A very bleak look at "Broken Britain" & to be honest it's pretty accurate.
A very good performance from Aneurin Barnard (Elija Wood lookalike) as Tommy.
A young guy named Tommy is suffering from Agoraphobia after his wife was brutally attacked by a gang of vile feral kids (just like in real life everyday in England) & after stabbing her in her pregnant tummy she has the baby but eventually dies. This leaves Tommy on the edge of his nerves as he tries to protect his little baby, deal with the horrific death of his wife & survive in a depressing & depraved area. Citadel is set in a bleak place, it's winter, it's cold & there's no hope. The shooting locations are truly depressing to look at & very real places with all their gritty Urban charm lol. The acting is good off of the main guy playing Tommy & the big gloomy looking tower block is a creepy looking building for most of the final action to take place. The mood is scary, creepy & very dreary. Citadel is well filmed.
There's a mistake that annoyed me though, a car window gets smashed by a feral hoodie & next scene the window is fine!!! Annoying but a minor mistake in a decent slice of Urban horror.
I liked how they used the Hoodie culture as the vile savage creatures that roam the streets for victims because that is exactly what these street gangs do in real life here in England. I hate the depraved Chavs/Hoodies that destroy our country with their antisocial behaviour & i think they're merciless & soulless as the crimes they do are horrific & disturbing so this portrayal of them is perfect here as soulless feral monsters. At one point a Nurse moans to Tommy about how everyone sees these "kids" from broken homes & that we should feel sympathy for them Lol hahaha, reminded me of that Broken Britain time when our pathetic government said "Hug a Hoodie" lol absolutely ridiculous!!! These creatures are not normal kids, they are feral without any sort of moral understanding at all.....I'm talking about the real savage hoodies that roam the streets of England everyday. I've always thought of them as creatures as they are rough, extremely vile, extremely violent & do horrific things to innocent people & there for i think they deserve NO SYMPATHY, NO UNDERSTANDING & NO MERCY. The useless "government" just gave these violent degenerates "ASBO" which they used as a deranged badge of honor of some kind. The justice system doesn't work & these rough hoodies from rough estates just live for violence & anger & have no understanding of normality & that makes them extremely dangerous as shown in the excellent EDEN LAKE. People say oh these poor kids are from broken homes & their poor & their unloved but none of that can ever excuse their vile & horrific actions. We all have problems but we don't put a stupid hood over our heads, grab a knife & go causing evil shi#. Truth is Vigilante justice is the only way to deal with that Yob culture or hoodie culture as seen in HARRY BROWN or OUTLAW.
Citadel shows real horror of real life poverty-stricken areas & turns it into a very scary psychological Horror-Thriller piece with a strong atmosphere that fills you with dread.
I also believe blowing up a building with gangs of violent feral hoodies inside is a great idea by Citadel's angry priest.
Anyway Citadel hits it's note with it's social commentary, the mouthy priest character was fairly interesting but the little blind boy seemed pointless. Towards the end of it turns slightly into fantasy but still rooted deep in British Urban Horror & Mythology. Director Ciaran Foy (Sinister 2) really crafted a scary slice of Hoodie Horror that feels full of hopelessness, fear & survival. Young Tommy will have to face his fears if he wants his daughter & himself to survive in this place. Citadel is an atmosphere piece & it totally succeeded. I felt echoes of the 1992 Classic Candyman which is also drenched in Urban Horror & Mythology. Citadel sits alongside the Hoodie Horror genre that came out of the mid-2000's when Hoodies basically took over England. We had a new genre & many Horror-Thriller films came out of societies fears of those savage feral gangs such. Films: Outlaw, Attack the Block, Community, Comedown, Harry Brown, F, Cherry Tree Lane, Tower Block, Citadel, Shank, Kidulthood, Eden Lake & Heartless, to name a few!!!
A Decent urban decay setting & a feel of real life Misery that grabs you by the throat & a an uneasiness that hangs over the whole movie, makes this one of the best & scariest of the Urban Horror genre.
A very good performance from Aneurin Barnard (Elija Wood lookalike) as Tommy.
A young guy named Tommy is suffering from Agoraphobia after his wife was brutally attacked by a gang of vile feral kids (just like in real life everyday in England) & after stabbing her in her pregnant tummy she has the baby but eventually dies. This leaves Tommy on the edge of his nerves as he tries to protect his little baby, deal with the horrific death of his wife & survive in a depressing & depraved area. Citadel is set in a bleak place, it's winter, it's cold & there's no hope. The shooting locations are truly depressing to look at & very real places with all their gritty Urban charm lol. The acting is good off of the main guy playing Tommy & the big gloomy looking tower block is a creepy looking building for most of the final action to take place. The mood is scary, creepy & very dreary. Citadel is well filmed.
There's a mistake that annoyed me though, a car window gets smashed by a feral hoodie & next scene the window is fine!!! Annoying but a minor mistake in a decent slice of Urban horror.
I liked how they used the Hoodie culture as the vile savage creatures that roam the streets for victims because that is exactly what these street gangs do in real life here in England. I hate the depraved Chavs/Hoodies that destroy our country with their antisocial behaviour & i think they're merciless & soulless as the crimes they do are horrific & disturbing so this portrayal of them is perfect here as soulless feral monsters. At one point a Nurse moans to Tommy about how everyone sees these "kids" from broken homes & that we should feel sympathy for them Lol hahaha, reminded me of that Broken Britain time when our pathetic government said "Hug a Hoodie" lol absolutely ridiculous!!! These creatures are not normal kids, they are feral without any sort of moral understanding at all.....I'm talking about the real savage hoodies that roam the streets of England everyday. I've always thought of them as creatures as they are rough, extremely vile, extremely violent & do horrific things to innocent people & there for i think they deserve NO SYMPATHY, NO UNDERSTANDING & NO MERCY. The useless "government" just gave these violent degenerates "ASBO" which they used as a deranged badge of honor of some kind. The justice system doesn't work & these rough hoodies from rough estates just live for violence & anger & have no understanding of normality & that makes them extremely dangerous as shown in the excellent EDEN LAKE. People say oh these poor kids are from broken homes & their poor & their unloved but none of that can ever excuse their vile & horrific actions. We all have problems but we don't put a stupid hood over our heads, grab a knife & go causing evil shi#. Truth is Vigilante justice is the only way to deal with that Yob culture or hoodie culture as seen in HARRY BROWN or OUTLAW.
Citadel shows real horror of real life poverty-stricken areas & turns it into a very scary psychological Horror-Thriller piece with a strong atmosphere that fills you with dread.
I also believe blowing up a building with gangs of violent feral hoodies inside is a great idea by Citadel's angry priest.
Anyway Citadel hits it's note with it's social commentary, the mouthy priest character was fairly interesting but the little blind boy seemed pointless. Towards the end of it turns slightly into fantasy but still rooted deep in British Urban Horror & Mythology. Director Ciaran Foy (Sinister 2) really crafted a scary slice of Hoodie Horror that feels full of hopelessness, fear & survival. Young Tommy will have to face his fears if he wants his daughter & himself to survive in this place. Citadel is an atmosphere piece & it totally succeeded. I felt echoes of the 1992 Classic Candyman which is also drenched in Urban Horror & Mythology. Citadel sits alongside the Hoodie Horror genre that came out of the mid-2000's when Hoodies basically took over England. We had a new genre & many Horror-Thriller films came out of societies fears of those savage feral gangs such. Films: Outlaw, Attack the Block, Community, Comedown, Harry Brown, F, Cherry Tree Lane, Tower Block, Citadel, Shank, Kidulthood, Eden Lake & Heartless, to name a few!!!
A Decent urban decay setting & a feel of real life Misery that grabs you by the throat & a an uneasiness that hangs over the whole movie, makes this one of the best & scariest of the Urban Horror genre.