DVD: The Horseman

Imagine Pierre Morel’s Taken, but with more unflinching brutality and a better storyline.

That’s exactly what’s offered by this multi-award winning Australian thriller from debut film-maker Steven Kastrissios

When Christian (Peter Marshall) is sent a horrifying porno featuring his recently deceased daughter doped-up on heroin, he spirals into a maelstrom of violence as he steadily works his way through everyone involved, from the producers and guys behind the camera to the ‘co-stars’.

While he drives through Queensland hunting for those responsible, Christian picks up troubled runaway Alice (Caroline Marohasy), and an unlikely bond develops between the pair. She sees him as a man she can trust, blissfully unaware that he has become a relentless killing machine hellbent on smashing heads in with a variety of big, heavy things.

The Horseman is a classic revenge fantasy and is the sort of thing Tarantino used to write before he disappeared up his own arse, yet while it’s more grounded in reality than Taken, it’s still completely implausible. Christian – a small-built pest disposal man – has an unending amount of energy, can absorb a superhuman amount of pain, and can kick the shit out of anyone, regardless of size. But do you know what? It just doesn’t matter. This isn’t a film that is meant to make sense in the real world; tightly scripting and lean direction propels you through a story that doesn’t demand deeper analysis and unashamedly plays on the dark revenge fantasies that lurk inside us all.

The Observer described The Horseman as “a disgusting, repetitive, badly scripted movie, lacking any redeeming feature,” but they are missing the point entirely. This film is about one man’s all-consuming crusade to find the men who killed his child, and cause them the maximum amount of suffering. It’s not meant to be subtle, and yes, while the violence is quite grotesque at times, in the world created by the film and the moral guidelines set out within, it all makes sense.

The two leads are well cast, particularly Marshall who captures Christian’s inner-rage, self-loathing and paternal instincts. His grief swallows you up and drags you with him on his ultraviolent revenge mission, and by the end of the film your inner vigilante will be cheering him on.

The Horseman is available to buy now on DVD and Blu-ray.