(2006/GERMANY/US)
REVIEW BY-STEVE GENIER DIRECTOR-TIMO ROSE CAST-JOE ZASO, RAINE BROWN, ANDRE REISSIG, THOMA KERCMAR, MANOUSH, TIMO ROSE and ANDREAS PAPE. SOURCE-CINEMA IMAGES DVD SCREENER (2007)
Deep in a dark forest somewhere in Germany, there is a family of cannibalistic butchers lurking in the shadows. There they are on a ravenous killing spree, ripping their victims apart in every possible manner known to man. Michael, who has just moved to Germany from the US lives with his friend Dave who is native to Germany. There lives consists of lounging, smoking pot and in Mike’s case waiting for the girl of his dreams to arrive from the US, Nina. Once she arrives old times return. They plan a day hiking trip so Nina can get to see more of Germany. Their trip just happens to be to the very same forest where evil lurks unbeknown to them. Though at first they experience the beauty of the wilderness, there certain meeting with death some creeps upon them and fast.
Breasts gauged apart, heads being blown to bloody pieces and guts splattered from one end of the film to the other, folks I have just awoken up in a gore hound’s wet dream! Of course that is to be expected if you have ever experienced a Timo Rose film. BARRICADE, his latest underground splatter offering an it’s no holiday either, you have to work your way through this very raw and very much in your face adventure. One that will most definitely have you thinking twice about venturing into the woods alone..hell, even with a group your never safe. There is simply no resting well viewing BARRICADE, from one slaughter to the next, there it literally no down time in between these hard edged onslaughts. This is certainly a film only for the experienced, take that as a warning, because once you start this film, the images are burnt into memory for life and that’s a good thing for Timo. Like an additive drug, you want more.
BARRICADE brings to life a busy, yet very fresh approach to cinematography, the transitions as well as the edits and scene set-ups are all very good. People want entertainment, but they also want quality and BARRICADE provides that with a small budget to boot. Action scenes also highlight the scenes of gore and horror. So, they are multi-dimensional, action, horror and lush scenery folks. I don’t know about you, but when you add some pretty good acting on top of that all, you get an A-1 product.
Armed with a great cast, pretty deceit storyline and buckets of blood, BARRICADE is in my mind the film that will give more exposure to this German underground splatter king’s catalog of films and work. The casting of Joe Zaso as the lead of Michael, brings a solid background to the table and to the character. Though in looks and in presence Joe is strong, but when it comes to the girl of his dreams, Nina, he backs away. The pairing of Joe and Raine Brown is great. Two strong personalities in very different ways are in tuned with one another just nicely. Not to mention nearing the end just how strong of a character Nina really is.
to both for really putting in performances that seemed like fun, though the subject matter was very deadly, they still seemed like it was quite the trip while filming. The supporting cast as well is great, especially the dry humor of David played by Andre Reissig also added yet another dimension to the film that fit just right. Of course who can forget the blood-splattering antics of the gang of butchers in the film as well. They all were so realistic, almost an uncut vision of that X-FILES episode called HOME, about that family of cannibalistic in-breds going the full nine yards.
Still, with all the blood and guts, Timo Rose brings the glory back to the genre. The fun in watching something you know is nothing but entertainment. His vision is to push the envelope and hell knows he has done that more then one time including here in BARRICADE. With all the extras including on the disc, the behind the scenes as well as the interviews with Joe Zaso, Raine Browne and other. You can see that Timo Rose and the others involved just didn’t throw together a film about nothing, about blood and guts or gore and splatter. They worked their asses off and earned my respect for that. Everything down to the score which is also from Rose, a score that like the film brings to like the talent this guy really has. I as a viewer as well as a distant friend would like to give high praise to everyone involved here especially Joe, Timo, Ted and Raine for an excellent product.
STORY/FILM-3.5/5 BITCH SLAPS PICTURE-3.5/5 BITCH SLAPS AUDIO-3/5 BITCH SLAPS EXTRAS-3/5 BITCH SLAPS OVERALL DVD-3/5 BITCH SLAPS (THIS IS BASED SOLELY ON THE DVD SCREENER, THE ACTUAL DVD RELEASE WILL BE DIFFERENT IN TERMS OF PICTURE AND AUDIO UPGRADES)
BARRICADE'S official My Space page at www.myspace.com/barricademovie
© 2007 cinema-nocturna.com
