Just a quick few words about this film. I would have rated it higher but for two reasons:
That said, Killing Ground is a solid film. While many people classify it as horror, it is not horror in the conventional sense, but rather as a film filled with horrific experiences. What makes it so horrific is that every piece of the film is something that has likely happened in reality, or very well could happen. There are no cheap scares or generic tropes to muddle the experience. Just raw, reality-based terror.
All that said, the film is it without its flaws. I won't comment on them, as they are largely based on choices made by the villains. Again, nothing that ruins the story, but certainly noticeable as examples of "man these guys are stupid."
Overall, a very worthwhile watch.
Regarding content...a few reviews mention how the film "does not shy away from gore." There was nothing about this film that I would consider gory. There are a couple of violent scenes, and two or three instances of blood, but most of "violence" occurs in the mind of the viewer. While there is no onscreen nudity, there is a scene (and dialog between characters) that has the two villains talking about "having another go" at the women captives...meaning that the women had been raped.
Plenty of profanity, as the villains are...well...villains, and therefore must, naturally, use profanity when upset. Beyond that, and as mentioned above, there is no gratuitous violence or nudity, but the film takes the viewer right up to these atrocities and then lets the viewers mind do the rest. Only in the most well done films does this tactic work, and the case of Killing Ground, it absolutely works.
- it was a tad slow in the beginning, although not slow enough to tank the film by any means. The slow beginning is absolutely necessary to the film as it sets up the story.
- the second reason is likely my fault, but I'll note it nonetheless. I had to leave the room a couple of times, for completely stupid reasons, and missed the setup for how the two stories were not taking place simultaneously, but rather in past and present. Imagine my idiocy as I tried to figure out what the heck was happening.
That said, Killing Ground is a solid film. While many people classify it as horror, it is not horror in the conventional sense, but rather as a film filled with horrific experiences. What makes it so horrific is that every piece of the film is something that has likely happened in reality, or very well could happen. There are no cheap scares or generic tropes to muddle the experience. Just raw, reality-based terror.
All that said, the film is it without its flaws. I won't comment on them, as they are largely based on choices made by the villains. Again, nothing that ruins the story, but certainly noticeable as examples of "man these guys are stupid."
Overall, a very worthwhile watch.
Regarding content...a few reviews mention how the film "does not shy away from gore." There was nothing about this film that I would consider gory. There are a couple of violent scenes, and two or three instances of blood, but most of "violence" occurs in the mind of the viewer. While there is no onscreen nudity, there is a scene (and dialog between characters) that has the two villains talking about "having another go" at the women captives...meaning that the women had been raped.
Plenty of profanity, as the villains are...well...villains, and therefore must, naturally, use profanity when upset. Beyond that, and as mentioned above, there is no gratuitous violence or nudity, but the film takes the viewer right up to these atrocities and then lets the viewers mind do the rest. Only in the most well done films does this tactic work, and the case of Killing Ground, it absolutely works.