Gvozdi (2003) (V)

Director:

Andrey Iskanov

Writer:

Andrey Iskanov (writer)

Release Date:

16 August 2006 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Horror

Plot Keywords:

Self Mutilation | Very Little Dialogue | Blood | Experimental Film | Nail In The Head

Cast

  (Credited cast)

Alexandra Batrumova	...	Boss's Girl
Svyatoslav Iliyasov	...	Hitman / Creature
Andrey Iskanov	...	Boss / Creature / Second psychiatrist (voice)
Irina Nikitina	...	The Hitgirl
Igor Orlov	...	Mirror ghost
Alexander Shevchenko	...	Hitman
Victor Silkin	...	First psychiatrist (voice)

Also Known As:

Nails (USA) (DVD title)

Runtime:

60 min (director's cut)

Country:

Russia

Language:

Russian

Color:

Color | Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Filming Locations:

Khabarovsk, Russia

Trivia:

The opening sequence with the Hitman in a restaurant was filmed within three hours only.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: In some scenes we can see in window and mirror reflections of Svyatoslav Iliyasov, who holding the light.

Quotes:

Hitman: It is birds!

Movie Connections:

References Xtro (1983)

Major Head Trauma

Nails (Gvozdi) is one of a series of surreal, psychedelic, gore movies called HalluCinoGeNnN, by Russian director Andrey Iskanov.

I normally tire very quickly of surreal movies, as my simple brain just doesn't function when having to decipher metaphors and imagery. Sit me in front of something like Eraserhead, and I'll be reaching for the 'off' switch faster than you can say "lady in the radiator".

Nails had an altogether different effect. I couldn't drag myself away from it, even though it was miles away from the standard movie format. Iskanov has made clever use of both monochrome and colour filming, to represent the two stages of the hit-man's life. The movie opens in black and white, during his 'tortured' phase and just after the first batch of nails goes in, it switches to colour as his outlook on life has greater clarity. The constant industrial noise in the soundtrack fades away to comfortable peace and quiet, as he starts this new phase.

As the hit-man sees the essence of life more clearly, even the most mundane things begin to take a different form. His food no longer looks tasty and delicious, instead it shows its true form as processed junk. Each can the hit-man opens contains something more disgusting than the last…penis soup anyone? He begins to see himself and his girlfriend as they truly are; soulless plastic mannequins with no purpose other than to end life. Perhaps it is the true vision of his life that drives him further to keep using the nails and finally the drill. Imagine the scene in Evil Dead 2, where Ash goes mad and all the furniture taunts him. Then multiply it by ten and make it last for an hour – that's pretty much how Nails plays out. It's like a hybrid of the cyberpunk violence of Tetsuo and the work of Jorg Buttgereit (Nekromatik, Der Todesking).

You don't watch Nails, you experience it.