..::CradLe Of FeaR::..

The Film
I hate to admit it, but I'm a snob. Some 20-plus years after the video revolution and I still get twitchy when I watched a movie that was shot on video. In the past, shot on video has come to be synonymous with low budget, low quality, and low entertainment, which led to low expectations. But, the newly-released British gorefest "Cradle of Fear" has given me second thoughts about projects made on video. The movie isn't the great white hope of horror that we've all been waiting for, but it's certainly a spirited romp that makes due with its low-budget origins.

"Cradle of Fear" is essentially an anthology, although the plot linking the four stories is much stronger than in most films of this sort. A serial killer named Kemper (David McEwen), who is housed in a mental institution, is employing the services of a character known simply as The Man (Danni Filth) to exact revenge on those who ended his killing spree. Detective Neilson (Edmund Dehn), the man who caught Kemper, is witness to the atrocities laid out by The Man over the four tales that encompass the bulk of the film.

In the first story, a young woman encounters The Man at a nightclub and is treated to a night of rougher than expected sex. The following day, the woman experiences violent hallucinations (in a scene reminiscent of "Jacob's Ladder") and ultimately pays a price for casual sex that is worse than any STD. The second tale centers on two robbers who have come to pillage the apartment of an old man who is reputed to have a hidden fortune. But, they soon learn that one can't trust informants or your partner in crime. The third story deals with an amputee who will go to any lengths, even murder, to have his leg back. And finally, the fourth entry introduces us to Detective Neilson's son (Stuart Laing), a man who is obsessed with a cyber-murder website, and will do anything to learn how the site gets away with their nasty images.

Allow me to go ahead and burst all of those bubble out there by stating that, no matter what you've heard, "Cradle of Fear" is not the next big thing in horror. The movie is hindered by the fact that the stories are so incredibly unoriginal. It should be quite obvious from the synopsis that each story in "Cradle of Fear" is simply the re-hashing on an old E.C. Comics type story -- the kind that was already old when "Creepshow" debuted some twenty years ago. This type of "crime and revenge" tale is very hackneyed, and it's very easy to guess the outcome of each entry. William Gaines would simply roll his eyes if he saw this stuff. The wrap-around story is much better, but it takes some time for it to fully develop.

The promising aspect of "Cradle of Fear" is that writer/director Alex Chandon has used the simple, predictable stories (one gets the feeling that Chandon knows how old-hat the plots are) as a springboard to create a raw and violent spectacle of a movie, the likes of which we haven't seen in a long time. "Cradle of Fear" wastes no time in dispensing with the gore -- there is a violent death 78-seconds into the movie -- and it doesn't let up from there. The movie is jam-packed with shocking and disturbing violent images. Special effects make-up artist Tristan Versluis has done a fine job, given the movie's low budget, as we are treated to stabbings, slashings, clubbings, dismemberment, and vivisection, not to mention a handful of monsters as well. Chandon hasn't let the fact that the movie was shot on video hinder him from bringing some style to the proceedings, with some nice camerawork and a nice assist from cleverly placed CGI effects. Also, the cast of relative unknowns does its best to remain professional throughout.

While "Cradle of Fear" is an impressive outing, it's not exactly the ass-kicking thrill-ride that it could have been. At 2-hours, it's way too long. The final two stories contain a great deal of padding and could have been shortened. Chandon shows a great deal of promise, but he needs to work on his pacing skills, especially when one considers how predictable these tales truly are.

Kood:

http://rapidshare.com/files/12753841/CrdlofFr.part1.rar http://rapidshare.com/files/12758481/CrdlofFr.part2.rar http://rapidshare.com/files/12762578/CrdlofFr.part3.rar http://rapidshare.com/files/12766603/CrdlofFr.part4.rar http://rapidshare.com/files/12770057/CrdlofFr.part5.rar http://rapidshare.com/files/12773366/CrdlofFr.part6.rar http://rapidshare.com/files/12776480/CrdlofFr.part7.rar http://rapidshare.com/files/12777182/CrdlofFr.part8.rar