Killing Ariel (2008) User Reviews (10)

Was this supposed to be a comedy?

[frog663 · 4/10 · 19 March 2008]

Was this supposed to be a comedy? An interesting premise, I suppose, but it played out like a second rate sitcom. Plus, far too little was shown of the "actual" demon, and far too much shown of the Jack Nicholson wanna-be in the lead. Seems the filmmakers spent a lot of time and make-up trying to film him from angles that would accentuate whatever bare resemblance he might have with Nicholson, though, in the early going, he reminded me more of Michael Keaton than anything else. Facially, in both cases...never talent-wise.

I will say that I did come away with one positive from this film. Axelle Grelet is definitely easy on the eyes and did a credible job with what she was given. I definitely would like to see some of her other work. Aside from her, though, there really isn't much I can recommend here. Watchable once, perhaps, but nothing I would want to see again.

Sorry, Got Bored And Turned It Off

[chicagopoetry · 3/10 · 9 June 2009]

I get the idea whoever made this movie has some talent and may be doing some good things in the future, but to be honest Killing Ariel was too confusing to keep my interest and I skipped the last half hour of it because I didn't care anymore. It's not my fault. It's the job of the movie to keep my interest, it's not my job to watch it regardless. Killing Ariel started out promising and I thought I might be in store for a low budget scare fest like Evil Dead or even a real thinker like Primer. But things just went down hill from there. I couldn't understand the character of Ariel, who supposedly is so in tune with vibes that she has some kind of psychic powers, but isn't perceptive enough to understand why a man who is in the house where his parents were killed might have nightmares. Perhaps this was explained in the last half hour but I couldn't get there. Is she dead, is she alive, is she dead again, is she alive again, and who cares? I really felt sort of bad giving up on this one because it seemed somebody put a lot of thought into it and it had certain qualities that hinted at talent, but for an hour it went nowhere and I got bored. Sorry. Better luck next time.

coulda been a contender.... but no

[movieman_kev · 3/10 · 7 December 2009]

In the summer of 1933, little Ricky sees his mom kill his father before turning the gun on herself. In the present day, a clearly disturbed Ricky is talking to a psychiatrist about whom he deems truly responsible for his parents' deaths (an incubus), he then proceeds to tell of the events that he witnessed in 1973 (where most of the film takes place). Rick, a happily married insurance agent finds his life unraveling after remembering his past, feeling alienated from his family & deciding to take a peculiar young woman by the name of Ariel on a trip to his childhood home.

I've seen worse low-budget horror films, and the plot itself is fairly good. But the film just feels fairly repetitive and I found my interests waning before too long. I kept expecting a 'shocking twist' ending that was going to tie the incoherence of the rest of the film together. But when it did finally come I found it to be trite, silly & easily enough to see coming a mile away. Perhaps if the film spent a tad more time incubating it would've been (somewhat) worthwhile, but as it is the film is half-baked.

Eye Candy: Lindsley Allen, Axelle Cummings, Lauren Mary Kim, Nyra & Sukunya Wangsomnuk all get topless

My Grade: D+

DVD Extras: A 25 and a half minute Making-of; and trailers for "Hide", "Pandemic" & "Ghost Image"

1 Easter Egg: Highlight 'Killing Ariel' in the extras menu for the film's trailer

Redundant Sh**

[billcr12 · 2/10 · 10 August 2012]

A married guy who actually loves his wife becomes the victim of a female demon in another badly acted and un-scary drag of a movie. The husband, Rick, has a weekend fling with Ariel, a sweet young thing. Karma strikes when she comes back to him over and over and over again, and he kills her over and over and over again. Can you say redundant; I knew that you could; I would rather sit through Mr. Rogers Neighborhood, than subjecting myself to this sh** ever again. The only positive aspect of this stupidity is its' ninety minute running time. Axelle Grelet is Ariel, and although she is nude at times, she could use a set of implants to divert our attention from her poor acting ability. I do not see a bright future for Ms. Grelet, unless she visits a plastic surgeon and enters the lucrative world of adult entertainment. Ariel Does Dallas has a nice ring to it; couldn't be any worse than Killing Ariel.

Bizarre and darkly funny.

[jhpstrydom · 7/10 · 10 February 2010]

KILLING ARIEL is very bizarre and has a somewhat dark sense of humor, you might thing looking at the cover art you'll get a horror film but instead its more of a dark horror comedy, think of it as a film called VERY BAD THINGS (starring Cameron Diaz) then add a little dose of THE EVIL DEAD and that sums up what you could expect from this film.

The acting was great, I have to complement the cast of unknowns in this film (or I've just never seen them before) for giving above par performances, the storyline is weird, plainly put.

Side note, if you want to check this out go for it but its not everyone's cup of orange juice so its best you go in not expecting a horror film if that's what you want to see.

Slight Correction

[SamWanjere · 8/10 · 1 April 2010]

Hi Movieman_Kev. Ariel is a succubus not an incubus (male). Wikipedia explains it well here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incubus. The only major part that might have been confusing is connecting the number of times the protagonist kills Ariel with the women he supposedly murdered in the "real world". I would also add to the time lapse that follows his weekend tryst with the she-mon. It could have been brought out better with the movie directors showing just how much time had elapsed. I was surprised to learn that the cast are acting unknowns, but they did managed to bring out the story well enough. It's an entertaining piece with a nice twist at the end (the son also falls prey to Ariel). It's a good movie that should be reviewed by more people. I award it an eight.

Low expectations, great results!

[rob_buell · 8/10 · 20 February 2008]

Wow! I went into watching this move with low expectations, since I have never heard of any of the actors, or director. Within the first ten minutes I was riveted to the screen. This is much more than a horror film in so many ways. I was thoroughly entertained with the plot, and was equally satisfied with the twists and turns that the movie took along the way to the ending. Although I was somewhat confused in a couple of parts of the movie, it eventually explained itself in a way that was gratifying without being too over indulgent. I highly recommend this movie to anyone that likes a bit of gore, dark humor, sex, and a bit of the occult in a film. The acting was very good, and the casting was spot on. Good film! Watch it!

It delivers what a horror/thriller should!

[nonconformistx7 · 9/10 · 22 February 2008]

I can't believe so few people have seen/rated this movie. Judging from the film's website they're still working on getting proper distribution. That is a shame, because fans of the genre deserve the chance to see this. I consider myself lucky enough to have seen this film, which is quite a rarity for me to say when it comes to horror-thrillers, especially low budget ones such as this.

I love horror/thrillers, but come out of almost all of them with general feelings of disappointment. Why? Because all I want is something a little bit original that scares me and is at least a little bit believable. Movies continually fall short on either one or, typically, all of these points. Instead of originality and thrills I get recycled bits of other horror movies, a couple spoonfuls of bad acting, and several buckets of corn-syrup blood. If the budget is low then acting gets worse and is then accompanied by campy effects, bad puns, and bad camera work, all of which eliminate any redeeming qualities of the film. I see this time and time again, and I am happy to say that's not what I saw with Killing Ariel. The fresh premise had me interested from the beginning, the acting - while not Oscar-worthy - is far better than most in this genre, (think Jack Nicholson in "The Shining"), and they didn't try to overcompensate a lack of genuine thrills with gallons of blood, although there was some gore. Also, not once did any of the characters do something that they wouldn't rationally do were they in a similar situation. That is to say there are no, "We're in danger...lets all split up!" moments in this film.

While not a perfect 10, the fact that it didn't suffer from the pitfalls that even "blockbuster" horror movies out there suffer from makes me tip my hat to all those involved. I can't even say that I was "pleasantly surprised" by this movie because I hold the same standards to all movies in this genre, regardless of their budget or status. It lived up to what I consider to be reasonable standards: originality, thrills, and believability. (A decent plot and acting helped as well).

Simply put, if you like horror/thriller, find a way to watch this movie. You won't regret it.

Scared the hell out of me!

[darkson_x · 10/10 · 20 February 2008]

In the start i didn't know if this was a good movie, i was like "what the hell, ill take a peek" And oh my god, this scared the hell out of me!

I loved this movie, it beat "1408" with miles, its not the same "kind" but it is frightening from the start to the end. I say this, Best Horror movie this year, and gonna be hard beating this. And i would love if they do more of these psychological thrillers/horror movies comes, smarter and scarier.

The movie starts when the main character is a boy, sitting in his dark childhood room, and the parents screaming outside in the livingroom. He hears a shotgun go off. He lights a candle and opens the door, there stand his mom with the dead father, she turns to the boy and shots herself with the shotgun. then the demon reveals himself for the first time, after the both parents are dead.

Years later, he is older, and its his time to encounter this demon. The fright in this is the continuing hell that the demon in this movie creates for him, how the demon never lets go off his mind, and really mind rape him from the start to the end.

Watch this! you will love it!

sexy humor

[joeln86 · 10/10 · 12 October 2006]

I saw this movie last night with an invited audience of about 100 people. It started out kind of serious and disturbing. There is a scene where a little boy sees his mother kill his father then herself. If that image doesn't disturb you, the boy gets horrified by a demon seconds later and hides in a closet to be found later by his grandfather. This all happened in the first five minutes of the movie!!!!! The story then jumps forward 25 years to the boy, now an adult, struggling, not with seeing his mother and father killed, but with the reality of his "normal" life. He then meets a young woman who he thought he would have an affair with but she turns him to focus on his tortured mind. The audience didn't know what they got themselves into. They were expecting Horror but got a David Lynch type thriller with all the dark humor and violence akin to the Lynch style. Good going guys!!!!