BRUTAL (2017)- Beautiful, brutal and powerful serial killer movie from Unearthed Films-Fitz of Horror Review

Bryan Fitzgerald (Fitz of Horror) January 1, 2019

Synopsis-A savage murderer is on the prowl in Japan. One by one, his victims fall but what is he searching for? The same thing a murderess is looking for. We are all looking for that special love of our lives and sometimes, we’re willing to kill everyone to find that special someone. This is the tale of two people finding each other in the most vicious way possible.

I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect going into Brutal but what I got was one of the best serial killer films I’ve ever seen. Takashi Hirose uses a 3 chapter format in this film and it works beautifully to tell the twisted stories of “Man” (Butch) and “Woman”(Ayano) and their murderous tendencies.

Chapter 1: MAN establishes quickly a distinct grindhouse feel and immediately gets to the brutal violence that is cringe-inducing and very well done. Man suffers from hallucinations that drive him to “save” women by releasing them from their sins by sadistically beating them to death. The opening scene is insanely violent and worth the price of admission.

Chapter 2: WOMAN focuses on a female serial killer who preys on chauvinistic men. Her introduction is a fast-paced murder extravaganza showing her proficiency with a butcher knife and her affinity to repeatedly stab dudes in their rectum, its pretty fucking gnarly.

Chapter 3: MAN and WOMAN pits our two serial killers against each other and leads to the absolutely insane finale that explains why Man and Woman are the way they are. With copious amounts of blood and violence, it is the perfect ending to this film and definitely one I didn’t see coming.

My overall impression of this film is that it was sad, beautiful, brutal and very powerful. I was expecting a “gore for the sake of gore” type movie without any real depth to it (which I would have been fine with) but surprisingly Brutal was a deep movie with a clever social commentary about how men and women view themselves and each other. Despite the violent acts carried out by the main characters I still felt strong if not sympathetic connections to them which gave the ultra-violent ending even more of a powerful punch.

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