Review of Cryptic

Cryptic (I) (2014)
7/10
Interesting wild ride
10 August 2016
Warning: Spoilers
This movie has been under the radar and I could not find it for quite some time. When I first heard about this movie it was in production and I found it when I was looking at Daniel Feuerriegel's IMDb-page. The tag-line got me 'lock stock meets true blood'. I haven't seen true blood but I like vampires and 'Lock, Stock' and 'Snatch' are two of my favorite movies. It was hard to find this film in good quality for me, but today I succeeded.

I was a bit put off by the small 5 stars this movie has gotten. I think this has to do with the classifications of horror and comedy. It is certainly a comedy, in the dark style of 'lock, stock', there were some funny jokes and the character were familiar with the characters you see in 'lock, stock' and 'Snatch'. The smooth-talking one, the crazy one and the dumb one for example.

Horror is not a part of this movie, the premise is only a bit eerie, so to say. 7 criminals and one junkie find themselves in a crypt looking for a coffin and a personal stash of heroine. The 7 criminals all are from the same crime organization, although from different branches. The coffin should contain a answer to why the different branches have been targeted and lost a lot of profit in recent times. The criminal organization is led by Gordon, who is coming at a later time to see the containment of the coffin. What unfolds is a whodunit in a crypt, when it becomes certain that one of the people present is causing the downfall of criminal business and they are locked inside the crypt.

What follows is a interesting plot with a lot going on. The crypt is the only location in the movie. So no, this is not a horror, this is a whodunit. If that is your type of movie, I found this one quite watchable, the story as mentioned is well written and the camera work is nice. The acting varies, some characters I found very well written and played out, others not that much. Some of the acting was a bit over the top, but that made the movie fun as well. The only character I found flat was the female character. She had no real background given to her and it felt that she was only there to have a female in the movie. A shame, with the tiny bits she got going on she got easily have gotten some decent backstory. The other characters were developed in that sense.

Conclusion: If you like whodunit and the humor of 'lock, stock' and 'snatch', I would certainly recommend it. I found the plot strong and most of the characters well acted and fleshed out. If you are looking for a horror movie, this isn't one.
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