Review by CJ

Director:
Diego Cohen

Starring:
Hector Kotsifakis, Paulina Ahmed

Other notable appearances:
Alberto Agnesi

Running time:
96 minutes

Watch this if you liked:
Saw, Wolf Creek

Trigger warning:
Sexual assault and rape

When Jorge (Kotsifakis) falls in love with Isabel (Ahmed) at first sight, he won’t let anything stand in the way of their love. Not her husband, not the fact they’ve never met, and certainly not the fact that she doesn’t love him in return.

Honeymoon is one of those horror films that isn’t frightening so much as it is disgusting. I don’t enjoy films in the splatter film or “torture porn” subgenre as a general rule. To be honest, I thought this would be much more of a psychological thriller going into it. Regardless, I found Honeymoon to be the most boring of the films in that subgenre I have seen. There were a couple of cringe-worthy scenes but overall there was just a lot of dark, moody scenes that amounted to very little.

The plot has gaping holes, not only in story but in character development too. Jorge’s backstory is touched upon then swept under the rug because he doesn’t like to talk about it. Not wanting to talk about things is fine in reality, but in fiction you need to have purpose for what you introduce. There was nothing to connect Isabel and her husband before she is abducted — I was surprised to find out that he was her husband as I thought they were just lovers. I was left with far too many questions by the end of Honeymoon.

Both twists towards the end of Honeymoon were underwhelming. The first because I sniffed it out a mile away. The second because it was simultaneously disappointing and far too easy.

Overall Honeymoon doesn’t achieve anything it touches upon. It has some extreme gore, but overall is not gory enough to appeal to gore film fans. There’s not enough character development for it to work as a psychological thriller — the viewer is given no reason to care about or identify with any of the characters. As a horror movie in general, there are no scares or the lingering feelings of unrest that are associated with great horror. Sure, the situation is horrifying, but in the same way the news is. I wouldn’t bother unless you really need to see every film in the “torture porn” subgenre.

Rating: