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The Killing Gene

Play trailer Poster for The Killing Gene R 2007 1h 44m Crime Drama Horror Mystery & Thriller Play Trailer Watchlist
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64% Tomatometer 14 Reviews 36% Popcornmeter 2,500+ Ratings
A killer coerces a detective to pay for his past mistakes.
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The Killing Gene

Critics Reviews

View All (14) Critics Reviews
Nigel Andrews Financial Times Think of Saw and multiply it by Seven. Feb 22, 2008 Full Review David Gritten Daily Telegraph (UK) A little too close to torture-porn for most tastes, but debutant director Tom Shankland shows promise. Feb 22, 2008 Full Review Peter Bradshaw Guardian This serial-killer horror is a knockoff of the now seriously knackered Saw franchise. Rated: 1/5 Feb 22, 2008 Full Review Toni Vall Cinemanía (Spain) [An] inexplicable climax. [Full review in Spanish] Rated: 2/5 Nov 3, 2020 Full Review Lucius Gore ESplatter 'The Killing Gene' feels like a film that was trying to be something else -- maybe a dark and bloody episode of 'The Wire.' Rated: 2/4 Aug 10, 2008 Full Review Mark Samuels Total Film Ugly to look at and nasty in the extreme, this British-made flick should please genre fans with its icky body horror. Beneath the surface gore, there's a healthy amount of psychological intensity for such a seemingly hackneyed Fincher clone. Rated: 3/5 Feb 22, 2008 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Andy B This is a detective thriller along the lines of Seven with some elements of Saw thrown in. But it isn't anywhere near as good as either. The acting is generally good - although Tom Hardy mumbles his lines to the point where subtitles are needed. The issue here is the plot, the characterisation and the piling of cliche on top of cliche. Why write a detective thriller if you don't know how the police work? Why write people in such a cliched way that they are two dimensional? Why waste some good actors on a plot that is so predictable that you know what will happen at the end within about 30 minutes? There is a good film here fighting to get out. But whoever wrote it has clearly learnt everything they know from 1970s cop shows. The female detective is patronised, abused and sexually harassed at work - and puts up with it in a way that would never be accepted in the 2000s.. The police consistently act stupidly and do ridiculous things just to move the plot forward. Worst of all is the completely 2D nature of all the characters. They are badly drawn and leave the actors with very little to work with. It's worth noting, by the way, that all of the police are corrupt - even the female detective who very quickly ignores everything that is going on and jumps on the bandwagon. The writer also grabs every cliche they can - especially in the portrayal of the gang members. This smacks of a film shoved together to try and cash in on the success of other, better films. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 05/06/24 Full Review Alex C Boring, lacks a story. The acting was really good, overall not great. Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 10/10/23 Full Review Audience Member If you watch carefully and notice Mr Skaarsgards facial expressions this film is not hard to follow or understand. basically a revenge film and I love that genre. good story good acting, just a bit dark( as in lighting) which can be annoying. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/25/23 Full Review Audience Member Slow-burner. Got to read some of my favourite book but as it got into it I stalled. Stereo-types and anti-stereotypes?! Hmm.. would I watch it again.. maybe, depends on if there are any really good films there are out there. But still an ok film for that. Lead did make me look up other suitable (action-ish) titles to check out, so heh, not all bad. Brave for lead to ?bare? all. Don't know why it only got 36% audience rating, it was worth more than that. Soooo critical! Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/24/23 Full Review Audience Member Low budgetbut good mysterymovie if you can hike the brightness up Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/18/23 Full Review steve d Kind of a poor man's Saw with better actors and even less plot. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review Read all reviews
The Killing Gene

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Cast & Crew

Pusher 46% 34% Pusher Watchlist Choose 40% 17% Choose Watchlist Borderland 100% 43% Borderland Watchlist Law Abiding Citizen 26% 75% Law Abiding Citizen Watchlist TRAILER for Law Abiding Citizen The Lodger 21% 30% The Lodger Watchlist Discover more movies and TV shows. View More

Movie Info

Synopsis A killer coerces a detective to pay for his past mistakes.
Director
Tom Shankland
Producer
Allan Niblo, James Richardson
Screenwriter
Clive Bradley
Production Co
Vertigo Films
Rating
R (Rape|Pervasive Language|Gruesome Images|Strong Brutal Violence)
Genre
Crime, Drama, Horror, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language
English
Release Date (Streaming)
Sep 28, 2021
Runtime
1h 44m
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