Ferocious (2013) User Reviews

Seems like old times

[nogodnomasters · 4/10 · 23 January 2018]

Hollywood Star Leigh (Amanda Crew) returns to her small home town (of about 200,000 people) with her manager. In the films she plays "squeaky clean" roles. She oddly stays in a hotel, until we realize she has a checkered past, one that the owner of an adult entertainment establishment blackmails her over. She attempts to steal back the material and things go awry as Tess (Katie Boland) a fan, comes to her rescue.

The bulk of the film takes place in the dark at a closed strip joint with people bonking and stabbing each other. It was rather boring as Amanda Crew doesn't soar above a "B" acting status. The plot goes no where in this Canadian thriller.

Okay as a desperation rental.

Parental Guidance: F-bomb. Blurred sex on TV. A grope scene. No nudity.

Ferocious is a great movie about the bad side of fame - don't trust the rating!

[diogomanzarra · 4/10 · 13 December 2015]

I'm sure that, one time or another, we all have dreamed about being a big and famous star, with paparazzi snapping their cameras on us all day long, with your name written on the poster of big blockbusters or with a crowd of fans beseeching for your autograph. Seems nice, doesn't it? Ferocious delves into the life of a famous actress, Leigh Parrish, and after watching it I'm sure you'll get a different view on fame.

Ferocious is a movie that confused me at first. On one side, I saw a bunch of reviews praising it, however the contradicting IMDb rating was off-putting. But something captivated me in this movie, and I figured that the film was probably better than the unfitting 4.3 due to the good things said about it.

I wasn't disappointed. I'll keep spoilers to a minimum and only talk a bit about the beginning. Ferocious takes place mainly in one location, with a limited but adequate cast. Leigh Parrish is a likable small town girl, who became a famous actress. You can tell that something is wrong, because she appears to be just a simple girl who lives in a much darker world that she appears to.

Ferocious has a gripping starting scene. Leigh returns home from an interview and cancels the meeting with her parents she was supposed to have that evening. She takes off her dress and changes into a long coat and a hat to cover her visage. Then, she picks up a knife from her bed and slides it into her boot. Right off the bat, the movie raises a lot of questions and definitely hooked me in.

Leigh then heads to Shakers, a night club that is currently closed but scheduled for re-opening soon. Shakers is the main location of the movie that I mentioned earlier, and in my opinion it's a perfect choice for a setting. Expect dimly-lit rooms and tight-quarter sequences, which fit the story perfectly and usually rank up the pressure and the tension.

The actors are rather good. Amanda Crew's acting, along with the rest of the cast, aren't ground- breaking, but are good enough that the film remains credible. Michael Eklund however, just like almost all of his performances, really does the home-run with his portrayal of Eric, the freaky and quirky bartender and also Leigh's hurt ex-boyfriend.

Not everything is positive though. A few plot points got me face-palming myself repeatedly, and truly got me wondering what the heck the writers were thinking. The characters also could have gotten a bit more development. Leigh, Tess and Eric were fleshed out enough, but Sal didn't feel three-dimensional beyond his layers of evil, and Callum is just the typical manager, and never changes beyond that. Not to mention that Tess really breaks her character towards the end.

In the end, you'll be left with an empty sensation inside. Leigh does some horrible things to protect her fame, but as the screen fades to black you'll ask yourself: "Was it worth it?" Ferocious is an flawed and heavily underrated movie, that despite its mistakes has an intriguing story with a good starting sequence, decent performances and a powerful ending. Don't believe me? Check out the fellow reviews and all the nominations this movie got. And after the film is over, remind yourself that fame isn't always a good thing. It can change the person you are and make you ferocious.

Unbelievably Bad

[larrys3 · 1/10 · 3 October 2013]

I've seen many bad movies this year, and this one ranks right up there as one of, if not the worst yet. The wooden acting and dialog along with the incredible plot elements are so unbelievably bad that I found myself laughing and shaking my head in disbelief, most likely at parts that were not supposed to be funny.

Amanda Crew stars as Leigh Parrish, a famous and successful TV star, with a very wholesome image, who is returning to her hometown with her manager Callum Beck (Dustin Milligan). She is trying to promote her "good girl" with small town roots image, starting with a local TV interview.

Leigh mysteriously cancels a dinner with her parents, packs a large knife in her boot, and sets out from her hotel to a club called Shaker's, which is undergoing reconstruction and set to open soon.

We soon find out that the owner of the club Maurice (Kim Coates) has been blackmailing Leigh, as he has possession of a porno tape that she made before she became famous. When Leigh offers him a final large payment to end the extortion he refuses. After things get dangerously nasty, a young woman named Tess (Katie Boland) emerges from the shadows and clobbers Maurice and kills him with a large blunt object to protect Leigh. You see Tess is a terribly devoted fan of Leigh's, and she had been at the club to apply for a job but then when she saw Leigh there followed her upstairs. However, Tess is also totally impulsive, unpredictable, and actually quite "crazy".

Without revealing more, let's just say this will lead to a long, long series of events where bloody murder and mayhem will ensue. Other characters come into play as the plot continues. There's Eric (Michael Eklund) who's the manager of the club and not the "brightest bulb" on the block. He's also the former boyfriend of Leigh before she left him to pursue her career.

The strangest and most diabolical character of all is Sal, the brother of the slain Maurice, who's also played by Kim Coates. I guess nobody noticed that Sal looks exactly like Maurice, and has the exact same speech and mannerisms. Maybe no one bothered to care.

Overall, I felt this film was absolutely terrible with incredible plot machinations and completely non-believable decisions by its' characters. If it was meant as a "campy" joke let's just say I didn't get it.

What Did I Miss?

[drivemenutzlong · 2/10 · 31 March 2020]

Successful actress heads back to her old hometown to exact vengeance on an old employer that did her wrong. A jumbled mess of a movie. Could've been(should've been) done so much better. Amanda Crew is good but given little to work with, not her fault. This movie needed a revised plot with twists and an exciting tempo. I wonder how much the editor left on the cutting room floor, was it worse than what I just watched?

small, but very tense movie

[crisscross40 · 7/10 · 9 October 2013]

Whoo. Spicy. K Coates was born for this role. The other actors have a hard time keeping up, but do pretty well all in all. It's obvious this is a low buck arrangement (to my eyes, anyway), but the filmmaker seems to make the best of it. Dim lighting and sinister music don't hurt. But it's mighty creepy, just in a different way than the conjuring or other thriller/horror out there. This is like being caught in a room with the world's sleaziest man and having to sit on his lap. This is what we're seeing a lot of now, small movies, usually thrillers or horror, some do quite well, others disappear. Not sure what to say about this one. It's good, but it's slow pace may not be to everyone's liking. This is not Speed, nor is it Transporter. But that's not taking anything away from it.

slippery characters

[mingleme1975 · 8/10 · 10 October 2013]

Ferocious is a thriller that takes place in a night club. Not while it's open, but closed. Amanda Crew is back in town (she plays the lead character) to get something back she forgot. Turns out, it's a video tape. Have I seen this before? Yes and no. Despite this having elements from previous films, it plays out in a unique enough way to have kept me interested. There are not a lot of actors in it. Everything is sparse. But that's probably how it should be. Michael Eklund is in it. He's an employee of the bar. He's good (last saw him in The Call). But the real stand out is Kim Coates from Son's of Anarchy. He's so slimy you slide off your chair just watching him. What a good actor. I'm glad they let him have fun with it rather than being just an everyday bad guy. He's fun to watch. I give the movie a 6.5. But since IMDb doesn't let me vote in half number increments, I'll give it a 6. No, a 7

not bad

[Sidneygeee · 6/10 · 18 December 2013]

Leigh is an actress. A famous one by the looks of it. But she still finds time for the fans and to return home. But things are never so perfectly laid out.

Darker tones come into play as we learn there may be an ulterior motive in her return home. I'll stop there, but as you can guess, things go wrong, both for her and everyone she comes into contact with. In a way, this is very timely. But sometimes it also feels like it's been done. Not saying it has been done, but that it felt like it had. Ferocious has a small cast and not much of a budget. But there's bang for their buck. Kim Coates steals the show. He's creepy as all get out. The other actors are good too, though I don't know any of them. I'll give it a 6. It's not incredible, but it's better than most thrillers which are increasingly paint by numbers.

one location and a handful of actors

[andrespetros11 · 7/10 · 19 December 2013]

The role Kim Coates has been dying to play, I'm sure. Another bad guy. Joke. But seriously, this isn't the regular bad guy. Coates plays someone much more sinister than usual and he clearly has fun with it. The plot has the lead character (Amanda Crew) return to where she was born to see her parents. She's a famous actress and is doing a hometown appearance. The media is all over her. She plays for the camera. She's good at it. But later, she heads to a night club. She's looking for something and we have to guess what it is. It must be important, or why would she go there. I'll confess that I saw it coming a mile away, but there are enough twists to hold my interest. Some of the dialogue stuck out and bothered me. But other than that, I enjoyed the movie. It's small, with only a few characters. But I like that sort of thing. Where everyone has to use their wits to survive. Directed with appropriate tension and good acting.

Ferocious (Screening, March 7, New Westminster)

[inscape_c · 10/10 · 8 March 2013]

Kim Coates gives a two-for-one stellar performance in the film. Amanda Crew is terrific too, as is Michael Eklund. I found the screenplay well written and very well delivered, making for a relatively fast 93 minutes -- a fine fulfillment of the thriller's vision. Director Robert Cuffley's treatment of the story's monitor-and-mirror motif, definitely 'dark' in tone (much of the film is set in a dimly lit nightclub, after hours) becomes very big on the big screen; if we are paying attention, we recognize this 'monitor' as a mirror (and that any mirror can itself be a "mirage," as much as a monitor can). And to me an upclose- and-personal look at this reflection of archetypical truth, contextualized in clever and at times comical narrative, worth an evening's and a few dollars' investment.

Go with the flow

[kosmasp · 7/10 · 8 May 2020]

But not the flow of negativity surrounding this. While this is no masterpiece, it is more than a decent thriller effort with some really good acting inside. Kim Coates is always good, so that's a given. But Amanda Crew is also very good - and while I may be not objective (I really do like her), I think she gets a role she could really identify with and it shows on screen.

Now I understand if some get annoyed by certain elements of the movie! One being a really long sex tape - which while we only get glimpses of, is the basis of minutes upon minutes of - well soundtrack or background noise. This can be quite irritating to say the least. Not so much titilating though (at least to most I suppose). But if you even ask if you missed something, yes you did! Especially the twists, which are there! No matter if you approve or not - you can't deny their existence. Well apparently you can, but then as said you missed something

A likable small town girl, now a famous actress, takes increasingly dramatic steps to protect her fame.

[colinneale · 8/10 · 22 October 2013]

I'm a fan of thrillers that take place in one place. Cube, Buried, movies lake that. This is mostly similar as it takes place in a bar in a small town. Lee (Amanda Crew) comes home to where she grew up and has to get something sorted out from before she was a famous actress. She's a TV star. That takes her to the bar where Kim Coats works. Kim Coats is Dennis Hopper good. Could watch this guy all day. It's a creeper pot boiler. Pacing wise, I get what the director was trying to do by pacing it slow. That's a cool thing. BUT, sometimes it's a bit too slow. Matbe a result of lack of budget? I don't know. Could have used a bit more gore. But Kim Coats as the baddie is a no lose scenario.