Jonah Abbott
There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.
Fatma Suarez
The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful
Ginger
Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.
izzybelle-47012
I first saw this film on the shelves in HMV and thought it looked good but didn't chance buying it in case it turned out to be another torture porn disguised as a horror with a dominating man demanding sex from a vulnerable woman. This, thank God, turned out not to be the case. The film features three main characters, a married couple, Allie and Tom and their intruder, Aaron. The couple are engaging in sex when an intruder breaks in and knocks them out. The couple wake up, Tom is tied up in the bath and Allie is hanging from the kitchen ceiling, what follows, is a weekend of them being held hostage in their own home.But this is not ordinary kidnap horror story line, these characters have a depth to them that almost makes you root for the characters you think you should hate, and hate the characters you ought to love.Overall i think this film is very unique, with no other story lines that are similar to my knowledge. The acting is utterly brilliant for the roles of Allie and Aaron and their chemistry is amazing with the ability to switch between tension and fear to affection and almost a sense of real love.I highly recommend this dutch made film, i hope my review was somewhat helpful in convincing you to watch!
kosmasp
Haneke would have a field day with this. He actually already had one - it's called Funny Games. Either the original version or the remake will do. And while this adds "eroticism" and bondage to the mix, it just never works. The movie is out to shock and tell a story about a bad man, trying to send mixed messages too. Shouldn't you obey if someone holds you hostage? Should go with the flow? All this could be interesting things to explore and if you're being nice to the movie, you sort of see them in this too.Those are just a few of the things that could make this even more uneasy to watch! As if the torture and the general humiliation wasn't enough you might ask - the problem with that is that it just never actually makes a point in the end. Especially the ending which sort of alienates the viewer even more (Freedom can be different things and there are layers to that too, none of them explored here, not to mention the reveal and explaining it does with the very last seconds of its running time ... unnecessary)
ASouthernHorrorFan
Ate De Jong brings Mark Rogers' story of fetish, and horror to life in dark, visceral , sometimes uncomfortable intensity. Normally I pass on films that I consider torture porn, or at least I bail on the film once I get that impression. I am glad that I did not check out on "Deadly Virtues" because it is definitely a tight, methodical nightmare that pushes one to experience that taboo in the horror genre, the eroticism of sexual nightmares. Much like "Straw Dogs (the remake)", this movie goes into those areas and exploits those darker subjects. "Deadly Virtues" doesn't completely nail it, there are moments that play out almost like cliché of the erotic horror subgenre. At times the energy falters, and certain moments that could have really pushed the horror over the edge are only mediocre. That being said, the characters are developed more than you usually see in these sorts of stories, the subtext is deep and dark, and the acting is captivating enough to cause you to built a very intense connection with the characters. Plus the ending is one that I didn't quite see coming, made me angry until the ending finally played out- an ending that is well worth setting through the sexual overture that runs through "Deadly Virtues", and that sense of discomfort in seeing some of the scenes play out. Overall, "Deadly Virtues" is worth watching on so many levels. I enjoyed being pushed into less comfortable forays of "what is horror" and "what is erotic". Rogers story balances it nicely and De Jong brings it to scream wonderfully. The special effects are practical, even though they are limited and not a big focal point of the movie. The real focal point of "Deadly Virtues" comes from actually watching the film, experiencing this situation through the eyes of these tragic characters, and that ending. This is one of the better, more elevated torture-porn, exploitation, and modern cult films I have seen in a while.
JvH48
I saw this film at the Imagine (sf/horror/fantasy) filmfestival Amsterdam 2014. Very good script, continuously unclear where the story was heading. Especially nice was that the couple in the house seemed 100% victims at first, but that changed throughout later developments, particularly after revealing some black spots for the husband. Eventually all loose ends vanished one by one, including the final scene revealing the initially unexplained method how the attacker silently entered the house without ringing the doorbell. You may infer from it that the same can happen to you in the foreseeable future.Believable characters throughout, but cannot tell much more in fear of spoiling. This film ended undeservedly on a lowly 36th place (out of 43) for the audience award with score 6.43. An IMDb score of 5.6 is also not what it should be, in my not-so-humble opinion.
