Written and directed by Gabriel Carrer and Reese Eveneshen, For the Sake of Vicious is a brutal ride that will please the gorehounds and keep viewers’ on the edge of their seats with its simple, yet effective setup.
It’s Halloween and a nurse, Romina (Lora Burke), is heading home after a gruelling shift. Rather than relax and later pick up her child, she’s faced with a situation that no one could image. On the floor of her kitchen is her landlord, Alan (Colin Paradine), blooded and beaten. In the corner is Chris (Nick Smyth), his intention unknown at this point and a chase begins with Romina and Chris battling as best they can. It turns out that she isn’t the intended victim here, as Chris has abducted Alan as he is convinced he abused his daughter. She isn’t as convinced, and is certainly not happy about this kangaroo court taking place in her kitchen, so she unties Alan and allows him to make a call that “will sort all this out”. Unfortunately for everyone, a gang of heavily-armed masked men will soon come calling, and they don’t want any treats.
As an almost one-location film, For the Sake of Vicious has a lot of scope. It moves from essentially a three-hander conversational piece with the occasional outburst of violence to a full-on siege situation in which the walls will turn red. The first half evokes memories of Big Bad Wolves, with similar sickeningly moments of body trauma, but when the story shifts up a gear, it can be described as a much bloodier, bone-crunching, knee-capping Assault on Precinct 13. The gore effects are fantastic, but where the movie succeeds is the sound design. Each stomach-turning thud and slice is gloriously reproduced aurally. You can look away from the gore, but you can’t escape the reaction. As everything resorts to one big, continual fight, it’s refreshing to see ‘normal’ people react in natural ways, meaning they don’t suddenly become superheroes who can pack a mighty wallop.
For the Sake of Vicious may be thin on plot, but it’s high on action and once it gets going, is a totally manic, visceral ride.
