Hm, do you wonder what The Violent Kind might be about? Is it a romantic adventure about a cute couple stranded on a tropical beach? Nope. Could it possibly be a raunchy comedy about a bachelor party that gets out of hand? Nix. Or maybe it's a children's 3D CGI extravaganza. Not.
It's directed by The Butcher Brothers and added to that, the title pretty much says it all. (Not for me, though — I have a review to do, so let's get on with it.)
Judging by their previous horror offerings (The Hamiltons, a character-driven vampire family saga; and April Fool's Day, a slick and stylish remake), one thing I was not expecting as this movie unfolded was the gritty, mean, and nasty violence. While the violent kind in this movie are more in the Blue Velvet vein than, say, sadistic torturers like Leatherface, they're still your basic tie'em to chair and watch'em squirm ilk. To me, that set-up has been done to, er, death. (I suppose one can't argue with its effectiveness, though; I don't know how I'd even begin to think about getting away from a murderer's clutches, were I duct-taped and saran-wrapped to a chair).
The Violent Kind seems to be sort on a homage or a nod to the TV show Sons of Anarchy, and it does a good job of "borrowing" many of SoA creator Kurt Sutter's tics (bikers basking in their dens of iniquity, petty "old lady" rivalries, right down to the action set to musical montages), but at the end of the day it is still torture porn. (With a supernatural spin, which I shan't give away — that aspect is its saving grace.)
The acting is quite good. It is always a pleasure to see Tiffany Shepis onscreen, and she chews up lots of seedy scenery here as a biker-babe in the middle of a deadly love triangle. She's not one of the main cast, though. Our stars are Cory Knuaf (from The Hamiltons, and more recently Godspeed) and Taylor Cole (who plays Vicky on The Event). Both are far too beautiful to be biker and bitch, but whatever… The Butcher Brothers always seem to favor the WB model of Central Casting. It's not too much of an issue, seeing as The Violent Kind isn't meant to be taken seriously anyway.
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Reviewed by Staci Layne Wilson