Sawney: Flesh of Man (2012)

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

According to British folklore, Sawney Bean was the head of a 48-strong Scottish clan executed for murder and cannibalism in the 15th or 16th century. This movie posits that one member somehow escaped justice and that descendants of the Bean clan still live in the highlands, living in a network of caves, feeding on human flesh. Investigating a spate of recent grisly murders, reporter Hamish MacDonald (Samuel Feeney) unravels the horrifying truth...Although the film suffers from a few pacing issues, with proceedings getting bogged down somewhat by Hamish's tedious investigative process, Sawney: Flesh of Man features just enough OTT gore and sporadic bouts of craziness to ensure that the film is an entertaining ride regardless. Sawney is played with relish by David Hayman and he is a delightfully slimy character, slurping blood off his still writhing victims, sexually gratifying himself with a victim's severed hand (before finishing the job by raping a female prisoner), and gleefully hacking up corpses, while the other demented characters in the clan include a cannibalistic dwarf, a pair of deformed brothers adept at parkour, and their monstrous mother who is fed spare body parts drenched in blood.Twisted highlights include an exciting chase scene through the rugged Scottish landscape that culminates with a girl choosing suicide over capture, an unfortunate traffic warden being buggered by one of the Bean brothers, a brief cocaine-fuelled martial arts scene (I kid ye not), and a ridiculous finalé in which one member of the flesh-eating family produces a machine gun and begins blasting away at poor Hamish (who is still reeling from seeing his girlfriend's severed head in a fridge). Also worthy of note is the excellent cinematography, which captures the untamed Scottish wilderness in all it's rugged glory and looks like it comes from a much more prestigious production.

Okay, so I just finished watching this movie and I cannot believe that I only fast-forwarded once or twice. Lord of Darkness is a movie about Sawney Bean's clan. This is suppose to be based on a true event. In an attempt to verify this story, I looked it up. This is actually based on a (potential) myth. There are no verifying accounts based on missing victims and supposedly the clan killed about 1000 people before being caught.Lord of darkness is centered on the "fact" that one person escaped and has made it to the 21st century. The movie itself has an interesting story line, but could have done without the inbred parkour "minions". Those scenes are funny to me. There are several scenes that are interesting and are acted well. Overall, this is not a horrible movie, but it doesn't come close to any nominations either.There is a lot of gore, so if that's the genre you are looking for, then you found it! However, if you are looking for a horror story, then skip this movie, There is nothing scary about it. The creepiness factor is high throughout this movie, but there is nothing special to comment on. I give this film a 4/10.

I Did not know what I was expecting when I began to watch this, so I looked at the trailer, and it really stood out for such a B grade movie. When the first girl goes missing, she really shows you the fear that a person would feel like if they were in that situation. the cast were great, and the camera effects were up to pa. and it did stand out from the many horror movies that I have seen. This was a fantastic movie, even though it is not for everyone. It is really a great idea for a horror movie, and the actors I admit were in their own unique way. Things do happen that you don't expect, but I guess, that what makes a good twist on a movie. Overall fantastic movie and it worth a watch. Gyes you could get all the action from your girls watching this, because there are a lot of scenes that she may want to close her eyes and hold someone. Loll. its quite gruesome really I give it an 8 out of 10

I saw this film at the Imagine film festival 2013 in Amsterdam. As could be expected from the synopsis on the festival website, a lot of blood&gore was prominently showcased. Somewhat less expected is that we got it together with several quotes from the Bible, a combination that was not really explained.It was a good idea to use the journalist as binding element to tie the story together. There was also a parallel story about a police inspector, who for a long time failed to solve the mystery of the disappearing people. Of course, his superiors were not happy about it. (*** warning *** spoiler ahead ***) In hindsight, we know why he failed. His connection with the underground (literally) operations were left unclear, however. Could he be a distant relative of the "insane family of inbred killers" (quote from official film website). Maybe such an explanation is not really necessary, but I certainly missed it to wrap up the plot.All in all, I gave a so-so (3 out of 5) score for the audience award when leaving the theater: it was certainly well written and well executed, but lacked a consistent story and a plot, not even some sort of reason why it all happened as it happened. Of course, for those who are willing to read between the lines, it can be that the initial visit of a doctor to assist in the birth of a baby, being the last living survivor of a species that lived on human remains (as per the voice over), may serve as a vehicle to explain what happened after the prologue. That this cannibal family is "legendary" does not suffice for us, who know nothing about local folklore and related legends. This could have been explained better to prepare us for the desperately needed context. The 90 minutes running time is not that long that it cannot bear an extension with another 5 minutes to allow us connecting the dots. What remained is a lot of bloodthirsty killing without any purpose. This film ended nearly last (45st place out of 48) for the audience award with average score 5.39.