A tortured father kidnaps a shady businessman and brings him to a nurse’s house. After the businessman calls for help, the trio become entangled in a violent power grab. They will have to band together to survive the night or die trying.

Directors Gabriel Carrer (The Demolisher, In the House of Flies) and Reese Eveneshen (Defective, Dead Genesis) bring their latest film to Fantasia International Film Festival. With a story by Carrer and screenplay by Eveneshen, For the Sake of Vicious wastes no time throwing the audience into suspense. We watch as the tortured father kidnaps the shady businessman and takes him to the nurse’s house in order to keep him alive. From there the filmmakers gradually reveal how these three very different people ended up in the house together and the way they’re all connected. It’s when the businessman is able to call for help that things really take a dire turn. It quickly throws the characters into chaos and blood. The ensuing fight for survival is action-packed, suspenseful, and will keep the audience on the edge of their seats. It’s a generally straightforward plot with great fight sequences to delight the gore hounds. While the action makes for a lot of excitement, the film still stays emotionally grounded with the relationships between the three main characters.

All three leads in For the Sake of Vicious deliver emotionally-driven performances to offset the physical brutality. Lora Burke (Lifechanger, Poor Agnes) plays Romina, the nurse whose home is invaded. As a nurse, it’s obvious Romina has a strong impulse to help others. Burke does a great job of conveying the conflict Romina feels because she can’t decide which of these two men she should really be helping. Nick Smyth (The Covenant, The Flying Man) plays Chris, the tortured father who brings the chaos into Romina’s home. There are two aspects of Smyth’s performance that truly blow me away. First, Chris’s determination to right a wrong comes through so clearly and powerfully. Second, Smyth has a great physicality to his performance. Between showing his emotions with facial expressions and body language to his physical prowess during the fight scenes, Smyth truly gives it his all. Colin Paradine (Defective, Kingdom Come) plays the shady businessman, Alan. Throughout the course of the film, Paradine keeps the audience guessing as to whether or not Alan is the villain of the story or not. Paradine does a perfect balance and cool and collected with a bit of a sinister edge that makes his intentions unclear. Together, this trio helps ground the film with their stellar performances.

Delightful practical effects, production design, and music add to the appeal of this film. Of all the films at this year’s Fantasia International Film Festival, For the Sake of Vicious stands out as one of the more gore-filled. In the beginning, there are only minor wounds, but when all hell breaks loose the film becomes a bloody, violent nightmare. The practical effects are shockingly well done and had me gasping and maniacally laughing in turn. From the moment the three main characters come together to the shocking end, the film takes place in Romina’s small rental. The small home is a nice, quiet place for the three characters to work through their issues. Yet when the cavalry arrives, it becomes a claustrophobic nightmare as it fills with murderous bad guys. The very well-choreographed fight scenes become even more exciting with the Carpenter-esque musical score by Carrer and Foxgrndr (If a Tree Falls). Each individual artistic element weaves together to make this film even more exciting.

For the Sake of Vicious is a delightfully violent thrill ride from start to finish. Carrer and Eveneshen make a fantastic team and create a simple yet effective story. To make the film even more suspenseful and shocking, the filmmakers utilized a claustrophobic set, an electrifying musical score, fantastic fight choreography, and jaw-dropping practical effects. Throughout all the thrills and gore, the performances from the three leads manage to keep the film rooted at an emotional core, making the film more than just an action thriller. For the Sake of Vicious ends up being a shot of adrenaline to the system.

OVERALL RATING: 7.5/10