Citadel

Continuing the recent trend of films set in tower blocks, Citadel tells the tale of an agoraphobic father who teams up with a with a renegade priest to save his daughter from the clutches of a gang of twisted children, who committed an act of violence against his family years earlier.

Now if like me, you enjoy a good horror film Citadel is a must. The film is extremely low-budget yet I would say that gives it an advantage, as this factor alone is arguably what makes it so creepy. By no means at all is this film some sort of horror gore fest as it is a thriller/mystery complete with a fantastic sense of suspense. Unfortunately as the movie progresses, without giving anything away the suspense does drop, but in all fairness this is not a bad thing as it just so happens to be an important part of the story.

Citadel is obviously not up there with the greatest horror films of all time, but for what it is, I definitely feel it’s worth checking out. Although this may sound strange the film occasionally feels like a very accurate portrayal of how dangerous today’s society can be. I feel its gritty tone and innovative plot-line make the film feel, in certain instances very realistic, and going back to what I said earlier about the film being creepy, its realism is yet, another key factor that contributes towards that.

Upon watching the film I was pleasantly surprised by just how good the acting was. Every actor in this film I have never heard of, so understandably going into it, admittedly I was rather sceptical, but credit to the actors as they all did a splendid job. Heck, even the baby was a good actor but in particular Aneurin Barnard who portrays the main character stole the show. The reason why I am highlighting this man’s performance is simply because he genuinely looked scared throughout the duration of the movie and seeing as the character he is playing is suffering from agoraphobia; he certainly managed to make it seem that way.

The setting is fantastic and the creatures are also very well done. The creatures are basically todays ‘hoodies’ but, let’s just say a bit more demonic. Hats off to the make-up team as well, as they have also managed to outdo themselves.

Unfortunately towards the end, the film did kind of lose its way, as it definitely had difficulty living up to what was a really good start. Nonetheless the remainder was still enjoyable even if it was a little slow in comparison to the rest.

But all in all Citadel is a very good low budget horror, that may not be scary but the suspense and innovative plot-line certainly make up for it.

7/10

JBool

Release Date: 1st March 2013 (UK)