The Russian Bride

I do not know where to start with this movie. It had every stereotype imaginable. The script was vapid, unimaginative, and bordering on childish. Corbin could do better than this? Or maybe not. I realize it was meant to be a horror movie, but it failed at that too. It was not scary. What was the scariest part of the film, was how terrible it was. It always felt like a tiny production. Other than the house. I could not finish it. Feel badly about that hour I wasted, fast forwarding, trying to get to something substantial.

Nina is as bad ass as a Russian women can be, takes a while to get going but boy when it gets going it really gets going. One thing that annoyed me is the presence of a spirit that really did not need to be in the movie at all. The ending to this movie is sped up to 10 its viscious and glorious.

If I gotta repost this review without that title then so be it. I'm repeating those words non stop after seeing this. I can't help myself :D God damn its good. This film is not at all what I expected. I knew it was horror, I knew it was good ol' Corbin Bernsen and a different take with a russian mail order bride. But holy...hell how it became something far more than what I thought I had figured out . I wont go into too deep spoilers because that would ruin the point of watching the film, aside from it being a damn good, surprising time. What the movie gets right, earning a high 9 on my scale is that its not holding back with some good gore, its not afraid to be nasty and cruel to characters we're supposed to care for a lot. There ain't no handholding going on here. This story is BRUTAL and it downright takes domestic abuse to the next level, which is something that is prevalent in our main female leads life before meeting Corbin. The american dream... gone very very very bad and its glorious in its portrayal. The thing I love the most isn't the great acting, corbin being ever entertaining or Oksana's marvelous portrayal of a woman giving her ALL to survive and save her daughter. All of this is fantastic...but its not what truly gets me. Its the fact that the film itself never stops trying to surprise you and enjoys making you guess, and guess wrong. In so many horror films these das we got the generic formula of " Whatever happens, our lead will be okay and we'll get a happy ending" but in this film I had myself second guessing myself over...and over. Are things REALLY... gonna be okay here? Because they are not holding back. The twisted nature, the horrible acts, the discoveries, the plot flips and much more keeps going deeper and deeper till you realize just how deep the rabbit hole actually is. And its not something you will guess straight from the bat. Which I ADORE! Time and time again we get introduced to moments of " Okay this is game over now. Okay now its over. She can't get over that. Jesus he's evil. This is unthinkably cruel!" And LOVE IT because of the way it ends. The film knows how to build itself up towards a grand finale. The film KNOWS... what we all want, but also what we're tired of seeing, or getting too fast. You dont want a tasty dessert after a mediocre meal. GOD NO. YOu want a big, damn tasty meal and once you're satisfied THEN you wanna give into your gluttonous desires and feast on an overkill dessert because screw it! Lets go crazy. And the film knows this very well. It knows it has to be more than a generic survival horror flick with a twisted villain because we've seen that before. And by god... does it succeed in being so much more because of it. And Mr Director... that Scarface reference at the end... "Italian Chef Kiss" LAVARO FANTASTICO! Genius and just at the right time. I wont say more because I just dont want to spoil it to my readers. PEOPLE! WATCH THIS FILM! I dont care if you pay for it or watch it online for free. WATCH IT! Its worth your time if you enjoy horror survival stuff with a lot of twists. 9 out of 10. Reason for not giving it a full blown 10 is because that the film has 1 sidesplot about ghosts which it doesn't do too much with and I feel like it could've been a bit more prevalent. Dont get me wrong, it definitely serves its purpose and the film works because of it, but its very tiny and it comes across as confusing at some point as well because of Corbin's reaction to it. One of the things that once again makes us guess... and surprises us :) But yes. Absolutely fantastic horror film in my personal opinion. I love it and I'm so happy I randomly came across it. Thank you to everyone involved making this. A true horror gem... and one I've come to greatly appreciate in this age of ever predictable, boring, jumpscare packed horror. Not here, ladies and gentlemen. This... is damn good.