Normally, I’m not into the whole “found footage” genre, because it can be a little cliched. There have been some good ones, such The Blair Witch Project, Cannibal Holocaust, Cloverfield, and Paranormal Activity. Others, such as Monster (nothing to do with the incredible Charlize Theron film) and The Amityville Haunting are really bad. I would have to rank Infliction as good, but not just good, but actually really great.
The story centers on two brothers in North Carolina, who decide to go on a killing spree and tape their crimes. They target certain people, people who you don’t think can do any damage, but eventually have it coming to them. There is a reason why they’re committing these crimes in the first place, which is because they were abused horribly when they were very young, and they grew to be very angry young men. This is quite commonplace in today’s society where very troubled youth grow up to be serial killer, because of the sheer pain that was inflicted upon them as grow up, and while Infliction doesn’t the depict the actual abuse, it sheds some very disturbing light on it.
Things get really, really dark towards the end of the film, and if you’re not visibly shaken, then you have a really strong stomach. It would be awful of me to give away any more of the details, and I’m sorry if this review is rather short and brief, but I will leave it up to you to decide your own feelings towards this film. Let’s just say that director Jack Thomas Smith has made a really deeply unsettling, gruesome film that will make you think about the real criminals that inhabit the world we live in.
The DVD doesn’t really do justice to this horrifying semi-documentary. Beware, it doesn’t have a main menu; the movie automatically starts as soon as put in the DVD. There is no trailer, but there is a music video by Purple Rain & The Flesh Eaters. The only problem is that you have to watch the entire movie just to access it.
