Plot:
While a woman, Adrienne, and a small group of people try to deal with the life of being a war veteran, another war veteran walks around killing anyone who is acting in "un-American" ways. The man believes that what he is doing is part of his job. Soon the paths of this psycho war veteran, and Adrienne cross eachother.
Our thoughts:
I really couldn't say what I was expecting out of this film. I knew Andrew Copp had made the now cult classic movie "The Mutilation Man", a film I have in my DVD collection but have yet to watch, and the film "The Atrocity Circle", which I have heard alot of good things about. I let my expectations stay low and I think I did the right thing.
The film starts off with a couple who are making out in a car getting killed by a maniac in army clothing. Later we find out more and more about this man and why he is killing. He thinks it's his job to do just that to people who are acting wrong. The source of this is partly his brother, who during his youth always told him about the war. Now the brother is deeply scarred on his face, and feeds his little brother's mind just enough to set it all in even more motion. Then we have Adrienne, a war veteran woman who goes to group meetings that pretty much only tell her to take drugs. The film obviously features some murders, some more interesting than others. My favorite killing would probably be the finale, and if you watch it I think you would agree. What's important when going into watching this film is to know that it's not a gore/splatter film that only tries to deliver killings, but to tell a very well written story about two different sides of being a war veteran. I would rather call this a "low budget political horror film" than I would call it a "splatter film". It shows early on in the film that it was made for a reason, that Andrew Copp had a solid idea to make a film about. This is what makes this film stand out in my eyes.
Without the solid script, the film would probably be forgotten rather quick. It doesn't impress in terms of acting, gore, or camera quality/style. What I did find interesting in it's flaws, is that I could really connect with the film, because there were many times where I felt like I was watching something I could've made myself. This is not me trying to bash the film at all, because I do make films, and this film really felt like home in terms of looks and some of the feel, which gave me a kind of respect for it that I haven't had for any other film to date.
The amount of gore was a bit disappointing. We have plenty of stabbing and blood splattering, but not that much gore. The thing is that in the final scene, we have some graphic wounds that actually looks extremely well done (especially one of them), and if all the scenes had this quality of special effects, it would've reached something alot higher.
Overall, the film is very well written and Andrew Copp is obviously a talent, but some of the actors makes the film lose some of the impact. The look and feel of the film reminds me alot of films I make myself, which made me respect it alot, and maybe more than some other people would. Watch this film if you're sick of watching independent films that are intentionally stupid and silly. "Quiet Nights Of Blood And Pain" is a film to watch for it's plot, not for it's blood. |
