Movie Review: Nefarious (2019)

August 24, 2019

Written by DanXIII

Daniel XIII; the result of an arcane ritual involving a King Diamond album, a box of Count Chocula, and a copy of Swank magazine, is a screenwriter, director, producer, actor, artist, and reviewer of fright flicks…Who hates ya baby?

Darren (Buck Braithwaite), Lou (Nadia Lamin), Jo (Abbey Gillett) and Mas (Omari Lake-Pottinger) are scratchin’ and survivin’ in an environment of poverty. Trying to get over, they become indebted to ye olde local crime lord; a totally reasonable and not at all violence prone individual…just fuckin’ with you; this dude makes them worried about their continued existence 24/7.

Meanwhile, richie-rich sumbitch Marcus (Toby Wynn-Davies) and his disabled bro Clive (Gregory A. Smith) get even richer when they win the lottery. Hearing this bit o’ news, our troubled heroes decide to get their steal on to improve their shitty lives…this of course doesn’t go as planned. Violence ensues!

Now of course home invasion thrillers are nothing new, and at it’s core Nefarious isn’t either…it has all the tropes of the genre, but I don’t think re-inventing the wicked wheel was the goal here. Co-Writer (along with Matthew Davies)/Director Richard Rowntree instead decides to concentrate on a slick visual style (aided and abetted by Cinematographer Christopher Foulser) and rock solid performances, which has the effect of elevating the film above the competitors in the genre. Speaking of actors, Wynn-Davies is a tour-de-force in this pic, and provides a ton of entertainment value to the piece, and the folks portraying our desperate protagonists do a serviceable job of making us give a damn about their continued survival.

Of course Nefarious has it’s fair share of grizzly goings-on, and these types of fright flicks are made or broken on such material, so kudos there…plus the suspense is on an even keel throughout!

All in all, Nefarious is a solid home invasion entry in the ol’ horror biz; and while not the most blazingly original picture out there, it is stylish and well acted enough for me to recommend slapping your putrid peepers on it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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