Cover Art

Credits

Director: Alex Chandon Starring:Dani Filth, Eileen Daly, Emily Bouffante, Stuart Laing and Louie Brownsell Screenplay: Alex Chandon Tagline: 'It's not if they die, it's how…' Country: UK

Cradle of Fear is an anthology movie with the stories tied together with linking segments featuring Cradle of Filth's Dani Filth as 'The Man'. Dani tries to be sinister but just comes over as being a bit silly, really. The four stories contained in the film take in a violence-orientated interactive website, a man who needs a new leg (so he takes one!), a woman carrying a very unholy offspring, and a revenge piece after two women rob and kill an old man.

It sounds promising, doesn't it? Unfortunately, it's all handled so badly that I found it very difficult to get any entertainment out of it. The final segment had some chilling moments, but that was about as good as it got. I don't want to be too harsh on Chandon, as he has a great love and affection of the horror genre; however, sometimes fans are not the best people to make horror movies (just take a look at The Dead Next Door for a prime example). The running time is way too long, clocking in at 2 hours, and it was a real test of my endurance to sit through the whole abysmal mess. Chandon should definitely have shortened the running time and tightened the pacing a hell of a lot more than he did.

The main problem is that this isn't really very good, it suffers from poor scripting, bad acting and laughably inept special effects. Sure, there are buckets of gore and plentiful nudity on display, but these elements do not in themselves make a good film. It's also pretty apparent that Chandon has relied on the presence of Dani Filth to sell the film, never mind the fact that Dani can barely act.

I'm really struggling here to say anything good about this film – it doesn't even have that 'cheese' factor that makes so many low-budget offerings such enjoyable viewing. It's a shame, as Chandon obviously had some good resources at his disposal, but he wastes all of them. He lingers far too long on the gore, which quickly becomes tedious, aside from also revealing how fake the gore actually is – sometimes less is more, a lesson he should learn. In making the film so graphic he has removed all elements of suspense and terror, instead he adopts a 'let's repulse the audience as much as we can' attitude. I think Chandon needs to understand that horror is far more than simple violence and bloodshed, and learn to tap into people's fears instead. Gore isn't frightening, but it can be utilised as a shock element, but only if done properly.