The Furies (2019) - Those dastardly ol' men

Men, don't you just hate them?  All they do all day is kidnap helpless women then hunt them for sport and brutally murder them.  Well... it seems on whatever planet 'The Furies' is set they do.  And, judging by the accents of the poor helpless females, constantly on the run from the variety of masked axe-wielding psychopaths, the 'planet' is called 'Australia' (even though I spent several months backpacking there about twenty years ago and never killed anyone while I was there - guess it must have changed a lot since 2002).

You could probably say that this film really doesn't like men much and portrays them in a negative light.  Then came 2023's 'Barbie: The Movie,' which took that to a whole new level, so no matter how badly men men come across in 'The Furies,' they're still head and shoulders over a 'Ken' or two.

I could continue to stay on my soap box, banging on about how much the film bashed men and portrayed them in a negative light.  Or I could just shut up and enjoy the film.  I chose the latter.  All political messages aside - no matter how 'in your face' they may be - it's just a cheesy horror film and you can turn it off any time you like.  I didn't.  Because it was actually quite good fun.

When I sit down to a horror film I don't ask for much.  I know I'm probably not going to get deep character arcs and amazing performances, but I do want to be entertained.  And this entertained me.  It's got some nice practical gore which is pretty nasty.  I know that a lot of people have likened this movie to things like 'The Hunger Games' and other stories which centre around hunting innocent people for 'sport.' Yeah, there's nothing that original in the premise, but it's nicely done here and there are a few nice little touches here which give it the odd unique quality.  Plus the central character is likable.  She's not drastically overpowered for no reason and fights off hordes of men much bigger than her.  She really does have to fight for the right if she's going to achieve the 'honour' of being the 'final girl.'

Overall, it's a fun little horror film.  Maybe it's got a few 'right on' messages which you can either take to heart, or just let ride over you and enjoy a well-crafted little horror film.

7/10 if I woke up on Groundhog Day and had to watch this again, I could live with that