I’m just going to start this review by saying “Barricade” may be the most brutal movie of 2007. Now I say “may” because it’s January and that leaves a whole year for some other movie to dethrone it, but you can quote me on this: If “Barricade” is not the most brutal movie of the year it will sure be one of the most brutal movies of the year. Now what you want to do with that information is up to you. If you are a gore hound then this is probably a movie you definitely want to pick up. The victims of this movie feature less character development then any “Friday the 13th,” They are introduced quickly, and dispatched of remorselessly, in seconds.
The movie does feature a plot revolving around three main characters, but one could care less as you are merely left anticipating the next gruesome death scene. The most memorable death, or corpse desecration, scene involves the most disturbing breast mutilation since that “Jack the Ripper” movie starring Klaus Kinski or “Ichi The Killer.” The film is worth watching just for this moment alone, and it should go down in horror history as one of the most brutal and barbaric scenes in a long time.
I am also unsure if I was really down with the grainy film techniques they seemed to try to use to capture that old horror movie look and feel. In addition, the movie also suffers a tad from that new epileptic, shaky filming technique that seems to be over used in so many horror films today. However, it’s not enough to make it unwatchable.
Like I said before, “Barricade” does include a story about three friends on a camping trip in Germany (the film is in English with a few German speaking moments) who get caught up in a twisted, backwoods nightmare as a family of savages hunt, kill, and eat everybody who seems to enter the woods. I in no means mean to compare this film to this book, but images of Jack Ketchums “Off Season” did pop into mind as the demented family munched on camper’s guts during scenes that would make any zombie fan proud.
The plot, and the end of the film, do get a little skewed, but at this point I would just suggest you toss the whole thing out the window, sit back, and enjoy the gore on a totally fatuous level. You’ll definitely get a chuckle out of the absolute insanity of the ending of the movie if you do so. The best part is that the main character Michael, who seems to be miscast (not because of his acting but because of his size), is a hulking brute of a guy who winds up getting his ass kicked while his girlfriend winds up whooping ass.
Other favorite WIL A.D.D moments are when, during an early scene, a guy seems to be playing volleyball naked, or in super tight shorts, and then later there are unnecessary shots of the Paramount Studios Mountain (or whatever the hell that mountain is they keep cutting to). The best moment is when Nina arrives at Mike’s apartment and goes inside, they pan the camera right into a tree! I have no idea who thought that was a great idea.
“Barricade” is probably not going to crack any top 10 list this year, but it is in no way an awful film. Director Timo Rose set out to make a certain type of movie and he seems to have succeeded in doing so. He really achieved bringing us back to those glory days of just mindless gore filled exploitation cinema, and “Barricade” is just that, nothing more or nothing less. The movie attacks you from the moment it starts until the moment it ends, with a small break in the madness to let us get to know a little about Michael and his friends. The other tossed in side plots are forgettable, and so is what I guess was an attempt at a somewhat twist ending. “Barricade” should be viewed as visual “junk-food” for people in search of mindless and heedless entertainment. It’s a gore filled, cheap treat for that lonely or friend filled drunken Saturday night. Do I say that a lot?
(Andrew’s note: “Yes, you do. Sounds like someone’s projecting.)
