SITGES 2020: For the Sake of Vicious
sitges 2020For the Sake of Vicious is an easy way to kill eighty minutes, if nothing else. Set mostly in the house of Romina, a very unfortunate nurse (Lora Burke) is dealing with two unwanted intruders in the first half of the film, before the second half sees her dealing with another group of unwanted intruders.
The first two intruders are Chris (Nick Smyth) and Alan (Colin Paradine). Chris is dealing with the rape and murder of his young daughter and believes Alan to be the culprit. In a fit of rage, Chris has kidnapped and beaten Alan, only to bring him to Romina’s house so she can nurse him back to health. However, as the accusations fly and grim interrogations commence, it becomes ever so unclear as to who is in the wrong. This dynamic proves to be a mildly provocative start, but gets lost in the subsequent chaos.
The second bunch of intruders are a masked bunch of goons intent on causing havoc – which they do. The rest of the film plays out in a series of brutal and bloody fight sequences, with the most successful and entertaining of these taking place in a bathroom with a hammer. Credit to directing duo Gabriel Carrer and Reese Eveneshen, as they certainly shoot the action well and exemplify the claustrophobic element by setting these sequences all in tiny rooms.
Beyond this, however, there really isn’t much going on. Chris is the only character who really gets much fleshing out, but it’s a shame Smyth doesn’t quite have the acting chops to pull off crazy. The dialogue is stilted, some of the offbeat humour comes out of nowhere whilst also feeling cringely out of place, and the conclusion doesn’t feel in any way satisfactory.
A hollow attempt at a home invasion movie, albeit one that has some redeeming qualities. For the Sake of Vicious at least seeks to subvert the genre to some degree and offers plenty of blood and gore, which is probably the main reason why anybody would want to watch this anyway.