Few movies meet the expectations of their title more than Canada’s “For The Sake of Vicious” from co-directors Gabriel Carrer and Reese Eveneshen.
Set on Halloween night, a nurse is on her way home to spend Halloween with her son. Romina (Lora Burke) is unprepared for what she’ll find when she gets home. Her landlord Alan (Colin Paradine) is beaten, bloodied, and tied to a chair in her kitchen. His captor, Chris (Nick Smyth), is crazed and demanding justice. He drags Romina into their dispute.
Chris is estranged from his wife and family and blames Alan, who had an affair with Chris’ wife. Alan is also being accused of molesting Chris’ daughter.
Alan denies he attacked the daughter, but Chris is convinced by the slightest of evidence found in his house. He is willing to torture Alan to get him to confess. Eventually, Romina is able to calm Chris enough to give her time to free Alan and hand him his phone. But Alan is not interested in calling the police or an ambulance for himself. It’s time for Alan to call in some help to get some revenge on Chris.
Men in masks arrive at Romina’s house, and the bloodshed begins.
The story hints at deeper motivations, dances around the edge of who Alan is and who he’s connected to, and what Chris’ blame might be for what happened to his family. Even Romina has a past event that’s remarked upon, but never expanded on.
The first half hour or so of the movie is establishing these three characters; the rest of the movie is one long home invasion and fight scene.
Chris, Alan, and Romina become unlikely allies as wave after wave of masked hooligans enter the house determined to kill the three of them.
The story is thin, but the action is relentless, and the violence intensifies as the movie moves forward at breakneck speed.
Blood splatters, eyes are lost, body parts are impaled, bones are broken.
If violence is what you want, FOR THE SAKE OF VICIOUS brings it in spades, and crowbars, and hammers, and any blunt instrument at hand.
According to the Fantasia Film Festival website, For The Sake of Vicious was shot in 15 days, used practical FX, and the stunts were done by the actors themselves. The movie is a visual and FX accomplishment, and directors Carrer and Eveneshen bring a creative flair to the mayhem and violence.
The movie may not answer too many questions raised in the story or make real use of Halloween night aside from being an excuse for gangs of murderers to walk around in fright masks, but the ride is exhilarating.
Take a deep breath because you’ll be holding it the entire time you’re watching For The Sake of Vicious.
Overall Rating (Out of 5 Butterflies): 3.5
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