The Price We Pay

Hospital at the Edge of New Mexico. One of the things that attracted me were the two well-known names in the lead roles. The attempt to echo the Clooney-Tarantino duo before the adventure at the Titty Twister is there, but while Dorff’s tough guy is believable, the bespectacled Hirsch comes off as a librarian thrown off by a coffee machine malfunction. The problem is that until the purpose of the remote ranch is revealed, it has nothing to engage with, and it doesn’t get much better after the owners show up. Chief Vernon Wells suffers from the classic villain flaw and explains his motives, while the pivot woman weirdly wails and does the dirty work, leaving the young doctor to show his heart in a way other than with a chest spreader. The masks look rather cheap (I don’t know where the creators left the eyes), and I won’t be distracted by things like stretching barbed wire on a living post. (01/24/2023)

Surprisingly, the first half is literally an excellent experience, as the characters are likable enough to carry the film, and their arrival at the farm is simply excellent - the tension works throughout, the atmosphere gradually thickens, and you are just nervously stitched up in your chair waiting for what comes next. Ironically, the second half is where the biggest problem comes in, because Ryuhei Kitamura's name promised carnage, but the opposite is true, and if there’s one thing the film fails on, it's the gore. It's laughable to say the least, if not downright moronic, that they think serving us such embarrassingly off-kilter and unbelievable gore will be enough to satisfy us, because it looks funny. Better said, we don’t see the bloody gore or the whole "process" of hurting, it’s out of frame, but the result is revealed afterwards and that is the element that hurts the film. We come here for the gore, we leave satisfied with the first build up of the film and the characters, but the second part completely passes us by. Too bad, judging by the opening and the fun of the first few minutes I was expecting at least a fat 4 star rating... (01/23/2023)

Ryuhei Kitamura opens the year with an exploitation film that doesn't disgrace the subgenre, but it doesn't bring anything new, doesn't push boundaries, and doesn't dare as much as his previous films (Midnight Meat Train and No One Lives will probably never be surpassed). The Price We Pay is a straightforward genre film that takes all those familiar horror clichés, which ironically also made me happy because those genre films were made 10-15 years ago, so it's nice to be reminded of them. We have a bunch of thieves who rob a pawn shop and take an attractive hostage with them (a beautiful woman is a staple in these movies and they stick to it, even if they don’t show her tits), their car breaks down in classic fashion and the closest thing they get is a remote farm where they decide to settle down. There, however, is a perverted Grandpa and one monstrous lumberjack woman – a properly sleazy villain. The opening takes some 40 minutes before anything starts happening, but it doesn't get boring. As soon as the two clash, Kitamura's favourite torture scene comes on (I was kind of hoping the eye gouging would be on camera, but this time it's off). I was honestly expecting more gore, the visuals are just average and the actors are B-grade, so no miracles there. The best scene is the final fatality with the barbed wire, which was worth a full count, but it would take at least five such scenes to go for a higher rating. I'm glad that after a long time there is at least a watchable addition to the exploitation sub-genre, but it doesn't reach the quality of its predecessors (Frontier(s) is still 2 levels higher in terms of filth and gore for example). (01/19/2023)