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The Retaliators
USA 2021
produced by Mike Walsh, Michael Lombardi, Allen Kovac, Dan Lieblein (executive), Randy Bricker (executive), the Geare Brothers (= Darren Geare, Jeff Allen Geare) (executive) for Better Noise Films, K Phat Productions
directed by Bridget Smith, Samuel Gonzalez jr
starring Michael Lombardi, Marc Menchaca, Joseph Gatt, Jacoby Shaddix, Katie Kelly, Abbey Hafer, Ivan L. Moody, Zoltan Bathory, Chris Kael, Andy James, Jason Hook, Amanda Lyberg, Rachel Hilbert, Robert Knepper, Robert John Burke, Corrie Graham, Cree Kelly, Kristopher Kling, Skyler Stone, Brian O'Halloran, Sarah Nicklin, Doc Coyle, Danny Case, Lance Dowdle, Mat Madiro, Matt Brandyberry, Dan Murphy, Miles Gordon Franco, Spencer Charnas, Craig Mabbitt, Kailah Homes, Don Hewitt jr, Susan Moses, Whitney Peyton, Gemma McIlhenny, Gigi Gustin, Christian Claramonte, Dominic Costa, Brian Gallagher, River Geare, Jaya Galsanjamts, Shannan Wilson
written by the Geare Brothers (= Darren Geare, Jeff Allen Geare), music by Kyle Dixon, Michael Stein, special makeup effects by Vincent J. Guastini, Shannon Rae Mulligan, Kc Mussman, Or Mussman, Eric Yoder
review by Mike Haberfelner
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John (Michael Lombardi) is a mild mannered pastor, and a widower
raising his two daughters Sarah (Katie Kelly) and Rebecca (Abbey Hafer) on
his own - and not doing too bad a job for sure. Then though, Sarah through
no fault of her own witnesses a gangland crime, and is ultimately killed
by the perpetrator, Ram (Joseph Gatt), who's hell-bent not to leave any
witnesses behind. The grief is unbearable for the pastor, but fortunately
he finds a sympathetic man in Sawyer (Marc Menchaca), the cop handling the
case, who knows exactly what John's going through after having lost his
own wife (Corrie Graham) to a serial rapist (Jacoby Shaddix) ten years
ago. However that's a good thing only until Sawyer tells John he has
captured Ram - and hidden him away in a remote location so John can have
his revenge. John is mightily tempted, so much so that he already chooses
a weapon with Ram sitting opposite him all tied up - but ultimately can't
go through with it. Now this then puts Sawyer in a pretty awkward
position, because he knows of course what he's doing is against the law
and John might snitch on him if he lets him go. What's worse, Ram isn't
the first perp he has snatched off the streets and locked into his
basement for some victim's relatives to have their revenge on, he's got a
full cage of them, all brutally disfigured but alive, if regressed to a
primal state and full of rage. Bad comes to worse though when Ram's gang
arrives at Sawyers hide-out to free Ram, and John shows enough compassion
to free Sawyer's captives - and a resulting bloodbath is of course
unavoidable ...
Now the finale of this movie is ultra-violent and should leave
every gore fan super satisfied, as it's not only unrelenting but also
shows inventiveness, and is quick-paced, properly explicit and very
bloody. But it would be wrong to reduce the film just to its finale, as
the preceding story actually has quite some depth to it, presents the
viewer with an interesting moral dilemma, and doesn't offer any easy
answers. And well-drawn characters played by a solid cast don't hurt one
bit to make this a genre piece well worth a watch.
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review © by Mike Haberfelner
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Robots and rats,
demons and potholes, cuddly toys and shopping mall Santas,
love and death and everything in between,
Tales to Chill Your Bones to is all of that.
Tales to Chill Your Bones to -
a collection of short stories and mini-plays ranging from the horrific to the darkly humourous,
from the post-apocalyptic to the weirdly romantic,
tales that will give you a chill and maybe a chuckle,
all thought up by the twisted mind of screenwriter and film reviewer Michael Haberfelner.
Tales to Chill Your Bones to
the new anthology by Michael Haberfelner
Out now from Amazon!!! |
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