5h4d0w

When watching the very first scene of this movie, you may possibly feel a sense of curiosity while being confused and disgusted at the same time. It may be wise to leave the theater at this point and just keep those disturbing images in one's mind. Because the rest destroys any hope created by that first scene that "Excision" could tackle severe issues in an unflinching manner.

Instead, you are confronted with an incredibly arrogant, unlikeable main character that is completely lacking self-awareness (not that any of the other frequently bigger than life characters would be much easier to identify with). Also with lots of humor that makes most supposedly violent images appear so harmless that they lose all significance and serve simply as sensationalist filler. The fact that most of the blood used is so thick that it looks like syrup (and is occasionally overly bright) doesn't help.

Admittedly, I enjoyed chuckling at many of the scenes. However, when they are continuously interrupted by other scenes that are supposed to be serious and where you should suddenly empathize with some character (usually with that horrible Pauline), it ruins the atmosphere of both the comedy and the drama. Something similar actually goes for Pauline herself. Either you have a one-dimensional psychopath or somebody people can identify with at least to some degree. You can't have it both ways. And "Excision" certainly doesn't make the attempt to choose yet a third way and provide a complex and at least somewhat authentic portrait of a deeply disturbed person like e.g. "I Stand Alone", "American Psycho", "Mad Detective", "May" or "Nekromantik" do. Obviously, these examples vary a lot regarding said complexity and authenticity but in my view, every single one of them does a much better job than "Excision".

I also did not appreciate the fact that basic manners and decency are lumped into one category with the incredible uptightness of Pauline's mother. But at least, I was provided with a further insight into the dark side of American culture: cotillion classes.

Overall, I think the general tone of the movie and the way it is constructed makes it clear that this is not the directorial debut of somebody who wanted to do something radically different and possibly even profound but somebody who wanted to use controversy merely as a marketing gimmick for mainstream audiences. Which means that it can only be controversial to people who were already deeply disturbed by movies such as "The Blairwitch Project" or "Identity" and whose heads would probably explode were they to see the likes of "Antichrist", "Oldboy" or even "L'Age d'Or". It is really a shame because there would have been so much potential here. "Excision" could have been so dark, disturbing, unusual and critical...

The trailer for this movie actually represents what you get very, very well. Quite a bit of gore and funny moments. In fact, I thought that I would find it less funny than I did. There is some really witty writing here.

However, what already bothered me in the trailer really did not sit well with me in the movie too. Namely when the writing goes from witty to dim-witted. Mostly because of those one-liners. Although even some of the serious dialog seems just too unnatural and clichéd.

Also, for my taste, there is a little bit too much cutting to a certain location where people are stuck. There is nothing going on aside from some of the pretty awful dialog I just referred to.

A minor complaint, since there is still plenty of gory action going on, would be that there are some scenes in which gore spatters from off-screen where I would have preferred to see the action on-screen.

In the end, it is about a fun, gory ride and "Cockneys vs Zombies" sure delivers when it comes to that. However, productions such as "Tucker and Dale vs Evil" or "Shaun of the Dead" have demonstrated that one doesn't have to rely on formulaic dialog and one-liners so heavily in order to create a fun splatter film that is actually fun.

Considering the initially negative but not very eloquent comments about this movie but the promising trailer, I figured I might be in for a pleasant surprise.

Unfortunately, that was not really the case. And I would usually not review a movie like this because it is neither something I would recommend, nor something I would recommend to stay away from.

Yes, the premise is nothing new (but how many movies each year does one see where that is really the case?) and the acting is cringe-worthy in a lot of places (I especially could not believe the performance in some of Selma Blair's and Amy Smart's scenes - both of whom I found great in virtually every movie I've seen them in) but still, I think it is a nice little story.

I find it ironic how people reviewing this call various elements stupid while at the same time lacking the ability to comprehend Selma Blair's character. Especially considering that it is really very simple from a logical point of view. I don't see a point writing a review that contains spoilers, so I won't say anything more about this. But as always, a little empathy goes a long way and will make the viewer realize the motivations for certain things happening. Although I will not deny that some of them seem odd, rushed, out of character at first glance, many of these can be explained if given just a bit of thought.

Overall, I would say that it is a mildly amusing but pretty forgettable movie that is probably best experienced when not paying full attention to it.