Kolobos
Kolobos
R | 28 September 1999 (USA)
Kolobos Trailers

Five young individuals agree to live in an isolated lodge together and have their daily activities filmed. But soon the house is locked down and they each run into the murderous clutches of a faceless serial killer who may not be working alone.

Reviews
Pluskylang Great Film overall
GazerRise Fantastic!
FirstWitch A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.
Humaira Grant It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.
acidburn-10 I remember viewing this little gem many years ago during the late 90's early 00's wave of slasher movies. And during that time a lot of junk came and went and very few stuck in my head, but this was the one that stayed in my mind and I was so glad that I got to view this again.I'd to say that "Kolobus" is very stylish and effective movie that tells the story of 5 people people enter a reality based TV series house where they hope to gain fame and fortune, including one of the characters is already an actress, a fallen actress with a hope to regain her time in the spotlight. But as soon as they arrive they are locked in with a sadistic killer who has set up an array of gruesome traps.The movie has a eerie nightmarish quality to it and the sudden darkness with just flashing red lights adds a great creepy Gothic tone to the proceedings, and especially when the characters sets off the one of the traps which are very nasty and effective and adds a brilliant amount of tension and fear, especially when the first victim gets sliced apart in the first trap as it totally comes out of the blue and the gore is really unsettling and brilliant. The others include eye impalement, disembowelment and an acid shower each done brilliantly.Amy Weber is a definite standout in the cast as the final girl and gives a good chase at the end and shows layers to her character throughout the movie. Illa Volok as Faceless the killer was very menacing in his little screen time which made his character all the more scary too much of him would have lessened his creepiness. All in all "Kolobus" is very tense and unsettling, although it doesn't keep it up all the way through and the last 40 minutes does try to pack too much in, but the twist ending is very well done though that was a real head scratcher.
jfcthejock Kolobos is quite an endearing premise, with quite an original title for the film being Kolobos which is Latin for mutilation. Alright its low budget, as low of a budget as you are gonna get especially in the late 1990's. I remembered seeing this film, when my family rented it from the video store for a Friday night horror shocker. It stayed with me for many years, the simplicity of a television turning on and showing a man cutting away layers of his face laughing hysterically really creeped me out as a child so I always kept my eye out for it, and saw it at least once every three years when it was on the budget horror channel and one day I saw it to buy and forked out for it, childhood memories of being scared to my wits of a man who seemed to have a fondness of some gruesome ways to murder his victims in the locked down house.There were some ingenious methods of murder used in Kolobos, including a gory kitchen scene when a saw-type of launcher fires off a razor Sharp saw gutting its intended victims pretty much in half and then there is the shower scene, of acid pumped into the mains and eventually the horrific curdling Deer Antler scene which many who have seen Kolobos will remember.Its not a film to write a lot of praise for, its dated and very low budget but its a good film that you can enjoy thinking of the old 90's horror nasties.
Coventry I anticipated "Kolobos" rather sceptically but it really wasn't as bad as I initially feared. It looks like another unoriginal and overly loud new age horror flick and the internet buzz wasn't very positive, neither. But right from the opening credits' music, which is clearly inspired by Dario Argento's "Suspiria", this film turns out to be an interesting and experimenting thriller of which the makers aren't afraid to finally show some downright sick gore again. I have to agree with most other reviewers about the plot and story continuity being absolute rubbish, though. The basic plot and the introduction of the characters are still very watchable but pretty soon the scriptwriters pretend to be more clever than they are and throw in implausible situations and enormously confusing plot twists. The whole ending is one giant "what-the-hell" moment. Personally, I didn't understand one iota of it and I like to think of myself that I'm not entirely stupid. Then why would I still encourage horror fans to give "Kolobos" a look? Because it's one of the only late 90's horror movies out there that contains many actual disturbing images and truly shocking and nauseating gore! Many creepy visions and hallucinations appear to leading lady Kyra (like a guy slicing off his own face) and the other character die in ultra-violent ways that are definitely not for the fainthearted! One poor guy even has his head smashed to pulp against a wall. The build up to these massacres are always quite atmospheric and the barbaric make-up effects are hugely convincing. Maybe first-time writers/directors David Todd Ocvirk and Daniel Liatowitsch should have put a little more effort in the plotting, but they're obviously great admirers of the horror genre that surely know their classics and therefore I can only applaud their work and look forward to further (and substantially better?) work.
Zombified_660 Kolobos attempts to set itself up as a disturbing 'reality' horror film like Blair Witch, Last Broadcast or My Little Eye. The unfortunate thing is that while all those films were made on similar budgets, Kolobos doesn't really do anything spectacularly inventive with said budget, instead opting for a visual style that thinks it's Argento but in reality is more budget rack at Tesco (or Wal-Mart if you're reading this in the states.). Imagine Puppet Master with coloured lighting and you pretty much have the look of the film.The lack of inventiveness doesn't stop there. The plot is very tired, though it is enough to keep your interest. Also, while I did understand the ending, I'd agree with those who say it's a bit of a cop-out to have a movie with multiple different levels of meaning and NOT choose just one for the ultimate conclusion. Was the house haunted? Did the house exist? Did Keera kill those people? Did Faceless exist? Who knows. Who cares.Despite this though, Kolobos was fun while it lasted. Largely.A lot of that fun came from the almost gleeful level of scariness and gore that came packaged with the dire plot and the lacklustre visuals. The movie works really well on a basic horror level, instilling a tense atmosphere and providing some shocking deaths (that said I hear most of said shocking death is missing from the US R Cut, so try the Unrated one or the UK edition) along with some chilling scenes. While not as creepy as recent flicks like 11:11 or as violent as Toolbox 2004, Dagon and the like, Kolobos is a scary, nasty (in a good way) horror flick, to the point where it scared the pants off some of my normally quite level headed mates. I hear one particular death is ripped straight out of Argento's Deep Red but since I haven't had the pleasure yet I'll have to take their word on it.In conclusion, the direction is somewhat disappointing, the plot is incoherent at times, but damn if they didn't make a fine thrill ride. If the creators of things like Cube Zero could make similar commitments to making a good solid movie like this does, then maybe I wouldn't have snored my way through all their movies. It definitely won't be for everyone, and it has some astonishingly obvious shortcomings, but I give Kolobos my wholehearted recommendation just for getting in there and making a butt-kicking horror flick despite it all.