Darling"). Only in "Too Many Husbands" did I get a distinct sense of the terrible dilemma faced by the spouse who has to make a choice. This is because in this version alone are the two competing spouses portrayed as equally worthy, charming, and attractive by actors who were close to one another in those qualities, as well as in their respective levels of stardom at the time the film was made. In both "My Favorite Wife" and "Move Over Darling", it is quite clear, from the portrayal of one of the competing spouses and from the casting of a lesser star in the role, whom we are supposed to be rooting for. Not so in "Too Many Husbands". Douglas and MacMurray are very near equals in star power and in the way their characters are written and portrayed. Unlike the other two films, this results in as real a conflict for the viewer as it does for Jean Arthur's character. Unfortunately, it also results in the movie's weakest point--the ending (or lack of one). The dilemma was apparently so strong that the film makers themselves were unable to decide. After having Arthur's character seemingly make her choice, they tacked on a rather strange ambiguous ending suggesting that the "losing" husband might still have a chance. The effect is a non-ending that suggests the film makers couldn't make up their minds, so they just turned off the camera.


I am a HUGE fan of all 4 of the main actors in this film. They have all made films that are high on my list of favorites. My expectations for this film were, therefore, VERY high. All of these actors are capable of elevating mundane roles and films into something special. Unfortunately none of them can do so in this film.

The comments of rhoda-1 are most illuminating. Changing the motivations of the characters in the original Somerset Maugham play results in a very unsatisfying movie. (I would love to see the original play!)

The situation in this film is the same as My Favorite Wife (and the mediocre remake, Move Over Darling) - except the male and female roles have been reversed. But there the similarity ends. In My Favorite Wife, Cary Grant wants to restore his first marriage to Irene Dunne. Ditto in the remake with Rock Hudson and Doris Day. Both Grant and Hudson are motivated by the desire to let the second wife down easily. By contrast, in Too Many Husbands, the normally lovable Jean Arthur plays a character who at first seems torn between her two husbands, but increasingly seems to just bask in the egocentric pleasure of having two men pursue her. This motivation completely undermines the sympathy I initially had for her. By contrast, I am completely sympathetic with the erstwhile husband and wife in the other two films.

In addition, while there is some clever dialog in Too Many Husbands, it is too scant. Most of the time the characters are just sophomoric. Jean Arthur reverts to a flirty schoolgirl leading-on two schoolboys. Unfortunately both Fred MacMurray and Melyn Douglas behave accordingly. The furniture-jumping scene is painful to watch. Nothing of this juvenile nature happens in My Favorite Wife (or Move Over Darling).

This one trick pony becomes all the more annoying when the end arrives without any resolution. It is as if the viewer has simply been watching the beginning of a perpetual competition between two high school boys pursuing the same girl.

Basically this film is disappointing because Jean Arthur becomes pretty unsympathetic, the 3 characters in the love triangle are all sophomoric in the extreme, and there is no resolution at the end of the film.

I absolutely love both romantic comedies and screwball comedies. Too Many Husbands is an insult to both. It is ANTI-romantic and not screwball but sophomoric, slapstick silliness. What a total waste of incredible talent.


The boys are in Paris as a sculptor (Moe), a pianist (Larry) and a painter (Curly). The latter is in good form, right off the bat, huffing on his painting and calling Moe the sculptor "a chiseler."

It's no surprise the guys are broke, eight months behind in the rent, and do what they can for food, such as "fishing" outside the window for the fresh fish of the day from a vendor on the street below.

I enjoyed some of the lines in here, such as this early exchange between Curly and the landlord with Curly showing him his "masterpiece." "This should be worth a fortune when I'm dead." "I should kill you now, and find out!"

Anyway, booted out of their apartment, the boys see a sign for the "French Foreign Legion" and think it's like the "American Legion," a place they can borrow money to get back home to the States. Through miscommunication, the boys wind up joining the French army.

Bud Jamieson, a frequent contributor to the Stooges films, plays a Legion sergeant who gets driven nuts by the boys and their ineptness as soldiers. After the captain is kidnapped, the boys try to atone for their security goof (and save themselves from a firing squad) by getting him back. They disguise themselves as Santa Clauses - in the middle of the desert! - to get into Arab Chief Simitz's house. The latter is played by another regular, Vernon Dent, whose accent in here is priceless. The girls in the harem are a riot, too.

This is another example of the Three Stooges in the prime. Almost any of these episodes that feature Curly and run to the mid-to-late '40s are great if nothing else than to admire his comic genius.


I first saw this Three Stooges short a few months ago, and I really loved it! Like with a lot of other Three Stooges shorts that I have seen, I own this one on DVD as part of the Three Stooges Collection, Vol. 2, and because of that, I can watch this one anytime that I want to see the Three Stooges!

I really loved the opening where they got into trouble with their rent and the police, and then they accidentally joined the Foreign Legion, and when the Capitan they were supposed to guard got captured, they then dressed up as Santa Claus in order to go and rescue him!

This is their fourth best of 1938, behind "Healthy, Wealthy, and Dumb," "Tassels in the Air," and "Violent Is the Word For Curly!" I really think that you should see this riot! You will want to watch this short over and over again, as with a lot of the Three Stooges shorts out there!

This is one of their best out of their early years, but some of their best are "Punch Drunks," "Men in Black","Violent Is the Word For Curly," and "A Plumbing We Will Go." You really should see this short! You will really be laughing and laughing at it!

10/10


First it had to endure having the three stooges in its ranks, and later Abbott and Costello.

Be that as it may, this is another of the better stooge shorts complete with Vernon Dent and some very sexy harem girls.

The stooges start first as starving artists in Paris, and then Foreign Legion soldiers (with familiar "about face" marching routines), Santa Clauses (There ain't no Santy Claus) and harem girls. They are of course hilarious in each, and then the climax with their encounter with the lion. One of the faster moving episodes and as usual quite worth watching.


This is one of My all time favorite Three Stooges short subjects. I have seen nearly all of the Stooges episodes with the original trio of Curly, Moe, and Larry and the replacements with Shemp, Joe, and Curly-Joe and I thank God for that. Anyway this episode is so great. It starts off with a great song sung by the Stooges and when the shopping begins I just love the guy that selling the food as he yells about the Stooges jumping on his food cart. I also love when the Stooges are in the French Foreign Legion. An excellent scene is were one of My favorite actors Vernon Dent plays Simitz. He played that role perfectly with the accent and everything and I believe its one of his finest works. There are not that many actors today who can pull off what he did in his day! The Santa Clause and the harem girl costumes the Stooges wear are so funny. The music is great in Simitz' palace and I get a kick out of his guard and his harem girls especially the gal with the black pants, she new how to dance! I just love this one! Like I said this is one of My all time favorite Three Stooges short subjects films and all Stooges lovers with adore this one!


I have to say that this must be the greatest polish 'action-comedy' of recent years. After such movies as Kiler and Kilerow Dwoch which started the trend for this type of movie in Poland (and were very good themselves), Chlopaki nie placza (Boy's dont cry) gives audiences even more to laugh about this time around. The plot is as follows: Two college students (one who has major problems when it comes to women), decide to higher prostitutes and have a good time. Everything goes smoothly until they realize that they dont have enough money to pay for the ladies' services. This is where the problems start. They soon get mixed up with some dangerous mafia and from then on the comedy goes into overdrive. A great comedy overall with great Polish actors in comical roles. Cezary Pazura, 'Jurek Kiler' of the two Kiler movies, is once again present but this time as a mean (but always hilarious) member of the polish mob.


The plot line is familiar: nice young guys get involved with prostitutes and gangsters, rough and tumble action follows but with a lighthearted touch, and all ends well. While derivative of RISKY BUSINESS and rougher, more recent fare from Tarantino and Guy Ritchie, this movie has a touch that is all its own. I'm not Polish and don't speak the language, so I'm sure I miss a lot of the jokes, but on its subtitled face this movie still exerts a certain charm; it seems to be more than the sum of its parts, and left me feeling oddly elated.

Ostensibly the hero is Maciej Stuhr as the music student, and the meatiest role goes to Cezary Pazura as the gangster, but to me the heart of the film is Michal Milowicz as the bumbling son of the mafia boss, a wanna-be tough guy who hides his dachshund from the real tough guys, who expect a pit bull; I'll be watching for more of his movies.


One of the best comedies. It shows very interesting people: gangsters, but from an other side, they are shown from the man within them. The story is simple, but good enough to hold the characters, which are one of the most interesting ones, I've ever saw.

The dark pictures, the music, everything makes this movie to be satiric and funny together. The story follows the main character, who is stupid enough to get with "gangsters", he has nothing to do with them, expect that they have something with him. Everybody like to save/kill him, but these people have bigger problems with themself.


One of the best comedies of the late 90s. It is a satirical look at the gangsters of Poland and some teens who get into a mess with them. The humour is black, sometimes vulgar, and always hilarious. There are some "inside jokes" here that are not so simple to understand outside of Poland, however most of the humour is universal. Most of the actors belong to the new generation of Polish actors, and all of them are very talented.


I'm a great fan of polish cinematography, although I have to watch all these movies subtitled. However, I was told that "Chlopaki nie placza" is the worst movie ever. I've seen it, and I have to say: One of the most hilarious movies ever made! I can promise you will find this film amusing, when you'll see 'Laska' coming home, reminiscing his dad or 'Grucha' wearing his pink sweater and falling in love with the prostitute. Many people may have a lot of criticisms about this film; that it shows a very silly story or that it is a copy of Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction". Well maybe it is. But it definitely works for this film. MUST BE SEEN!!!


Many stories of people facing various problems in Warsaw intersect with some very funny results. There are gangsters, wanna-be gangsters, stoners, an ambitious music student, prostitutes, and ex-girlfriends among others.

The film, obviously inspired by "Pulp Fiction" was a big hit in Poland and now is a movie people there quote. The unofficial sequels fared pretty well too and overall it is good dose of entertainment. Many Polish films by directors like Wajda, Kieslowski, Bajon and others were always so serious. Either adaptations of literature (which is very centered on Poland and not very accessible to the movie going public outside of Poland - history scholars being the exception), or politically themed films that critique the often volatile situation that Poland has faced throughout its turbulent history.

"Chlopaki Nie Placza" provides a total break from that and gives the viewer pure entertainment without it being as gritty and bloody as "Psy." No more painful reminding about how much damage World War II caused, no more fear of the Red Terror and Iron Curtain, just a funny -though improbable - look at contemporary society. --- 8/10

Not Rated, but has strong profanity, some violence and drug use which would give it an R from the MPAA.


This is really great movie, but to get every single joke one must not only remember "Pulp Fiction" well (and other classic movies), but also be a Pole, or at least live in Poland for a few years :-). But it's worth seen, if I give this movie 10, for a foreigner it'll be at least 8.


Entire film wasn't brilliant. Boring at moments, banal structure, but still worth to watch it! Why? Becuose every kids in Poland know that "kiedys chlop zakladal babie chomato i oral nia pole!" or "chcialbym byc jak Tony Halik". Polish teenage society is cruel, so I also MUST know few lines from such films as "Killer" or "Poranek Kojota" to survive.

I admit that many jokes are hard to understand, if you are not polish.

Laska (with his ganja-mutated voice) is the best! Typical teenage from Warsaw! Dublicate of my school-friends...

10 for Laska's character, 6 for all the rest. Average: 8.


i got a DVD , start watching at 10Am and .. finish at 3PM !!! i had to pause ... because of crying myself ..

of course the polish V.O. is a Perle ! characters are hilarious ! music Is gorgeous ! what else ...? .. the best polish comedy i ever seen (since Rejs) waiting for others comments ...

especially from people who don't understand polish ..

the film is a co-prod polish & french ...

myself i saw other polish comedy "Wesele" who is close to the concept of "Boys don't cry" ...

does somebody saw other polish comedy like that ???


I only bought this video to hear the voice of Bradley Cole who does Will, but to my surprise, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. They are the most interesting little animated characters I've ever seen. It was easy to forget that they were animated at all. Sci-fi is not on my priority list but I've already watched this video 4 times.


One of my personal favorites... can't beat the classics, eh? This film is hard to come by these days but it is a definite "gotta-see-it." Apparently an icy comet hit Venus around about now and made the planet habitable. The planet contains a population of relatively disillusioned human beings who, when not complaining or uni-bike racing, raise armies to try and control the planet. Bleak, eh? Our heroes are a bunch of hot-shot biker punks who team up with some rebels to fight the evil warlords... Good stuff. The animation is fluid and lovingly rendered... the sort of quality that made "Akira" so popular. Occasionally, live-action shots of what I assume are Arizona are incorporated into the backgrounds to give the whole film a "real feel." Do not miss this film. Get it get it get it. There's next to nil in the way of flesh, but that's not important. Great plot, great action, great characters... not to mention some hilarious lines here and there for fun. This film makes a powerful statement about human nature.


In The Venus Wars, mankind now resides on two planets: civilized Earth and fractious terra-formed Venus. In the midst of fighting between the two nation-colonies of Ishtar and Aphrodia, a group of monocycle racers accidentally befriends a feisty reporter (Susan Somers) who hopes to advance her career through gritty reports on the war from the Aphrodian side. There are plenty of opportunities for the characters to demonstrate their different attitudes and spirit. It is nice to see characters that are true to their natures and which do not exhibit that nasty tendency to change personalities in midstream just because it was convenient to give a shortcut to the plot. There are no shortcuts in the plot and it is a fast moving action-filled drama in true grand anime style.

The characters have genuine quality character designs and the mecha designs are detailed and innovative. The director was also willing to experiment with different artistic filming styles. As subtitles go, Studio Nemo (an Arizona group) was competent and placed the titles so that the action was not obscured.

Some people may compare this movie to Akira in grandeur, but there are differences. This movie is darker in color (more tones instead of bright colors), grittier in plotting whereas Akira used shock value instead, and has a stronger moving plot than does Akira with a definite goal in mind. A telling difference is that the soundtrack of Venus Wars is much more listenable with strong catchy vocals and epic background music for the sequences that need it. What's similar? Both have lavish budgets used to develop high quality detailed animation for theatre release. This movie has a timeless animation style and fluid plotline which makes it worthwhile in any anime collection.


Uinasu senki, a.k.a. Venus Wars, is a pretty good war film. However, I find it lags in some spots, and I never really was a fan of animated characters on a moving live-action backdrop. Other than these minor complaints, the movie is enjoyable.


I saw this movie when it first came out. All i can say is that this movie is what movies are all about, catching your eye, the characters interaction with the environment around them. Suspense, action, Romance, horror, its all here. A story which shows us the trials of finding yourself, and what you have to do when it is time, will you sit there when problems arise or will you fight!? These are the kinds of questions Hiro the main character in this story is asked multiple times throughout the film. Bascically, everything is flawless in this delightful fast paced brilliant movie, Everything from the Characters, colors, trials, scenery to the Music score.

I don't know what the other people are talking about with how it sums up next to Akira, as it is a totally different movie with different choices and situations taking place. Sure it came out around the same time lots of other Anime's came out on sci-fi channel back in the day. Hard to say it is the same kind of film as i don't see any indication of similarity in it. It was a very popular movie for its time as well, not in the US but in Japan, Following many comics re-written to English by dark horse comics and soon following the Venus wars strategy game on the Regular Nintendo system. The fans of this series (movie and comic) could not get enough as I'm sure you will feel the same after seeing this Masterpiece. I still find it to be the greatest 80's anime of all time perfection.


This was a very pleasant surprise and an unexpectedly cool movie! I had never heard of Venus Wars before and I think it's a shame that the flick hasn't got more recognition, because it really is one good film. The action sequences are spectacular, the characters are interesting and the animation is fantastic. The dubbing on my version was actually not half bad although I would have preferred the Japanese version.

Venus Wars is an original and very entertaining mix of over-the-top battles, politics and a love story, stylishly directed with both traditional animation and live action blending seamlessly. Top it all off with a soundtrack from Japan's answer to Dokken and lots and lots of gunfire and you have this fun and imaginative anime which deserves to be seen and recognized.


This is the first manga film that I watched, and the reason to develop my interest and look for more movies. And thanks to this baby I found "AKIRA", for which I won't stop being grateful. The movie, simply said, has it all. there's action, thrill, criticizing general issues, a bit of romance. The big influence comes from Hiro - he's a boy, deeply interested and amazed by all the unfairness in this world, and as we can see, does everything in his powers to fix it all. Even though he is still a teenager, his seriousness and bravery make his a truly amazing character.

a perfect movie, worth the time 10 out of 10


This film is a bit strange, it features a futuristic setting on the planet of Venus. Why Venus, I can not really answer that. Seemed like the story could have been set on Earth, but I guess you need the isolation only being on another planet can offer. On the planet of Venus there is a bit of a power struggle going on. Seems like some sort of group wants to take control of the planet. Well oblivious to this are a group of bikers who are racing and not really worried about the dire situation that the planet is going through. That is until the power struggle turns into a war that engulfs the planet and shuts down their track. They are in lock down and unable to leave their homes thanks to a curfew. Well they decide to fight back and go after a tank stationed at their track. They take it out and end up fighting for a group of rebels that are out to stop this take over. The film is at its best before the group joins the rebel force as the story seems better developed during this stage of the film while the part with them being in the rebel group seems rushed. Before you get the coolness of seeing them do their daily lives, the take over, and a nice chase scene involving one of the group. There is also a touching scene involving the main boy and a girl. There is also a reporter who is more important during the first stretch. Not that the second half is all bad, most of the action takes place during this time and the final fight is rather good too. Just needs a bit more development during the second half and this film would have been super success.


This film either gets one star based on objective merit, or ten stars on how well it infringes on the rarefied thin air of Ed Woodish pretensions to greatness. I mean, I think it tried to be good. Everybody seemed pretty earnest. But what a POS.

I saw this movie a while back, but just saw it again on Action Channel. Missed the classic beginning chase. Comments follow on what I did catch this time around...

This movie is like a lesson on how not to make a movie. Major points of incompetence...

EDITING: Typical scene starts off with a coffee pot on a kitchen counter. Girlfriend walks into scene, gets a mug and glass from the cupboard, pours a coffee, then opens fridge to fill glass with orange juice, then walks out of frame. Empty kitchen. Continuous shot, static camera. What's the point? Why did we have to see this? For real, I was actually starting to fall asleep.

Over and over we see an empty room, characters walk in, barely ever a cutaway during conversation (and usually to a person not speaking???), then characters leave, and we see an empty room again. Why? About eight consolidated minutes of empty room shots. What the hell.

CINEMATOGRAPHY: There's this scene where Jacobs sneaks up on his girlfriend on the couch. Lazy ass director/DP never moves the camera. So the whole time the girl is talking to Jacobs, you only see the side/back of her head via this wacky low-angle shot that is dominated by a couch...the bottom part of the couch. In another scene where this mobster is talking to his girlfriend (just before he kills her!), there are weird stick-like shadows all over his face. Didn't anyone notice this during filming?

AUDIO: Frankly, I never clearly heard the director comments others have noted because he was drowned out by other ambient noise. Noises like feet shuffling, traffic, airplanes flying overhead. Makes you really appreciate the sound design on auto dealership commercials, etc., where you hear the talent and only the talent.

ACTION SEQUENCES: Hard to believe this film is a contemporary of Hard Boiled. In one ambush scene, three killers with M-16's and Uzis fire a total of five shots, sequentially, of course. One of the bloodpacks doesn't blow, so you just see this wad of white fabric explode out of one victim's shirt. Just before they're shot, all the actors look like you do when you're going to pop a balloon, stiff and all, cus you know the bang is coming. One of the urban gangster killers then actually slings his M-16 before hopping off the backyard deck. Surreal.

WRITING: There are too many inexplicable nonsense scenes, like when the urban gangster punks bust into the cop's house and play darts with the lights off. Huh? Was ist das? It's like, wow, maybe i did fall asleep because this stuff is so complex. I don't understand!

Actual dialogue sample from another scene: "I'm gonna cut you, man!"

Eh, all the rest is on a similar level. The actors seemed into it, as if they cared, but the performances were bad. I guess you gotta lay that on the director. So there: horrible, lazy DIRECTION. As actors, only Jacobs seemed to mail it in, but I think he was trying to play his character just a bit too cool, so it just seemed like he was sleepwalking. His name is in the end credits like six times, so he must've made an effort.

After watching this, you will want to buy a handycam just to prove anybody off the street could do better. And, yes, you would.


I saw this movie on one of the cable channels today...don't get me wrong, I am a huge fan of 80's culture and movies. But this was absolutely the most horrid, cheesy, poorly acted, disgrace of a film I have ever witnessed. As I watched it, I felt myself cringing at almost every aspect of the film.

Every actor looked as though they had no experience. The sets were cheesy. The music was awful.

If I could have rated it a "0", I would have. Just terrible.

There is a reason that you have seen almost no one from this film in anything of consequence...it is because having taken part in it probably stained their career forever. If you are ever bored and find yourself entered in a "Find the worst film ever made" contest, do yourself a favor and check this one out. You will not be disappointed in its failures.


Ill keep this short; writing about stuff like this really makes me realise to what extent the English language is limited.

From concept to post-production, this film is flawless. The direction and, specifically, the editing of the piece show years of creative experience in the field. Laurence Hilton-Jacobs returns to the screen with a proto-naturalistic approach to the portrayal of a broken man living in a world which does not appreciate him. The beauty of this is that it seems to reflect the life of Merhi so far. His unique style when directing his works has not always been accepted by an audience of which the majority are used to much more mainstream, commercial films.

The overall 'feel' of the film is of perfection and finesse. It maintains this finish while keeping its art-house status and evading the glossy overcoat which is becoming more and more popularly associated with the industry in America. Over the years I've familiarised myself with the abstract writing style of Kanganis, and it has become a little habit of mine to expect these little surprises that he has for us with each release. The reflection mentioned above seems to have come about naturally; the troubled mind of Merhi and artistic aptitude of Kanganis come together to bring the film together with a fine-tuned taste, but not pretentiousness, and to end it with such a gritty climax as it does.

Merhi is an overwrought genius whose presentation, when grouped with the textual gold of Kanganis' script and the on screen presence of Hilton-Jacobs of such charm and without antecedence is, frankly, magical.


Whenever Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs plays the character "Jon Chance" It's a helluva good show. I've seen several of these movies on late night TV and they're really good. I'm gonna try to get his works on dvd or video tape soon.


Here's what Robert Quarry did after Count Yorga, if you're interested: he donned a wig and caftan and became a Charlie Manson type hippie guru vampire. This isn't exactly up to the standards of the Count Yorga movies, at least the first one, but it's OK for a hippie vampire movie. And it even features John Fiedler, as Pop, who wears a medallion and a hippie vest but still looks pretty much the same old geek....he who voiced 'Piglet' in the Disney movies for years. The idea is that there's this commune type set-up with all these groovy hippies that live in a big house near the ocean. One of them, a creepy looking dude named Barbado, seems to set off invisible wind chimes wherever he goes, it can't be his necklace, that seems to stay pretty still. When Barbado sits near the shore one day and plays his flute, this coffin washes up on the shore and of course you know who's in it. The coffin gets dragged to an undisclosed location and suddenly the commune has been blessed by the appearance of this Khorda guy, who spouts psycho-babble and has them all drink bottled water. Groovy. Of course, behind all this groovy mysticism Khorda is still nothing but a vampire and pretty soon so are most of the hippies in the commune. Except for one, Pico, who you suspect is wearing a wig held on by his headband since that never comes off. Of course he comes back to save his girl, and so on. This never really rises above cheesy drive in fare, but that's fine, I like this stuff. No great shakes, this, but entertaining enough. 7 out of 10.


Great early 70's clothing, a philosophizing folk song (wow, man, it's like, so deep), unspoken drug references, and the undead! What more could you possibly ask for? Deathmaster really is Quarry's movie. His Mansonesque portrayal of Khorda infiltrating and taking over a commune of lost hippies is eerie. The movie's effectiveness really lies in the context that people can be so easily controlled and fall victim to cults, rather than the fact that Khorda possesses their minds because he is a vampire. That Quarry is made up to resemble Charles Manson is a not-so-subtle hint to the movie's theme.

Terribly dated, this little gem is really only for the 60's and 70's horror movie freaks like myself. I love this movie. I found it at a convention and watching it brought back a lot fond memories of the Saturday afternoon Chiller Theater flicks like Deathmaster, Lemora, Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things, as well as a ton of bizarre British horror movies and even some old giallo that semi-independent stations like Channels 5, 9, and 11 out of NYC used to run constantly in the late 70's through the mid eighties. If you're in to old trippy horror, this is one to own.


I watched this film many times as a kid in the late 1970's on late night TV. Robert Quarry co-produced this venture after the unexpected and phenomenal success of the two "Count Yorga" features, but it did not hold up to expectation at the box-office. I highly recommend watching this period piece, if you can find it. It is extremely hard to find anywhere.


The late, great Robert Quarry is once again a vampire in an A.I.P. picture. The difference here is that he's not a dapper Bulgarian blood sucker but an enigmatic stranger with mustache, beard, and wig, who mysteriously appears one day and entrances a group of hippies. The philosophical musings that he utters are of great interest to them, but of course all he really wants to do is feed on them.

"Deathmaster" wouldn't be as notable were it not for the magnetic presence of its star. Quarry is a pleasure to watch. His character is inspired by the notorious Charles Manson, and has a certain charm about him. One can see how easily impressionable people would fall for such a person. He really makes his existential dialog come to life.

The picture serves as a good snapshot of the early 70's and parts of its culture. It looks good for its low budget ($110,000) and actor-turned-director Ray Danton keeps the picture moving along well.

The supporting cast isn't too bad. LaSesne Hilton (in his only film role) has a very striking face as the vampire's familiar, prominent character actor John Fiedler is engaging as the unlikely source of assistance for would-be hero Pico (Bill Ewing), and sexy Betty Anne Rees, playing Esslin here, would turn up two years later as Quarry's girlfriend in "Sugar Hill". It's also a real hoot to see Bobby "Boris" Pickett of "Monster Mash" fame as one of the hippies.

Makeup effects and gore are passable, and the music by Bill Marx is effective enough. "Deathmaster" may come off as pretty dated now, but that actually plays a part in its appeal. It truly belongs in its own time and place. It's a good dose of low-budget 70's exploitation horror.

7/10


Enigmatic vampire, who arrived oddly on the shore of a beach in his casket, whose arrival is introduced by his enforcer/guardian, Barbado(LaSesne Hilton)playing a flute, masquerades as a philosophical leader, whose language regarding life and love casts a spell among the aimless hippie youth in a quiet little town. Only young Pico(Bill Ewing), who resists his power of influence, can stop vampire Count Khorda(Robert Quarry)who plans to sacrifice his girlfriend Rona(Brenda Dickson)in a Satanic ceremony. Pico will have to rely on the only help he can depend on, an aging hippie, Pop(character actor, John Fiedler, who is one of the most recognizable faces in Television history and the voice of Piglet in Winnie the Pooh)to help defeat Khorda who has turned all their friends into vampires.

Rarely seen Quarry vampire picture that, according to the great actor, was purchased by Sam Arkoff and buried into obscurity. Thankfully, Fred Olen Ray's DVD company Retromedia was able to get the rights and, not only that, but have audio commentary for DEATHMASTER with Quarry, which is quite a rewarding experience for fans of the horror icon. The print is fantastic and the director of the film, Ray Danton, has a very distinctive style where the camera follows the action, but in a very sophisticated way. The film is definitely of it's time, quite dated, but a fascinating curio for Quarry fans who are very familiar with his Yorga character, but not Khorda(..this film was sandwiched between the Yorga films according to Quarry)who is dressed in elaborate robes, jewelry, and long hair carrying the appearance of some guru or oddball prophet..Quarry admits in the audio commentary that his look is fashioned after Charles Manson and that the film itself regarding the hippie youth was modeled after his followers. Not incredibly violent, with Khorda's neck attacks shot in a non-offensive way, and DEATHMASTER still follows the basic vampire principles established in filmdom(..the cross effects them as does a stake through the heart)that we're accustomed to. By and large, this film benefits almost entirely from Quarry's charismatic presence alone, even if what he has to say to the hippie kids is basic mumbo jumbo(..Quarry admits that he ad-libbed much of this dialogue)often used at that point and time while these youth were stoned or spaced out on acid. Quarry even gets to pay homage to Lugosi with the close-up of his sinister eyes multiple times as Khorda uses his power to hypnotize victims. Barbado is about as imposing as his master, a bulky statuesque type of security who towers over everyone he comes in contact with. His face never changes, always distant and cold. Ewing is a very unlikely hero, a kid out of his league against a far superior foe..but the film allows him to become a worthy adversary, because of the very fact that he's not particularly your prototypical knight-in-shining-armour. The beach is a stunning location as is the cool tunnel underneath the hippie commune house where Khorda keeps his resting place(..it also leads to the beach and has a submarine door!). Only real beef I have(..despite the now silly hippie-speak)is the title..this kind of vampire movie needs a more credible title.


Back in the '70s, when cable TV first came to Northeastern Pennsylvania, subscribing meant the addition of three channels: WPHL 17, out of Philly, WPIX 11, out of New York, and WORTV 9, also out of New York. For an adolescent horror fan, however, these channels were a dream come true, with Dr. Shock's Horror Theater and Mad Theater on Channel 17, WPIX's Chiller Theater (with the six-fingered hand emerging from a pool of blood), and Channel 9's Fright Night at 1 a.m. on Saturdays. It's this last program where I first saw "Deathmaster," and at the time, I was too young to understand why it would be considered a bad movie. I didn't understand he plethora of exploitation genre it, well, exploited (biker movies, kung fu movies, hippie movies, etc.) I was - thankfully - unaware of the Tate-LaBianca murders. I watched this movie with no prejudicial baggage at all...and it scared the hell out of me. This was largely because of atmosphere. This movie is very emotionally claustrophobic. It's more grim than you'd expect. There's no comic relief, and as the film progresses, things get more and more desperate. There's no happy ending, and the final despair stayed with me a long time after that first viewing. Even now, just listening the very '70s score by Bill Marx (Harpo's son, by the way), I can feel the atmosphere closing in on me...which is a good thing, a sign of the film's effectiveness.

Listening to Robert Quarry's recollections on the DVD release was very disappointing, since this movie - which I've been seeking for years - seems to have been an afterthought by everyone involved with it, a way to make a cheap buck, with no real love or ambition invested in it. Too bad. I have to wonder what it would have been like had it been helm-ed by people who really wanted to make a great movie.

I don't know that I'd recommend this film to anyone unless. Unless you're the sort of person who, after hearing a brief description of the plot, would be curious, it's probably not going to satisfy you, or come across as being silly. It's only the few of us who were there, eyes glued to the screen on those late Saturday nights, who are going to have a true appreciation for this long-lost gem.


Deathmaster is a new twist, on the old Vampire film genre. Robert Quarry stars as Khorda, a guru-like character, who happens to also be a Vampire. The film takes place in the early 70s, when hippies were still around, and on the fringes of society. The main setting for the movie is an old abandoned mansion, inhabited by a group of young hippies in southern California.

It begins with a mysterious, hulking black dude, who plays flute on the beach. He's adorned with lots of bone necklaces, and a colorful flowing robe. A coffin washes-up on the beach, and is intercepted by a young surfer. The black man chokes the surfer to death, then hauls the coffin to the mansion containing the hippies.

Meanwhile, two of the hippies, Pico and his girlfriend Rona, are hanging-out at the local Nic-Nack shop. It's owned by an eccentric older fellow, who is a kindly father-figure to Pico and the other hippies. A belligerent biker named Monk, arrives with his girl, who's named Esslin. Monk threatens the shop-owner, over the price of a bauble that Esslin is interested in. Pico intervenes, and has a scuffle with Monk. But Monk is no match for Pico, who uses martial arts on him. A cop comes to investigate, so they all flee.

Pico has no hard feelings towards Monk, and so he invites him and Esslin to the mansion for dinner. The large mansion is teeming with the dope-smoking, philosophizing hippies. Pico offers his guests a sumptuous meal of organic foods. The eerie black guy who killed the surfer, is a part of the group too. They call him Barbado. Barbado is a mute, who 'speaks' through his flute-playing and bongo-drumming.

Outside the mansion, the coffin that Barbado had brought there opens, and a large bearded man emerges. Beneath a spooky full-moon, he waves his hand, and a sudden storm blows-up. He enters the mansion, announcing himself as Khorda. The hippies think that this weirdly charismatic guy, is 'far-out'.

Khorda spends the evening regaling the enthralled hippies, with advice about 'life and love'. They are looking for ways to find meaning in their lives, and Khorda seems to have all the answers. Little do they know, Khorda is a Vampire. Soon, Khorda's influence over the hippies, results in horrifying consequences for them all.

Robert Quarry, is mesmerizing as Khorda. His piercing gaze alone, is enough to send chills up your spine. The supporting cast is mostly lackluster. The notable exception, is Betty Anne Rees, as Esslin. Esslin becomes a Vampire, after being ravished by Khorda. Betty Anne Rees infuses the character of Esslin with a scary, yet irresistibly hypnotic aura, as Khorda's newly converted Vampire mistress.

All in all, Deathmaster is an intense, yet campy 70s horror flick. It's the kind of B movie classic, shown in the drive-in theaters back then. For fans of 70s B horror films, Deathmaster is a must-see.


A strange guru-type character named Khorda suddenly appears on the scene and offers to guide a bunch of young hippies looking for some direction in their lives. We as an audience however know something is amiss having witnessed a coffin earlier floating ashore following the flute-playing of a most unusual looking black man who we later see arrive at the castle-like house in which the hippies seem to be squatting now acting as something of a servant/follower to Khorda. It's not exactly too surprising to us the viewing audience when we learn Khorda is actually a vampire preying on these clueless, direction-less kids. Will any of them escape his ghastly influence?

I really enjoyed this one. While it's basic underlying plot is largely the usual expected vampire story, there's some neat differences here that set this one apart from others. Quarry's Khorda is actually more a character akin to Charles Manson or even Jim Jones as his uses his guru rhetoric, something they mistake for guidance and understanding, to gain influence over his followers. His speeches are actually very nicely done and the one he gives on the nature of mortal religion is in particular very thought-provoking (and almost sure to offend those with strict Christian sensibilities). I also like this one's visual style. The opening of the coffin floating in the water and the black servant dragging the coffin actually rather reminds me of the German expressionist period and the film NOSFERATU (1922) in particular. A lot of the later vampire visuals though remind one more of the 60s Italian Horror films and the British Hammer films. I also like the inventiveness shown at the end when the film takes a number of unexpected twists and turns I never saw coming on first viewing. There's some problems with logic (as is often the case with films of this type) that stretch credibility (Pico attempting to stop Khorda at night instead of during the day, Khorda having a host of weapons that could potentially be used against him just laying around, etc.) but nothing so unforgivable as to take away one's enjoyment while watching this unfold.


I had to sift long and deep for a good comment on this. Why all the hostility? I think there was great chemistry on this production and it shows; the actors and crew involved loved the game and had a good time making this. This movie successfully recreated the feel of the game, and because it kept exposition to a minimum of what you needed to know for this particular story and didn't borrow from or revise any of the original characters or settings, it supported and strengthened the franchise. No story is retold here, no words are wasted, the setting, feel and pace is familiar to fans of Resident Evil and yet it's perfectly accessible to those unfamiliar with the broader storyline. Not giving the fan-boys their favorite characters was a good choice since characters tend to get mangled in adaptation, and yet the fan-boys still complain. With this film you have a good, watchable story that can partake of the Resident Evil cosmology, showing it due respect.

It did an excellent job establishing characters without too much unnecessary background, developing them just enough to make you want to know what they'll do next, to make you care before the sudden and gruesome happens to them. The acting was above par for a Resident Evil, certainly much better than the first game. The plot was no more comic bookish than any of the games. My one complaint was that the characters were too battle-trained, too slick, too good at fighting for them to be sympathetic horror subjects. This could've been balanced out with more reaction shots showing the soldiers wetting themselves. But Alice's over-the-top commando-style action made her too much of a super heroine to really make anyone concerned about her survival; characters made of Teflon make good action but apathetic horror subjects.


I wasn't waiting to see anything amazing when I started watching for this movie, since almost all the license movies have been terrible... Fortunately, my opinion was to change! Movie was great, actors were good enough, and there was actually a plot (whoa!). Director has done a great job by having that videogame atmosphere by use of light, but still keeping the movie tense. Marilyn Manson has also made a great job by composing some of his greatest soundtrack titles which really fit for this movie. I have played both Resident Evil and Resident Evil 2, and recognized many of the scenes which were kind of similar to games. What can I say? For the people who have played games, this one gives good vibes and they are going to love it. For regular people the movie might be above the average. This was one hell-of-a-movie, and I'm waiting for the sequel.


To be honest, the first time I saw this, I didn't care for it. It did not follow the story line of the game, and that made me very unhappy with this endeavor.

Upon realization that a video game is "dumbed down" for the players to be able to concentrate, however, I opted for a second viewing and came to realize that this was not the waste of time I first believed.

I was disappointed with how it played out because there were no cures along the way, they made little notice of records and files lying about, no matter how relevant they were or were not, and the sequence of things was not on par with that of the game. I realize that to do things that way would have severely hampered the flow of the movie itself and would have made it far less active. Considering this is first and foremost, an action movie (with horror elements), that would not be considered a good thing.

The truth is that Milla Jovovich contributes a very capable and entertaining presence and performance to this work. Her supporting cast (every one) gave nothing but the best they had. The story itself flows quite well and was creatively written and executed.

There is nothing wrong with this attempt. It just didn't live up to a fanboy's expectations. Unfortunately, that was their major principal audience; game fans, and that explains the lackluster box office payoff and the low IMDb user ratings for this attempt. The fanboys were disappointed; the casual fans casually attended this event; and the mainstream didn't understand the big deal, either way and so did not participate to a profitable level.

With the release of the second installment and all the advertisement and hype Apocalypse received, it drew the mainstream fans a bit harder; the casual fans were less casual; and the fanboys were still disappointed, but resigned to the fact that this was just how it was going to be; take it or leave it. We took it and, in retrospect, embraced the first attempt, as well.

It rates an 8.4/10 from...

the Fiend :.


This movie means business. Quick disaster with a mystery to it, jarring deaths, naked Milla, all in the first few minutes. It keeps up the pace throughout. In terms of critical comments, yes, you don't really care about the characters, but so what? How often do you really care about the monster fodder in horror films? And true, it wasn't a literal working of the movie, it didn't take place in a mansion and it didn't involve exploring lots of rooms and solving puzzles. That's because it's a movie. A literal translation of Resident Evil would probably be really dull. Games and movies are very different mediums. I don't think some people here understand that. One guy said he thought the movie rocked but after repeated viewings he thought it sucked, and that's a video game player attitude - movies don't have to have good replay value, it's okay to enjoy them once. I only enjoyed Star Wars once, but I don't think it sucked, it just didn't have a lot of depth. Not every movie has to be Citizen Kane.

It was an engaging story, moved like lightning and had some excellent scares.


As a big fan of splatter and horror films i was gladly surprised when i watched this. I haven't played the game so i had no idea what to expect and had nothing to compare with. I really feel that this pays homage to the old zombie films at least to an extent. The zombies here are a little bit faster though.

It begins with a nice back story and then builds slowly in pace to a climactic frenzy. The effects are top notch, solid directing, a really imaginative and eerie production design and great acting.

Yes, i may be a little biased but i really like Milla Jovovich. I think this is the kind of role that fits her best, strong kick ass attitude with an odd personality wrapped in a seemingly fragile shell. Her performance here reminds me a bit of the character she played in "The fifth element" and also the character in the later "Ultraviolet" The other actors did a good job as well so she's not the only one to get credit although the movie revolves around her character. The child AI is a very nice and creepy addition to the atmosphere.

The RE theme could have ended up as a nice trilogy but the sequel unfortunately lacks nearly everything(except Milla) that this film delivers. Not that RE2 is a complete mess but nowhere near this. I haven't seen the third installment yet but even if that one holds true in quality to this one number two becomes the odd one out.

If you like zombie and action films you'll certainly like this one.


I was generally surprised that I liked this movie, not being a fan of either of it's stars. I decided to give the movie a try since it does deal with one of my favorite horror topics...zombies!

As a horror movie Resident Evil fails miserably, it's not scary and contains only small amounts of suspense. It is much better as an action film although much of the action is chaotic, accompanied by lame heavy metal/thrash music. But seeing as it is based on a video game and made primarily for teenage boy video game addicts it is quite good in and of itself.

The movie plays well, even though it is apparent that some scenes have been cut to achieve an R-rating. The characters do what they need to do in order to survive.

One small problem with the movie is the relative lack of zombie screen time. They do appear in two major scenes but most of the time the hallways are clear. This hive was supposed to employ thousands of people but you only ever see 100 zombies at the most. Also, the humans seem to be able to travel easily wherever they have to go until it is time for another action sequence. It would have been better if they constantly ran into single zombies which they were able to easily dispose of, but this is nit-picking on my part.

Overall I enjoyed the movie and I have never seen, let alone played, the video game. I'm not sure if this movie will have the staying power over multiple viewings for me (like Aliens) but it's a very good single viewing action picture. Easily the best movie I have seen based on a video game. Despite it's flaws Resident Evil rates a 7 out of 10, if taken more seriously this could have been a really good movie. It would have been nice to see a George Romero version.


Recently I saw the theatrical trailer for Resident Evil: Extinction and it occurred to me, I have never seen the first two Resident Evil films, and I always wanted to see them. So I rented the first two Resident Evil films and watched them last night. I had a lot of fun watching Resident Evil, it was very high action and kept my heart racing on what would happen next. This is a great movie based on a video game, this is the kind of movie that we need if we are talking about basing it on a video game. I haven't seen a good one since Mortal Kombat. The action and effects were so awesome not to mention that there are some very awesome scares in here. Very cool make up for the zombies; and the story was excellent.

A virus breaks out in a lab called the Hive where everyone is held in captivity and dies. All of a sudden we see a woman passed out in a shower, she has no idea who she is, she meets two other men who have no idea who they are, but they are taken by soldiers who take them underground to the Hive. There the three learn that they are fighters for this out break and that also they might be part of what happened. The main thing is that they control the Hive, but that gets more difficult when the virus has turned the people it killed into the living dead, zombies. The woman, Alice, turns into the leader and must find out why this happened and also how they can get out alive without contaminating the world.

Resident Evil was an awesome movie to watch and I would highly recommend this movie for anyone who loves action movies. If you loved Mortal Kombat I'm sure you'll love Resident Evil. There are so many great scenes, but my favorite was when Alice saw the evil dogs and they chased her throughout the lab, it was really scary but so awesome to watch. Well, you'll just have to see what I mean. Milla Jovovich was just a perfect choice for Alice, she is such a cool character and now I'm really looking forward to seeing Extinction.

7/10


I seriously don't know why this was voted on average at a 6, so I thought that i should comment. The zombies were not the main point of the story though...the writers were actually smart in the fact that there was a certain step to follow in the movie to survive. There was a story and it DOES deserve a good vote and a good opinion of what a normal, everyday woman will think. OK, I might not be normal, but I generally have good opinions about movies. The women in this movie show power, and the men were intelligently resourceful. The zombies were well played out and were not over-shown. The twists in this particular movie made me watch it twice at the movie theater, once with my family and once with my friends.


I am a huge fan of the video game series; I've played & completed almost every Resident Evil game there is. When the film was announced I thought it was going to be rubbish because mostly films that are based on games are completely crap especially the ones made by Uwe Boll, but I still went to see it the first day when it came out in the UK and it was sooooo amazing. I was speechless after I seen the film, the story is truly original and one of the best thing about it is that the first 10 minutes was slow & peaceful but then it went really fast & relentless just like a roller-coaster going up slowly & zoomed down. Paul W. S. Anderson has proved that he is terrific writer & director because it is extremely difficult to create a story for a film that is based on a video game. Milla Jovovich was undoubtedly the best and I loved her red dress to bits, it definitely did suit her. Watching the film gives you a deep insight of the game e.g.

When they had about 3 hours limited time to complete their mission.

Every time they enter a new place it had to be checked and they had to make sure it's safe just like in every game.

If they where trapped they had to find another way out.

In the end Alice & Matt got out without killing all the zombies because Resident Evil is rather a puzzle game and killing is not necessary.

The combination of action, horror & thriller is superb; they are my entire favourite genre. It had a lot of style and the use of advanced modern technology that is mostly I look for in a film, the Licker in the end was the icing on the cake. This is the only movie that I liked with zombies in it because most of them are stupid & boring especially House of the Dead, the zombies pop out of nowhere and attack people. In Resident Evil the creation of zombies was very sensible, the staff of the underground laboratory were infected by the T-Virus released into the air vent, after getting killed by the Red Queen to avoid any outside interference their dead bodies were reanimated. It is mentioned very clearly that why they "need to feed", nothing like that has ever been in any film which makes the story original. Dialogues are also good my most favourite quote is "You're all going to die down here" from the Red Queen, she is one of the best characters along with Alice, Matt & Rain. Background music score is the best music possibly for any film I have ever heard it has heavy metal guitar for the fight scenes and very soft, eerie & sensational for the main title. I have the soundtrack CD and I bought it just for the background score without caring that the other tracks might be good or not but it did turn out to good. There is nothing more I can ask for in a film that makes it one of my all time favourite movies and there is never going to be another film based on a video game like this!


The zombie movie seemed to be a thing of the past. Sure they were still making them throughout the 90s, but we didn't really hear about them as much as we did films like Romero's 'Dead' films, the 'Return of the Living Dead' series, and so on. Nothing really new or exciting was being done with the concept. One place where it was really kept alive was in the world of video games, including one Resident Evil. Having only played the game once or twice myself I didn't know how to feel about a film adaptation. I mean let's be honest, few films based on these games get it right. Sure the Mario Brothers movie is fun in a so-bad-it's-good way, but was it really satisfying? I guess that depends on the viewer. Anyway, thanks to this movie the zombie subgenre was hot again.

Pros: A tense, terrifying opening sequence. Writer/director Anderson gives us a film that's a visual feast due to it's slickness, his use of blue lights, slow motion, etc. A cool electronic score. Moves at a brisk pace. All around, the performances are pretty good. Good special, make-up, and visual effects. At least a couple good scares. Some awesome set pieces; my personal favorite being the one involving lasers. Amazing production design.

Cons: Fans of zombie movies may bit disappointed that it takes a while for the walking cadavers to show up and wreak havoc. Aside from some original touches, this film is fairly derivative of other zombie, action, and science fiction films.

Final thoughts: This modern zombie flick is a whole new dimension. Back in the day it was either a chemical spill or voodoo curse that raised the dead. But this is like a Romero zombie movie with a futuristic twist. This may have been the start of a new type of zombie film.

My rating: 4/5


I have said, I don't how many times, that if the movie were exactly like the game, we would see one person walking around a mansion for an hour and a half and solving puzzles. And the complaints would roll in about how boring it was. This movie and it's sequel, were what inspired me to play the games. And since I have played all of them, at least part way through, so many scenes in these movies make more sense to me. I can see where the director got the ideas he used. Also, if you have played the games, you can see that elements from the games have been used.

Movie - Game *Alice's "husband" Spencer - Spencer Family Mansion *Matt's sister Lisa - Lisa is a character from RE 1 *The dogs *The Hive and most of the action takes place under the Mansion - Under the Mansion is where we find out why the STARS members are in the house in the first place

Granted, that's a small bit that I can think of, and yeah, Anderson could have had the original characters used, but if you saw the interview with him on the DVD, you would know that he said that he created the movie this way for people who had never played the game, but used things that the game fans were used to.

Personally, I think the game series is awesome, and I can't believe that I had never played it before, but I thank Anderson for making this movie and bringing this series to my attention. It's easy enough for non-gamers to understand and enjoy; and there are plenty of game references for fans to see, even if some are not noticeable right away.

P.S. - See this movie. And gamers, stop complaining so much. No adaptation is ever going to go the way we want it, and it just makes it harder for gamers to be taken seriously by non-gamers. Non-gamers already think we are losers. Let's not give them any reasons to think so.


"Resident Evil" was a smart and scary game. The darkness and the surprises were huge scare factors. In that famous game, you find yourself trapped in a mansion crawling with the undead because of a mistake made by the Umbrella Corporation.

Director Paul W.S. Anderson makes a fast, dark guilty pleasure of a film from this game with "Resident Evil".

Milla Jovovich is Alice, who wakes up in a creepy, poorly lit mansion at night in a remote forest. She has no memory of who she is or why she's here, but after a group of soldiers bursts in and takes her to a hidden lab underneath the mansion with them, she quickly begins to realize a terrible secret. She and the others find themselves locked in "The Hive", an enormous, elaborate underground structure that was sealed by the supercomputer controlling it. It soon becomes evident that an experiment called "The T-Virus" escaped into the air and killed everyone. But nobody really stayed dead. Now the remaining survivors must fight their way back out of The Hive before the door seals permanently... and at the same time they must contain the virus before it reaches the surface.

The film moves at a breakneck pace, with some elaborate sets and great cinematography that sets the dark mood well for this atmospheric sci-fi thriller.


First of all i want to make something clear: THIS IS NOT A HORROR MOVIE, if you think this is scary, go back to watching tellytubby or whatever they are called, (I've never watched that show so i seriously don't know.)

Now that we have gotten that out in the open, let's start! You can really see that they have put down some time on this movie, they've not just slapped something together to make lots and lots of money. The starring in this movie is pretty good, there are some actors who seems to be a little... What should i say...? Newbiez...

Moving on the plot and story of this movie is also great, i think that it's cool, good and original. The zombies looks really computer-created, but the movie isn't brand new so...

Everything is At least good.

9/10


The first installment of Resident Evil was true enough to the video game to make it a great movie. The movie did not really concentrate on "The Resident Evil" meaning the house that was haunted by zombies. Although the zombie virus was created by Umbrella,... the video game concentrated on the fact that the mansion was infested with zombies. That made it "Resident Evil". The mansion was haunted by a resident that was evil,.... But the first movie was good because it had stayed true to the fact that zombies (whatever the virus infect-ant was) were the main theme. Resident Evil (the first movie) was really good. I'd give it a 8.5 on the movie scale.


I'm a big fan of horror, and I thought I would hate this film, as most adaptations from games tend to be b*llocks, but I found it very good. The story itself is quite meager, but hey, the Texas Chainsaw Massacre wasn't written by Tolstoj either. Action is good to very good, and tension is well kept throughout the film.

I'm not easily impressed by overwrought fighting or action scenes (e.g. The Matrix) but the scene in the hallway with the lasers is great.

Being fond of Romero's work, it was fun to see the zombies back in action. Especially the zombie-dogs (mutant, zombie, infected, whatever).

Don't expect grand insights, moving scenes on the subject of the human mind, or being moved to tears. This one is a roller-coaster, baby, nothing more, nothing less.

Hang on and enjoy the ride.


Breath in.....breath out....breath in. Hi everyone, I am here to talk about the best zombie movie ever: Resident Evil. I first viewed the film when I was six and then I didn't understand English good. When I was about nine or ten, I viewed it again and it was then that I realized that Resident Evil is a masterpiece. It has guns and blood and horror all the way through and, boy, is it one heck of a awesome ride. The lady in red, Alice(Milla Jovovich), has to be one of the most important characters of all time. I mean without her the movie would seem crap and boring but she made it look good. The story is nothing short of brilliant because it will have you captivated and immersed into a world of zombies that like to bite! When 28 days later came out along with its favorable reviews, I though that it was going to be better than Resident Evil but after watching it, 28 days later came out to be nowhere near as good as Resident evil. I love this movie and all the sequels and I can't wait for the new one called RE: Afterlife.

After waking up, Alice, has no memory of her object due to the exposure of nerve gas. Along the way she joins a squad whose mission is to contain a virus released by the Red Queen, a supercomputer in charge of the release of the T-Virus. They have to fight through zombies and the Red Queens fatal traps in order to complete their mission.

The acting is wonderful from Milla Jovovich, Michelle Rodriguez, and many more. They know how to use their expressions and body language in the movie. The gore and horror is so stupendous it was one of the reasons this became one of my favorites. From biting people on the body to deadly traps, this movie has it all. The sequels were impressive but could not match the power of RE1. All the horror and zombie fans will have a good time enjoying a zombie movie that comes out every four or three years. Ciao, ladies and gentlemen! ****/****


Resident evil has always been one of my favorite game series and when I heard about this film I just had to see it, so I sat down on my bed and watch it on TV and was like...Awesome! In my opinion when it comes to games like resident evil that have various story lines and many characters, it's kinda boring for a fan of the games to see the same characters and final bosses all over again, but this film has such an original resident evil storyline and original characters that I can easily see this movie fit in with story of the game without compromising the game. Mila Yovovich does a great job in this movie and I was amazed on how well she played that character, and let's not forget Michell Rodriguez which yet again shows us how much of a bad ass chick she can be. The zombies were good and kept me with chills throughout the entire film. These movie is great for both fans and people who have never played the game before and hopefully you'll enjoy the movie as much as I do.


The story is completely different from the video game. I liked that. You don't know whats going on and how it is going to end. Although it has everything it needs to be a "resident evil". Ubrella, S.T.A.R.S, t-virus, zombies, lickers....an the story takes place indoors. That gives you the feel of resident evil's 1 mansion. The screenplay is good and comparable to resident evil's 1 game, for example there is a traitor who walk among them just like Wesker!

It could be more scary with suspense and one or two riddles like the games.

The movie ends perfect for an excellent sequel, raccoon city seems to be dead! Everything is destroyed, blood everywhere and milla jovovitch alone with a shotgun in her hands!


Edge of your seat action, gory zombies and hot girls fighting evil. Is there anything wrong with this movie ... well yes The Movie lacks the scare factor we had in the RE games, and i miss that. Milla does a good job with the lead despite the fact her acting skills are limited her sexiness makes up for that! Michelle Rodriguez Is Perfect in this role and she really impressed me . I had my worries when i saw Paul Anderson because i hated Event Horison And i hated AvP ( grrr avp is the worst movie ever made, it brought shame to both franchises ) but to my surprised it was pretty damn good. The licker I'm sad to say looked horrible it did really really bad but everything that was bad about this movie is eventually washed from your mind. Nice ending, Nice Acting, nice zombies = nice movie.

I give this movie a **** star rating.

And if you enjoyed this review you may enjoy my Resident Evil Apocalypse.

Thank You And Goodbye.


This Movie Was Terrible to put it in 1 word.....

3 out of ten is actually quite good for this movie.....

With its complicated in depth story which never makes sense anywhere through the film to the characters terrible performance which lacks emotion within them, really makes me ashamed to say I am a fan of the game.This film doesn't have a hero to be straight,i am actually by the end glad there all being killed of because you honestly don't really care and have no reason to care what happens to them, if your still watching it by that time that is. The first time I herd this film was going to happen i was Extactic I thought that this was going to be a film based on the game.The computer game holds a simple story which leaves you guessing what has happened, This film doesn't keep you guessing you can almost tell who is going to die and what is going to happen that a virus has spread through the facility and these people who go in are heading for trouble, which can somebody tell me how the hell they could of built that under a city. This film is all over the place If a was directing this movie a would of shot everything again or scrapped the project all together. This film should of just been a remake of the game not this total mistake of a movie!!

I really hope this was useful to you!!


Of course this film could have been better. It explains pretty well the situation of the Umbrella Corporation and it's lethal intentions. The action is okay and the plot is simple enough. However I was slightly unsatisfied. As much as I like Milla Jovovich, I think this could have been a much more successful franchise if Jill Valentine was kept the main character, not some fictitious woman caught in the middle. Jovovich's character adds mystery to the film, it may be gory and concentrated on violence and heavy metal music background, but it is still interesting and you will be curious as to what's going to happen. The only characters I wanted to see live were Alice and her friend who is transformed into Nemesis at the end, and there is little chemistry between characters until the action gets going. A bad side to this film is the CGI tongue-licker creature, paper-marcher anyone?


***SPOILERS*** ***SPOILERS*** ***SPOILERS*** I did not actually have a high expectation for this movie, thinking it will be just another scary flick with lame looking zombies. But after watching this movie i must say the scares were quite refreshing as in they were not your standard kind of horror. Overall i'll say its pretty good. And i like the way milla jovovich (did i get that right?), played her role, that confused, apprehensive but yet calm and controlled kind of action figure you would find in the game. but i must say the role played by Michelle Rodriguez WAS HORRIBLE....it was super irritating the way she played the role, perhaps the director wanted it that way or it was the actress who made her role suck so bad i dunno, but the way she spoke and the way she TRIED to look unfriendly and bitchy really irritates me. She like a small child acting smart and have that "know it all" look in the film. Well dun let that spoil your enjoyment of the film. (SPOILER AHEAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) And lucky she died so we will not see her in the sequel (hopefully.)


This film starts good. It leaves you wondering until it all starts to make sense. Unfortunately most of the most interesting characters get killed too early. There is some suspense and some strong music. Many parts of the film are more gut wrenching than suspenseful. This movie is mostly grim and depressing especially in the last half. You walk out feeling kind of down and a little sick. Even Milla is a little over rated. She is not that pretty with a weird nose. She has very little personality either. And all the graphic cuts and bruises are a real turnoff.

She is no comparison to Angelina Jolie, the Mummy star, or even the excellent lead actress in Ghosts of Mars. I should say the other brunette female lead in the film who was also in Fast and Furious and Girl Fighter is very good with a powerful personality. But the "I want to kiss you bit.." line is stupid. I much preferred John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars. But you need to like Carpenter to like that film. Resident Evil is just more depressing than it needs to be.