NEFARIOUS (Film Review)

                              Starring: Buck Braithwaite, Emma Feeney, Abbey Gillett

                                              Directed by: Richard Rowntree

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       Watch any horror movie with the traumatic experience such as a home invasion as the main sticking point, and let me know if ANY SINGLE ONE of said "invasions" has gone off without a hitch...go ahead, I'll just be waiting here. If you did happen to come up with any, then I'll personally pin a gold participation star on your chest - however, if you scanned through the array of films that have employed such a crime against innocents then you'll attest to my earlier rant - planned out or not, they usually end up as a giant shit-show with one or multiple victims, innocent or not. This one's called Nefarious, and when all's said and done, you'll agree with the title wholeheartedly.

  In Richard Rowntree's second directorial stint of the full-length feature variety, he uses the home invasion platform to not only rattle the viewer but swerve their skulls before they're finally bashed in for good measure - sounds like a good time if you ask me! The movie follows Darren (Braithwaite) and his girlfriend (Nadia Lamin) as they scramble to come up with a plan to reel in some serious dough to pay back a local bad-ass kingpin - if they can't pay up, then there's going to be some serious blood being shed. On the other side of the monetary "fence" is Clive (Gregory A. Smith), a mentally disabled man who has recently hit the lottery in a pure stroke of luck, already adding to the immense pile of greenbacks that they currently sit upon. So, we've got the poor broke couple scratching for dollars, and the insanely fatted-up A-class, just waiting to get picked clean...well, now we all know that things don't go off quite so easily, now do they?

  What transpires next is a series of events that border on the horrifying, brutalizing and generally terrifying, and Rowntree makes no excuses in his delivery - we're seeing the dissection of social classes here. If you're one of those souls who happens to eyeball everything through rose-colored glasses I'm sorry to say that you're in for one hell of a shock with this movie. Violence is at an apex here, and while gorehounds will howl at the moon when watching this film, the "less than inclined" will be too busy shifting in their seats or covering their delicate peepers to see its sadistic beauty. Performances are solid and complemented by a strong plot that aligns all facts and allows the film to stretch its legs in the latter stages - this one sure as hell isn't meant for the casual crowd and some might find this a one-time-watch in essence, but that will definitely be more than enough to correctly damage some psyches - make sure to give this one a look if you have the stint to spend.

RATING: 3.5 out of 5