Written and directed by László Illés, a group of girlfriends arrive at a forest lodge to celebrate, but things take a horrific turn as they realize that the forest is home to bloodthirsty lunatics who perceive themselves to be characters from classic fairy tales. Starring: Malcolm McDowell, Mark Sheppard, Bonnie Aarons, Michael Berryman, Kane Hodder, Rebecka Johnston, Riana Emma Balla, Maria de Sá, Lydia Pearl Pentz, Harry Szovik and Philippe Reinhardt.
One of the key questions which may immediately come to mind with Ever After is: why is a fairy-tale themed slasher flick over two hours long? And that’s a very good question, and more than likely everyone will know the answer: because it’s indulgent. There was really no need for it to be that long, and aiming to sustain itself for that length of time was far out of its reach. Especially when you consider the style of Ever After which is crude, cheap and trashy.
Those qualities do certainly find themselves most appreciated in horror, and for good reason, but they don’t work with Ever After. They’re not used in the traditionally fun way, it simply feels like a misstep. It’s clumsy for the most part, it doesn’t move well, and like most films who have cameos from known names, they have plenty to add but appear too late. Arguably, had the film instead been from the villains’ perspective, rather than the innocent civilians, it might have been interesting.
Mark Sheppard’s ringleader is a solid addition, he’s very reliable at bringing sinister qualities to the table, and that entertainer style suits him too. Bonnie Aarons’ witch is another good choice, she definitely could have done more given the time. Whereas Philippe Reinhardt’s Prince Charming is genuinely dreadful, through no real fault of Reinhardt’s because the character is written to be so ham-fisted and gross, so it’s a shame that he actually gets a bigger role. It’s also a problem for Ever After that none of its civilians give you any reason to wish them longevity. You need someone to root for to make it to the end, but none of these characters manage to provide that.
Ever After unfortunately has more fetish, strongly male, predator vibes than ones of fun, creative, bloody slasher, taking things backwards to the 1980s rather than forwards, except in that era, the film would have been eighty-minutes long, not two hours. The style is clumsy, the characters are disappointing, and the fairy-tale element ends up feeling like it’s not adding much. There is an idea within this that could have worked but the execution took it in the opposite direction, and went for something overly trashy rather than inventive, resulting in something cringeworthy.
FilmCarnage.com 