Sint a.k.a. Saint (2011)
Brief review: Last year's Finnish horror movie "Rare Exports" showed us the evil side of Santa Claus. This year, Netherlands brings us more 'holiday' horror fun in "Saint" - a horror comedy that depicts St. Nicholas as a murderous bishop who murders children when there is a full moon on Dec 5. The best thing about this Dutch horror movie is that it never takes itself too seriously and shows us what a great sense of humor its director actually has. Dick Maas knows perfectly that his film is superficial, but he demonstrates imagination, originality, and some good skills behind the camera, offering us a horror comedy that is well-balanced, entertaining, action-packed, and visually effective, but most of all, fun to watch. Set in the murky, yet beautiful Amsterdam, "Saint" captivates the eye with its gloomy visuals, atmospheric snowy settings and stylish cinematography that suits the dark tone of the film. The make-up and gore effects are also spot-on. Although it's far from scary, "Sint" is quite creepy and gory and there a few jump-of-your-seat moments that will raise your adrenaline. All the actors do a good job in portraying their characters, though you may struggle to figure out which characters are the main, and which are the secondary.
Overall summary: Despite its ridiculous premise, "Sint" remains a unique, clever, and finely-executed little gem of a horror comedy, that provides some good laugh, decent scares, tons of gore, and a surreal dark holiday atmosphere that makes it perfect to watch on Halloween.
Overall summary: Despite its ridiculous premise, "Sint" remains a unique, clever, and finely-executed little gem of a horror comedy, that provides some good laugh, decent scares, tons of gore, and a surreal dark holiday atmosphere that makes it perfect to watch on Halloween.
10 comments:
Yay, extremely excited about this one!
As far as I know, the team behind the Slash Flmfestival is throwing a Xmas Party in December where they show 3-4 films - I strongly hope Saint is one of them *fingers crossed*
I was excited about it as well. It didn't turned out that great, but I still liked it a lot.
A Christmas cine-fiesta? That sounds so cool! Fingers crossed then. I don't think I remember but did you see "Rare Exports"? I found some similarities between these two, and though most people prefer "RE", I still like "Sint" better.
There needs to be more movies from that part of the world, as they tend to put a unique spin on horror. And by 'that part,' I mean all of the surrounding countries.
Alex, I absolutely agree. I love European horror, because they always bring something new to the table.
"Saint" hits US theaters on Dec 20, and will be on VOD 5 days before the release, so you should check it out if you can.
There's noting more fun than evil Santa. Christmas is such a saccharine sweet holiday, I have to watch horror to balance out my brain. ;) This sounds twisted and cool so I will have to check it out
Mel, this one is not about evil Santa, but evil St. Nicholas. :) It's a lot of fun, you should give it a shot for sure.
Psyched, is how I express my love for this film. I hadn't seen it yet, but I'm too psyched for it!
Kaijinu, I bet that after you see it, you'll be even more psyched about it. :) Thanks for the follow!
Yes, finally seen it and enjoyed it about as much as you did. Wonderfully entertaining and really gorgeous-looking oldschool horror. Nice!
Just read your review, Harry, and I'm so glad you liked it as much as I did. It's a hidden 'horror' gem!:)
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