Villains, written and directed by Dan Berk and Robert Olsen - 7.5 out of 10

Villains, written and directed by Dan Berk and Robert Olsen

7.5 out of 10

Fans of the horror genre might be delighted with this horror –comedy – thriller, but this cinephile was less than thrilled…indeed, after about fifteen of twenty minutes it became clear that this would not add anything to the pleasure of watching the new big screen, on the contrary, although Maika Monroe – seen and appreciated in I’m Not Here http://realini.blogspot.com/2019/03/im-not-here-written-and-directed-by.html - is remarkable as jules and Jeffrey Donovan seems to be able to play the perfect psychopath, villain – and for other features, the mutant, vicious alien and countless of other challenging roles – in George…

There are some grotesque, for many probably amusing moments, such as after the robbery that opens the film, the oral sex on the road (!), then the car stopped because it has no more fuel (?), and the game of cat and mouse in a strange house, where it looks like something terrible will happen, somebody would come over with and axe – expect of course we know from other horror flicks that they need to build up tension, to confuse, create expectations and then disappoint until the climax is reached and the knife is in, blood spills out and the rest of the paraphernalia is on show…

Therefore it is somewhat funny to see one and then the other of the couple getting scared, then laughing, until they find the poor girl, abused in the cellar and then the monster, George, a superb piece of acting from Jeffrey Donovan, the deal proposal, in which the intruders continue on their way and the sadists carry on with their Marquis de Sade worship, seeing that the villain used to be a salesman, with extraordinary powers of observation that he uses now to read the visitors, their profile and intentions…

That is quite impressive…come to think of it, so remarkable that this note should be cut short and then the replay button hit to look again at what may be a magnum opus of dark comedy…but on second thought, let us just get over with this…

George can see that the two young people have to move away, because they are in trouble and he offers the use of his car so that they move out of the picture and forget about the plan they mentioned to take away the daughter who had been suffering in the dark, in the cellar…a situation that he explains by insisting she had done wrong and thus punishment is necessary and besides, when they want to take her away, the girl is more than reluctant …she bites (if I am not confused about that)

Though he had appeared to be less endowed with intuition – think of the lack of petro in the gateway car – Mickey plays the game of psychological insight with astounding accuracy and says that they are obviously rich – the owners of big house, more a mansion – but there is something very wrong here…tae this silly, small television set…why would anyone with sufficient money keep something like this…

Another peculiar, somewhat or maybe hugely mirthful scene takes place between the same Mickey and Gloria aka Kyra Sedwick, similarly outré, troubled, insane wife of George, who comes to the bedroom where the young man is tied to the bed, to ostentatiously start getting off her clothes, with apparently a vivacious intention to be intimate, perhaps have coitus with the intruder, who tries to play along, in a vain attempt to free himself and escape the deranged, thuggish, abusing parents that look like they are in search of new prey…