Kill List (Wheatley, 2011)

    More shocking than this film's ability to bore, is the fact that director Ben Wheatley made A Field in England three years after he made this one.

     Kill List features an assassin, that is, a typically boring and unconvincing brand of antihero. Kill Lists character manages to sink to a new low of monotony-in-the-face-of-brutality, when the film not only forces upon viewer long sequences of unemotional killing, but equally arduous sequences of unemotional family life as well.

     Multiple instances of spectacle execute gloriously, but don't bore yourself waiting for them. Hit fastforeward for the bloody chunks.

     Also, intertitles lay about the Kill List. Intertitles are bad news. They make Inglorious Basterds look silly, and they do the same here.

     The final act seems like a few scenes from Resident Evil IV, that is, a blend of Wicker Man meets Night of the Living Dead. You might argue that A Serbian Film was thrown into that blend, but that would mean you watched the movie. Sorry.

Snowtown (Kurzel, 2011)

     Australia often conjures thoughts of bright beaches, blistering sand, and warm sunlight. Kurzel's first feature film takes place in Australia, chills twice in it's title, and amps frigidity to a cold conclusion.
     Based on a true story, special effects portray appropriately unflinching violence in key with this film's themes of sicko-vigilantism and predatory sex. The occasional, ill-advised closeup threatens the films thematic integrity, but, otherwise, the film appears serious and honest.
    More like Mystic River than I Spit on Your Grave, this can be included in the genre of rape-revenge. This work stands apart from glorified rape-revenge by making the main character as unwilling in the act of murder as he is in being raped. This leaves the film justly devoid of happiness. With a shot that pays homage to Irreversable, this movie aims high for brutal observations. It sinks a bulls eye just fine.
     Viewers who prefer violence left to the imagination would do just as well to re-watch Mystic River, but, those of us who appreciate essays on themes of human hideousness straight-up shouldn't skip this one.