Citadel

This week in the corner we will take a look a little indie Irish movie called Citadel.  This is an interesting movie if you can suspend your belief for about 80 minutes for what you watching.  But if you have been keeping up with this blog you may remember that I will be looking at movies that may be a bit polarizing in their content.  I can see where you could really love this movie or really be bored with it.  But that is the fun! Citadel starts in an apartment building with the main character Tommy and his pregnant wife.  Tommy leaves his wife at the door to their apartment to take bags outside for their trip to the hospital.  Upon returning he is caught in the elevator and witnesses his wife attacked by what seems to be 3 children.  Once Tommy gets out of the elevator his wife has been stabbed with a needle.  Tommy rushes her to the hospital and the doctors are able to save Tommy's baby, but after some time in a coma, Tommy's wife dies.  This sets the stage for the rest of the movie.  Fast forward nine months later and Tommy is a single father and suffers from a serious case of agoraphobia which is basically having constant anxiety of places that can put you in danger and overall panic attacks.  Tommy becomes a prisoner in his own home because of his anxiety and holes up in his apartment all stemming from witnessing the events of murdered wife.  Adding to his stress and anxiety is the fact that he is stalked and haunted by the same feral children that attacked his wife months ago.  If you have ever dealt with panic attacks or extreme anxiety it is very easy to relate to Tommy and the need to escape where he lives, but being so overcome by fear that can't.  All the while doing his best to raise his 9 month old daughter.  The scenes with the feral children are extremely creepy.  Especially in the final act of the movie when they start to play a much larger part to story.  They are almost zombie like.  They hunt in packs and are ruthless to their victims.  They also have a shriek that will give you chills.  I won't spoil why they attack people or what is behind their savage nature but as with most horror movies, there is an underlying social aspect to the movie.  Tommy's character lives in an area of town that is being rejuvenated.  A very poor area almost like what we would call the projects here in the US.  A rejuvenation project is when the government comes in and cleans up the area and in many ways forces the poor to move elsewhere.  The closest thing that I can think of in our country is gentrification.  This movie clearly has a message of poverty, class systems, and the social and economic ramifications of these problems on our planet.  The feral children in the movie are just a representation of these problems regardless of how the director chooses to explain their behavior within the context of the story of the movie.  Overall Citadel has some pretty scary moments and great characters towards the end.  This movie can be streamed instantly on Netflix.

Take a chance on this movie and let me know what you think in the comments below.  Also be sure to sign up with your email below so you can get notifications on when this blog is updated.    Next time I will be writing about a movie that is generating a lot of buzz amongst horror fans...Mimesis!!!