the audience applauded

Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

"Red White & Blue" is an example of independent cinema that uses a grand plot and makes everything work with subtlety, very strong performances and a rarely seen type of narrative that adds to the effectiveness of this horror/suspense drama.The intro shows us a trailer trash brunette named Erica who sleeps with different men every night in a small Texas town. In the apartment compound where she lives, there's Noah who is a well-meaning bearded dude who will help her when she gets fired from her job as house cleaner. Erica rejects his acts of kindness at first but will later give in because he really is a stand-up guy (aw shucks). Conflict arises when one of the men who Erica had a one-night stand with discovers she left something behind that has potential to ruin his entire life. That sounds vague, but I'm afraid that is as far as I can go because more details mean less thrill punches. Trust me though when I say it has a really good story intelligently wrapped around the tropes of horror/suspense movie conventions.The cinematography projects a dark and warm atmosphere that would probably taste like honey but would feel like it has an aftertaste of poison. Huge credit should be given to the Texas setting which is pretty idyllic. I didn't think for a second that Leatherface resided in the area. The BGM that is mostly comprised of piano arrangements works effectively as it has resemblance to what was successfully used in Takashi Shimizu's "The Grudge" and "Marebito." It sounds pretty but you also feel the sense of dread f***ing up your psyche.Simon Rumley carefully peels out the layers of his characters by providing concise moments of well-written dialogue exchange and encapsulating the poignancy in the two leads' portrayal. It rings true in the dramatic scenes of Amanda Fuller (Erica) and Noah Taylor (Nate) together where they blew the roof off. I mean, the acting displayed here alone deserves a loud praise.This is one of the more mature horror movies I have ever encountered, and it definitely is one that I could say one of the best from the genre that I have seen in the last five years. What a f***ing gem.

That's what this movie is: torture porn. True, the first two thirds of the movie are your basic indie flick about lost, tormented souls trying to find comfort on each other, or in the most desperate acts. Nothing spectacular, nothing new, but more or less well done. And completely irrelevant. Nothing of the character's dramas is left when things start rolling.The last half an hour is obviously what the director intended to leave in our memories. And it is pure gratuitous exploitation. The viewer is just being thrown from one torture scene to another, expecting the level of violence to keep increasing(and believe me, it does). When the last confrontation between two characters is about to begin, all the viewer can think is how graphic and sickening it is going to be: no emotional tension is expected, and none is given. The fact that the violent third act takes much less time than the drama doesn't change the fact that it is the violent stuff that Red White and Blue is about.It is obviously not a case of a movie becoming something else in the end. What happens is precisely the opposite: the long set-up is just an excuse for sickening stuff at the end. That will give the horror fans a chance to say they enjoyed a film with character development, and that they are not just fans of the gross stuff, etc. Pure BS. This is as much an exploitation film as I Spit in Your Grave, Cannibal Holocaust, Last House on the Left and the like. Yes, I am degrading this movie from its artsy pretensions to the genre it really belongs. You make enjoy this if you are a horror fan, but don't fool yourself.

Slow burning leading up to the point of the film follows a girl named Erica who spends her time never forming lasting relationships but sleeping around and living an existence. She meets a guy called Nate who has a true bonding with her and its not the sexual kind and he spends his time trying to form a relationship with her and look after her. Unfortunately for her a previous conquest comes back to bite her in the ass with terrible consequences for all those concerned. Gritty, grizzly and depressing movie that takes it's time to build up the whole point to the film but about half way into the movie it all clicks into place and you figure out the way it will end. Hard to watch in places but compelling and you want to know the way it will end. Not bad acting at all and to say its a low budget film it was really good. It was by no way a horror in the slasher sense of the word but really had a point to it. Like i say its a good film but it's certainly not hearts and flowers.

I'n a longtime horror fan. I like my horror movies intense, bloody & down-to-earth. If they're too slick, if everything from the story & pace & acting, to the editing & sound production, slots together too perfectly, I will admire the film, but not be moved by it. I started watching "Red, White & Blue" thinking it was a "psychological suspense thriller," because that's what Netflix told me it was. Much to my delight, it's a flat-out (non-supernatural) horror movie that satisfies my taste. It's also a multifaceted revenge tragedy—a study of how one initial act of violence (the rape of 4-yr-old girl) spins out a world of suffering, which leads to many unfocused acts of revenge, one of which eventually triggers a much more pointed episode of revenge, which in turn triggers a veritable *rampage* of revenge—so well-acted & so engaging, it practically bores a hole in your brain. One brilliant thing about this flick is that all of this takes place in a central Texas setting which is as real as the sun is hot. I'm a Texan, so I should know. Don't you hate movies that start out telling you they're located in a specific geographic locale, then some aspects of the setting—the character's accents, for example, or the license plates on cars, or a city skyline—are broadcasted so loud & clear you get sick of 'em, but many other, more telling, aspects—like the architecture of the houses or the sounds of the birds or the kinds of trees, even—are all wrong? It distracts you from your immersion in the story! This movie is just the opposite: we see a hint here, a hint there, of where the events are unfolding, but unless you recognize specific streets & buildings of one lowdown area of Austin—I didn't, because I don't know Austin that well—the fact that you're in Texas seeps rather gradually into your awareness. Even the fact that one character has an obvious tattoo of the state's outline only means that *he's* a Texan. But by the end, when a big Texas flag flapping gently in the wind in someone's front yard prompts you into a reverie about what the title of the movie signifies, you are so grounded in place, it deeply underscores the gritty, down-to-earth flavor of the whole flick. That also contributes to how the story's tragedy, while ramifying out to include dozens, even hundreds, of people, feels as tightly concentrated as a watch spring. I must warn you that the real story you're watching—as opposed to the mere events—will also take a while to seep into your awareness. And that this can be kind of annoying. At first I thought that the film was lagging because our initial point-of-view character wasn't being very well acted. But once you understand why the character is like that, you'll appreciate the subtlety that Amanda Fuller brings to the role. Same goes for Eric Senter's character, who comes across as such an irritating dweeb he's hard to look at—and then you get *his* story. Noah Taylor's character, on the other hand, is so fascinating from the get-go, you won't be able to take your eyes off him. He just about pops off the screen, that's how intensely he burns.After all was said and done, I appreciated, in retrospect, the way the way the movie starts out so slow as to be almost meandering, then starts to pick up speed, accelerates some more, and then quite suddenly slams into the rampage I referred to earlier. But still, for all of the violence in Act 3, the story is never hyper: it steadily remains in the real world, where there are always occasional downshifts in a sequence of events.The only thing I didn't like about the flick was the fingernails-on-blackboard piano music that's supposed to heighten the splatter at the end: they should've stuck with the rock-n-roll used earlier."Red, White & Blue" even has a denouement. How often does *that* happen? The kind of denouement that lets the flames of intense emotion die down, even lets the embers cool, before the screen goes black and the credits roll. Simon Rumley is definitely no amateur. I'm going to be watching his next flick, that's for sure. I hope it's horror!