Dismal (Bleed) (2009)

Dismal ('Bleed') is what you call a standard horror flick. A couple of students and some hillbilly cannibals meet eachother far from civilization. It's game on from that point, too bad we've played it tons of times already. Gary King doesn't bring anything new to the table, and that might just kill it.

The first half hour is the typical introduction. Normally that wouldn't seem too long, but it's rather slow in 'Dismal'. There's a complete lack of fun. The writing is simplistic and there's no room for fooling around. But all of that aside, I can still appreciate the basic storyline, the typical genre rules and utterly dumb cannibals. I still have some hope left for this to turn out pretty good.

And it seems to be somehow rewarding from time to time. The gore isn't all that bad and it might just save this title from a disastrous outcoming. It has a few nice kills and the overal vibe feels quite nasty at some points. The cannibals, on the other hand, rarely ever impress. They're middle of the road badguys, that's all.

Most of the effects are done by some neat make-up artists, but Gary King almost ruins it all near the end. Some disturbingly horrible CGI effects come in to play and blow your mind. The result? An awful explosion and a terrible shotgun wound. It's a shame, because these moments could've beene easily avoided. Why they did it like this is beyond me. And I can imagine why this film has been burned down, ending with a pathetic 2.9/10 score on imdb and so on.

I've never been the type of guy to watch movies based on the scores they get online, so of course I gave this a honest chance. And it payed off in the end. Sure, I've mentioned tons of problems and 'Dismal' is flooded with clichés without ANY ideas of its own. But I enjoyed it for the most part. The entire atmosphere is nicely shaped and it has some high peaks when it comes to nasty effects. Not ground breaking, but definitely worth your while.


Gary King went on to make some more serious projects after this. It's a shame, because this is the right way to learn from your mistakes. He could pull of something way better if he would just try a little harder. There's a lack of creativity for which it is bound to be hated, but I go beyond and like it just a little bit anyway.

Score: 62/100