Barricade (2007 Video) User Reviews

Ze hills haf eyes!

[BA_Harrison · 3/10 · 19 May 2008]

A group of friends come face-to-face with a family of hideous cannibals whilst camping in the beautiful German countryside.

The 'mutant cannibal family' concept is almost as old as the hills that the inbred freaks often call home, so any director attempting to breath new life into the genre needs to come up with something pretty darn special in order to impress. With Barricade, Timo Rose tries to give the well-worn routine a Teutonic twist, by transplanting the action to The Black Forest and giving it the German low-budget splatter treatment. The result is a very bloody, but totally unoriginal effort that is made almost unwatchable thanks to some dreadful directorial decisions—in particular, the non-stop use of fancy filters and irritating editing techniques.

Had Timo Rose not opted to utilise every naff trick his editing software offered him, then Barricade might have been a reasonably entertaining gore-fest: his inexperienced cast do reasonably well; the bloody effects are suitably stomach churning; and there are one or two scares and even some well conceived creepy moments. All of this, however, is completely ruined by the awful camera-work, choppy editing, and overwhelming barrage of visual gimmickry used to give the film the distressed look that is so inexplicably popular with today's film-makers.

I give Barricade 3 out of 10 purely for the outlandish gore, which includes a nifty scene where a guy is forced to drink acid, loads of nasty wounds caused by a variety of sharp implements, and some pretty decent shotgun damage.

Can Splatter take itself serious in the new millennium?

[dschmeding · 3/10 · 17 October 2007]

Wow, after trashing the disk of Timo Roses "Rout City" after about 15 Minutes (South Park is about more than meaningless cursing... I guess some people just don't get it) I was interested in this movie. I read quite some positive stuff and the packaging and look of the movie seemed far from the total trash I expected after "Rout city".

Surprise: The movie isn't total trash but the problem seems to be exactly that. Timo Rose tries to walk in the footsteps of German Horror/Splatter Cinema like Olaf Ittenbach and the likes. That means "Barricade" is in parts extremely gory and detailed. The gore FX are not really believable but OK, the acting is OK but in some cases plain sucks. The hillbilly chick in the opening sequence is ridiculous and doesn't get better till she's shot.

So what is the problem... the movie is gory, has a typical German underground vibe (including the classic booby shots in blood), OK FX and a modern feel to it like the packaging already promised?!

1. The script is total BS. You get a typical hillbilly/lost in the woods story with some guys+gal camping out and meeting a degenerated hillbilly family. Everything is just leading towards the torture/mutilation scenes and seems unbelievably random and pointless. This is the first thing that makes "Barricade" half-hearted.

2. Random is also the perfect description for a lot of the camera work (I liked the repetitive cut to the tweezers in the extended booby torture scene... either they had no material or the editor works in a hardware store). Even worse the editing... sure, its modern and far better than a lot of other movies in the genre but its RANDOM. You got an overuse of that typical exposure effect everywhere and with no meaning ... its just there... all the time. Then there's some grainy/noisy film look which also is just thrown in here and there for the sake of it, I don't get the meaning.

3. Like the fore-mentioned effects there is a lot of repetitive stuff in here. For example most of the kills are edited with multiple repetitions of stabbing and punching. Its OK once but here its annoying and fake, especially towards the end. Annoying also attributes the "music" which is permanently used without any change in the background. It doesn't take long until it makes the movie hardly bearable.

4. From all this comes the biggest problem of this movie (and many others in my opinion). If you make a splatter movie with trashy feel its pretty idiotic to polish it with special FX and new school editing. It looks like they take it way too serious. Its no fun because the decent gore FX are plain wasted in this context. And where the classic gore FX are OK the computer FX in scenes like the stabbing in the mouth or the gunshots in the ending look rather silly(and 3D splatter mostly sucks to me even in movies with a budget and decent 3D artists).

I often wondered if the time of serious splatter movies is over and "Barricade" is just another example it might be time to put it in the tomb. Its no fun, has no character and is too trashy for its look. The script is a cheap try on "Wrong Turn" and "TCM" leading absolutely nowhere. You can take that literally... the ending is just there and as random as many other things here ("I love you" in a splatter flick... come on!!). "Barricade" tries to incorporate a lot and fails...you can sure fast-forward through this movie for some extensive disembowelment, acid face melting,nipple pinching and classic Friday the 13th style stabbing of a couple while fingering in a tent (bloody boobies hooray!). But its really hard to get through this. Total failure especially because you can see it could have been something.

Dennis Neillson would love this movie!

[jambomiga · 4/10 · 2 December 2007]

As I am not a blood and guts fan I found the gory scenes totally unnecessary (you spell it) and too real for my liking, if you're the type of person who gets their rocks off on beheadings on the internet or snuff movies I say go for it, it beggars belief what sort of person dreams this sick crap up though.

Apart from that it had the potential to be a great movie, the music was top class too (through the movie and especially the end credits). Some parts though were a bit unbelievable, like you've just been found by your girlfriend trust up awaiting torture and death and all you do is tell her about what had happened and how you got there, (why didn't he ask her if she happened to have any wipes or even some air freshner or a piece of gum while he was at it?), come on now, most would probably just scream "hurry up and untie me then lets get the f*** out of here QUICK!". where were the flys, maggots etc, and when the girl accidentally came across the place surely the stench of rotten flesh would have sounded a few alarm bells! I would only recommend this movie to friends of Dennis Niellson and the like, I'm sure a video like this would make sickos like that have a very happy Christmas.

Don't believe the hype! Unless the hype you hear says this movie is awful.

[TheMnemic · 13 February 2007]

If you're a horror fan and have a myspace account, chances are you've heard a lot about "Barricade" over the course of the past year. Marketing their movie with a sharp page and a group of lack-luster trailers, I was skeptical at best, but still willing to give it a shot. After being bombarded by bulletins touting the movie and it's upcoming DVD release, I finally caved into the hype and popped the $15 to pre-order the disc direct from the distributor.

The DVD arrived as promised about a month out of it's so-called "official" release. I sat down to watch it with a group of friends, and within minutes of pressing "play", my worst fears were quickly revealed and the "film" became the subject of ridicule.

"Barricade" is simply a no-budget retread of a story we've all seen countless times in better incarnations. "Nina and Michael are American travelers who along with their German friend David decide to go on a camping trip and"...I'll stop there. You just know that something bad is going to happen in those woods, right? If you've seen Wrong Turn, The Hills Have Eyes, or recent fare such as Hostel and Turistas, then there is absolutely no reason to waste your time on "Barricade", as it brings nothing new to the slasher-cannibals-killing-tourists genre, and may have just helped lower the bar for such films even further.

There is literally nothing redeeming to be found in this "film." The acting is wooden, amateur, and the characters are paper-thin. The movie itself appears to have been shot on video, possibly minidv, and the camera-work gets so shaky at times, we almost forgot we were watching a DVD and thought we had stumbled into some kid's collection of youtube videos. Throw into the mix a random hip-hopish score done by director Timo Rose, a villain that looks like he shops at the Army/Navy Surplus, and the family of freaks that love to eat people, and you have the biggest waste of fifteen bucks of 2007.

The much-touted gore-factor does exist, but really means nothing without some form of movie to include with it.

1 out of 10 - Complete waste of time.

Wow! What a sucky movie!

[herr-courtney · 1/10 · 27 July 2007]

Well I just gave away 95 minutes and 47 seconds that I'll never get back on this piece of trash. I heard someone online describe this movie's villains as "subhuman cannibals", and I thought it was promising because I thought it would be like the Descent. WRONG! The Descent was a psychological thriller with dynamic characters and strong storyline. These villains are totally unrealistic and no part of their performance is enjoyable to watch. This movie isn't so controversial, I've seen this level of gore in many films. This movie plain sucks. SYNOPSIS: A blonde who thinks she's real hot (but she isn't), her admirer, and her admirer's friend (no, I don't remember their names) go into the woods. Their car breaks down. They are warned to leave by a man named Mark. The blonde gets unreasonably hysterical and the next morning they can't find the admirer's friend. Admirer impales his foot (whoops!). Don't worry, he is much more upset when his car won't start than when he gets impaled by nails. After a nanosecond of coaxing, the blond leaves to find help. Events ensue that I cannot remember. During this and throughout the movie, we are shown grotesque torture scenes with no substance including one that made me gag. Blonde goes to save admirer from house of cannibals (even though all they are seen eating is intestines, which would logically be the last choice for real cannibals to eat since they contain actual food). Blonde finds admirer hurt and works very hard (unsuccessfully) to work up tears. Then you get a good laugh when the blonde is in the house and announces she can "out think them". Mark (the man who warned them to leave) has a remarkable change of character when he reveals the cannibals are his family. Then there is some shooting, they leave the house, the shooting continues, then a random guy shows up and says he's been watching them. Before he is shot, we are shown an acid-trip inspired scene of more killing. The blonde or her admirer shoots him because he did not help them. There's more killing, the admirer professes his love for the blonde. Then a mysterious hand covers the camera. What does that imply? I don't know, hopefully not a sequel.

Sick Germans: ruining the horror genre since the early 90's

[Coventry · 2/10 · 26 December 2014]

Personally I can't comprehend why, but the infamous and horribly untalented splatter directors from Germany – Andreas Schnaas, Olaf Ittenbach and Jörg Buttgereit – somehow dispose of a large fan base and apparently they even built school! Timo Rose, for instance, is clearly an avid follower of Schnaas with an equally grotesque obsession for nauseating gore, but he's sadly also equally amateurish and blundering. "Barricade" is as good as unwatchable, with extremely poor camera- work and editing. There isn't anything that even remotely resembles a plot and whenever there isn't any gore and bloodshed on display, the film is dreadfully boring. Actually, the film is dreadfully boring even when there is gore and bloodshed on display. The dumb and uninspired story shamelessly imitates great genre classics, such as "The Hills have Eyes", and revolves on a cannibalistic family living in Germany's Black Forest and feasting on backpackers and idiotic passers-by. The cast members are presumably just Timo Rose's drinking buddies and they can't properly articulate, whether it's in English or German. Since the release of "Barricade", our director already saw his childhood dreams come true – probably – because he co-directed the third sequel in Andreas Schnaas' atrocious "Violent S***" franchise.

Repulsive, derivative garbage

[mhorg2018 · 1/10 · 11 June 2014]

Just another lame film about a family of cannibals taking on a group of 'normals.' What is with the fascination with cannibals? And why are the cannibals, usually inbred morons, able to outwit people whose brains actually work? And why, do they always eat the nubile women who could give them unmutated children? If they are inbred morons, how can they understand weapons and such? This is just another one for the junk pile, along with silly films like the entire Wrong Turn series. Just another excuse for torture porn like the terrible Hostel films. Unless one is a total cannibal fan, skip this and save 125 minutes of your life. By the way, the directing, acting and sfx are fairly bad.

don't waste your time

[haahue99 · 1/10 · 11 February 2013]

This movie should never have been made. The acting was horrible the plot the same. Why cant there be 1 person out there that can act in a low budget movie. You will have a better viewing experience if you watch any of the Wrong Turn movies. True there is some good gore scenes in it ,but nothing nothing that hasn't already been done before.The camera work is so confusing that it almost gave me seizure just watching it,it is hard to understand at times what is actually going on.It is really upsetting that all the male characters can't really fight back,and the only one with any backbone is this useless female(main character).This one should be avoided at all costs.

wrong barricade turn over the hills

[trashgang · 6/10 · 18 November 2008]

It is always hard to find any gore flicks that really have a story to tell or have real actors. I immediately became aware that this one was made with great love and with a real budget. The editing is great, performances are good and the gore is convincing. The storyline is of course a typical one, don't go in the woods. It reminded me more towards Wrong Turn then The Hills Have Eyes. Wereas The Hills have deformed people here we only have predators like in Wrong Turn. The movie never slows down. From the start it really gets you going with the gory slaughtering of some Germans, I noticed some friends of Timo that I met a few years ago at a convention. What's really well done is the editing that really made the gore look like it's real and not the gore that makes you laugh. A nice movie even if you aren't a gore freak.

splat splat splat

[TheOnlyJorge · 9/10 · 20 November 2007]

barricade is the kind of movie i bet most typical movie fans will not like. its a bunch of really gory scenes with a small plot in-between. the story has a guy who is trying to tell the girl of his dreams that he cares about her on a camping trip in Germany but before he can do it a family of weird mutants attack them. it is a lot like wrong turn and the hills have eyes like other people have said but it is obviously made for really cheap.

everyone who wants buffy the vampire slayer should find another movie but if you're a horror fan and you like really gory movies, then maybe barricade is for you. i actually like it a lot. it is demented and sick and all the things i like to have in my horror movies. the acting is not great, but it is still pretty good. the way it is filmed is cool and doesn't feel like a normal direct to video movie.

i would give it two thumbs up, but like i said if you're a fan of normal movies, you probably will not like it.

Cool gory movie from Germany. Worth watching!

[Kooblie-Gooblie · 7/10 · 6 April 2007]

I am a big horror movies fan and I followed this movie for a while on myspace. I like German splatter movies and I was excited about this one. I never saw any of Timo Rose's movies before. When i saw it, I was not surprised at all. It is like most German splat movies but with more gore than most of them. I thought it was really cool.

Some friends go into the woods and get attacked by cannibals. It is not an original plot but it is fun in this movie. Germany looks really pretty and the editing is cool. It is definitely better than most direct-to-DVD stuff that gets made anymore.

I would recommend this movie to any gore fans out there. Even though the acting is not great, it is better than most z-movies. It is great for some friends to sit down and watch with some beer. You will laugh at the cheesiness and gag at the gore.

Fun little no budget gorefest

[Jim-D · 9/10 · 21 February 2007]

I was not completely blown away by Barricade but I thought it was definitely a fun, gore-filled movie. I just read a negative review and it was obviously written by someone who does not watch or appreciate no budget movies. This movie is not Hostel. It is not The Hills Have Eyes. It looks like they shot it for a few thousand dollars. But there is nothing wrong with that - as long as you know that is what you're getting.

The acting is stiff at times and the plot is rather thin, but the real reason anyone should be watching this movie is for the amazing, nasty gore. Much like Andreas Schnaas' Violent Sh*t movies or Olaf Ittenbach's Premutos, the goal here is to show as much splatter as humanly possible on a shoestring budget... and in this regard, I think Barricade's filmmakers and FX artists definitely succeed.

Timo Rose is a talented director and I look forward to seeing more of his movies in the future. I hope he continues getting releases outside of Germany. This is the first movie I have seen of his in Spain. Although his editing sometimes went a little over-the-top in Barricade, it hints at an untapped talent that a larger budget might be able to bring forth.

Also, I was not a fan of the hip hop music in the movie. It was good music - but it did not fit the scenes very well. The other music was all very good, though.

All together, I'd definitely recommend this movie to anyone who wanted to see a lot of gore done of a tiny budget. If you like big budget Hollywood horror films or you need a strong plot, then don't bother. But if you're like me, you'll have a really good time with it.

7 out of 10

New Millennium German Ultra-Gore

[ultra_tippergore · 18 May 2007]

Barricade is part of the "German ultra-gore",a complete genre on its own. Back in the 80s, Schnaass, Ittembach and Buttgereit were the founders of this "genre" and now Timo Rose is here to bring a good update on the genre, with more production values and better cinematography but with the same amount of insane violence and blood. Barricade is basically a "torture movie", people captured and mutilated. Not really a big plot, but very good gore FX is what you can expect from this one. I enjoyed it but it lacks in the plot department, and some "camp" moments would help also. I still have Zombie Doom and Premutos in the top of the German ultra gore genre, but Barricade,is near, also. Good photography(but i didn't like the "8 mm picture" FX and the MTV-style editing that were there quite a lot), good FX and lots of gore and blood. 7/10, recommended for the gore-hounds

WOW ! What a great movie!

[mel-hn · 10/10 · 15 February 2007]

I got my DVD today and YES: Barricade is one of the most seriously disturbing films of the last 50 years. Great gore and story! Everyone should see this flick as I enjoyed it and I'm sure others will as well! This is my top event of the year!I think Barricade" will be the hottest Indie horror film of the year. I also found this in the internet: Gorehounds rejoice…THIS is your movie!! A wise person told me not too long ago that B-movies need reinventing. Barricade is most certainly a step in the right direction. Timo Rose could very well be the Next Big Thing in horror. If he were to move to America and get a studio-sized budget behind him, a la Alexandre Aja, I have no doubt that he would be embraced here on a large scale. I'm almost ashamed to admit that this is my first exposure to his work; but, thanks to the magic of online movie rental sites, I'll be changing that in the very near future. He got great performances out of his cast. The video switches from clear shots to intense flashy to the 70's grainy film look when a scene calls for it, and spared no expense on the blood & gore effects. Unlike most gore fests these days, this movie has a plot as well, which also makes it stand out from the pack – an actual plot to go along with the carnage. Yes, it's gory – unbelievably gory. And this is where everyone's tastes come into play, as I am not by definition a gorehound, but in my own personal opinion here the gore serves the plot and moves the flick along. It's more akin to the brutality of Hills Have Eyes or Wrong Turn as opposed to the over the top hokey torture scenes of Hostel. Mutilation aplenty is on hand here folks, leaving nothing to the imagination. Yes, the unthinkable has happened – I was fouled out on more than one occasion, which hardly ever happens to me, making this flick go up a notch in my book for simply accomplishing that feat – congrats, Mr. Rose. In my own humble opinion, splatter fiends have found their 2007 Movie of the Year, and it's only February. The gore in this flick makes Haute Tension look like Sesame Street.

WATCH out for BARRICADE !

Solid no-budget Hills Have Eyes clone

[TConway80 · 8/10 · 21 February 2007]

If you liked The Hills Have Eyes remake or the slasher movie Wrong Turn, you will probably like Timo Rose's Barricade. The only catch is that you have to love no-budget movies. This movie obviously had a tiny budget. They use it really well, but it still really shows.

The story involved a woman (Raine Brown) visiting her friend in Germany. They go on a camping trip and end up getting attacked by a family of mutant cannibals. There is not much plot, but there are a lot of gory scenes that are great. The first five minutes are pretty much nonstop gore and then we get extreme scenes of gore through out the rest of the movie. Heads are cut off, a man's face is melted, and in one totally nasty scene, a woman has her breast mutilated beyond comprehension. Totally sick!!!

In the end, the cannibals are defeated - but it is still a nice bleak ending.

I would give this movie a six or seven out of ten (still deciding). Even though it is not great (the plot is really simple), the effects ARE great and it was just what I wanted from a no-budget gore movie.

Way better than Troma stuff, I can swear to that!

Better than The Hills Have Eyes or Wrong Turn!

[andyrose_tx · 8/10 · 1 November 2008]

BARRICADE is an indie horror film written and directed by Timo Rose, featuring Joe Zaso and Raine Brown. It was co-written by Ted Geoghegan (writer of Sweat Shop) who is one of the most talented writers in indie horror today.

The story is one, set in the Black Forest mountains of Germany, of an incestuous and cannibalistic family that kill pretty much all who come to the Black Forest to camp and enjoy some of the most beautiful forest in the world.

The film rocks. It's the most violent and gory film of it's genre that I've seen. There is NOTHING about the film I did not like.

Raine and Joe are fantastic. I absolutely love Raine Brown and believe her to be in the top 5 most talented actresses in indie horror today. The family is scary as hell. The gore f/x are nasty and quite extreme.

The cinematography, directing, and editing are all tight. Mr. Rose is involved in every aspect of the film. He co-writes, directs, edits, co-cinematography, and plays Marc, one of the family. He is a force to be reckoned with in the indie horror world.

Barricade makes the remake of THE HILLS HAVE EYES look like it was made by Walt Disney. Given a choice of THE HILLS HAVE EYES, WRONG TURN, or BARRICADE, choose BARRICADE. You won't be disappointed in the least.