The Horseman

I was in the mood this morning for something that wouldn't require a lot of brain power to watch, just something with action and some fighting, so I popped in "The Horseman" It indeed had action, but was much more gruesome than I had expected.

Christian is a man on a mission, his teenage daughter had disappeared and when she turns up in the morgue with cocaine, and heroine in her blood, as well as several semen samples on her, he goes out to find her killers. He systematically makes his way through the people who had anything to do with his daughters death, and last few hours. He is sent a tape in the mail, it is a porno, with his daughter being the doped up star just hours before she was dead. He uses this as a frame to work off of to find all involved. Along the way he comes upon a girl (Alice) who needs a ride down the way he's going, and as they drive together they share little bits of their lives. You would think that this is a story of redemption, or at least eventually, but it never gets to that point.

They get stuck on the revenge aspect of the story, and all the different ways someone could torture another person before finally killing them. This was an extremely violent movie, I'm not often caught off guard, or will wince when something happens, but I many times in this had trouble keeping my eyes on the screen. There are buckets of blood in this, and I'll have trouble thinking about an air pump for athletic balls again without this movie coming to mind.

The acting is all around okay, nothing extraordinary, but nothing overly amateur about it, it is obviously an indie film, so they work with what they have. Peter Marshall who plays Christian does a great job as the father out to find the killers, and is scary in the role. He plays the homicidal maniac at times with yells and screams, his eyes intense and glowing, and at other times plays it with a quiet smoldering when he tortures and kills people you might think he was merely doing the dishes. In both of these ways he is very successful, but because of that it makes the character work for me a little less. There are anti-heroes of course, but this man is cold and calculated, so it makes it hard for me to like him, let alone be on board with what hes doing.

They shot digital, and it works for the film, they keep the contrast high, and are unafraid to let black take over the frame. The makeup as well did a great job, and in that same vein the FX crew did a great job, it must be fun to work everyday with that sort of blood and gore...and fire.

If you aren't in a good mood, this will not help, I don't actually know what mood you would have to be in to want to watch this. The story is okay, nothing great, and I hate to say it, but not in the least original, they don't even bring something new to the table, or add some twist, it is just like so many other movies Ive seen about a father out for justice.

There is only one way for this sort of story to end, so from the first few minutes you know exactly where its headed, not to say the ride isn't one that takes you places. Enjoyable as it could be, but wish there was more differences than other movies of the same story. 6/10 stars.

Director: Steven Kastrissios

Starring: Peter Marshall, Caroline Marohasy, Brad McMurry, Jack Henry