02/07/2026 Mort's Forren Film Report: The First Week

For the month of February, our own Mort Stone will be taking on a slew of Foreign Films and reporting on them. I will be sharing the reviews daily on FB and will also share them in a weekly compilation here on the blog on Saturday evenings.

Apologies for missing a couple posts this past week as time seemed to have just disappeared! However, all the posts for next week are scheduled on FB and are ready to go! If you miss any, just come back here on Saturday to catch next week's compilation!

Enjoy!

Day 1: REC

Country: Spain

Language: Spanish

Genre: Horror

I saw the remake (QUARANTINE) many years ago and I thought it was great. When I finally got the chance to watch the original, I thought it might not impress me as much as I knew the basic story.

A TV reporter joins the fire department for a night to get footage for a story; they get called out to a

building and, once inside, everything quickly crumbles. And then an old woman who is infected with a mysterious virus wakes up from the dead, but they are trapped inside the building.

I knew what was going to happen, I knew where the story was going and I knew how it would end, but I’ll be damned if this one didn’t give me a jump-scare that made my entire body convulse. It doesn’t happen often, so when it does, it makes an impression.

If you are into the jump-scare horror, you will enjoy this movie. The remake didn’t stray far from this

one, but enough time has passed that I could still enjoy the hell out of this one.

10/10

Day 2: THE MAN FROM NOWHERE

Country: South Korea

Language: Korean

Genre: Action, Thriller

This film is what you get when you cross LEON, THE PROFESSIONAL with JOHN WICK.

A loner with an unknown past gets a girl who forces her friendship on him, but her mother is a drug

smuggler who becomes greedy.

Soon, both girl and mother is kidnapped. With nobody else to help them, the man is drawn into the drug world and tries to save them.

Tons of action, highly enjoyable if you like that sort of thing. Not a bad story either.

9/10

Day 3: CALVAIRE

Countries: Belgium, France, Luxembourg

Language: French

Genre: Psychological Horror, Brutal

Well, sir, I can see that you have wondered what the world would be without your woman in it,

especially when she is in one of her moods. You’d never hit her, of course, but the thought of

smothering her with a pillow as she lay sleeping next to you have crossed your mind. Only briefly,

but still…

This is a movie you need to watch. This is what your world might look like if there are no females

around.

A traveling singer’s van breaks down in the middle of nowhere. But he’s in luck, because there is an

innkeeper who can put him up for the night and help him fix the vehicle. Or is he?

Because then this movie becomes weird. And then a little weirder still. Until it reaches a point where it could get…um, no wait, it just outweirded itself again (can someone please explain the dance scene?).

This movie has a much deeper meaning and can be psychologically heavy, and for me the very

essence was captured with the last sentence spoken in this film.

8/10

Day 4: I SAW THE DEVIL

Country: South Korea

Language: Korean

Genre: Thriller

For much too long I have convinced myself that it is hard work watching subtitled movies. So if you

feel the same way, I won’t call you ignorant or stupid, but I will tell you that you are missing out on a whole new world of awesomeness.

Some perspective: The movie SE7EN inspired me to write, so it will always be my favorite film of all time. And I think we can all agree that SILENCE OF THE LAMBS is a near perfect movie adaptation from the book.

And then there is this movie.

I went into this one completely blind, having seen its name on a few lists on the net. And I can’t

recommend that enough – I had no expectations and knew only that it is a guy going after the man

who killed his fiancée.

My lack of knowledge about the film made this a perfect storm – it blew me out of the water. From

plot line to action to acting to resolution, this movie was utter brilliance. This one is an absolute

masterpiece – and immediately became one of the top 3 Thrillers I’ve watched.

Having hyped this one up so much, you might not be able to go into this with the same

circumstances I had, but it is worth the watch.

10/10

Day 5: PLAYGROUND

Country: Poland

Language: Polish

Genre: Drama, Brutal

Well, then, found my measure of how desensitized I am – apparently there are still stories I find

extremely upsetting.

Fair warning – this film did upset me and is not for sensitive viewers.

They don’t say much in the film description:

“On the last day of school, a 12-year-old girl sets up a secret meeting with a boy. The intimate talk

quickly spins out of control, leading to an unexpected ending.”

This movie doesn’t go where you think it is heading. About 20 minutes from the end, it finally clicked– the ending is loosely based on a true crime I am familiar with. Not going to tell you which one.

However, for the last 20 minutes of the film I just kept saying to myself, "Please don’t show it…please don’t show it…”

But they showed it. Not only that, but it is also done extremely fucking well and looks ultra realistic.

Can’t rate this one – it will depend on where you are in your mind.

Day 6: HIGH TENSION / SWITCHBLADE ROMANCE

Country: France

Language: French

Genre: Horror, Slasher

Yes, this movie has two different English names.

There are people who absolutely rave about this movie and there are some who dislike it.

Unfortunately, I fall into the latter group.

It is difficult to explain without spoilers, so I will try my best to give you my thoughts. As a slasher, it

starts out really well. You can see the influences of some of the better-known slasher movies of the

80’s, especially.

Then comes the twist, and everything crumbles. It opens at least three very big plot holes, and

eliminates all that was good at the start of the film. How this got approved – both in script and

filming – in the final cut is beyond me. How can you NOT spot the issues?

For the disappointment I felt after the ending negated what I liked, I can only give this one:

2/10

Day 7: CACHE

Countries: France, Austria, Germany, Italy

Language: French

Genre: ? Neo-noir Psychological Thriller

Masterpiece? To some, if you read the reviews, this is the be-all-and-end-all of cinema. I might be a

little too dense – my wife would replace the word “might” with “am” if she wrote about me – but

there are levels to this movie that was beyond me.

By no means am I saying this is a bad film. But there are people who refer to this movie as “tricky”,

especially when you consider some would say this film isn’t a mystery to solve.

When a well-off couple starts receiving anonymous video tapes about their everyday life, and later

with violent but childish drawings, the man sets out to find the culprit.

I will admit that I watched this movie, then gave it a day and rewatched it, before I got some sense in the abstract messages (I think) it trays to portray. The story is slow and you have to think well outside the box, because as straight forward and mundane as it may seem through most of it, there are deeper messages you need to figure out yourself.

So, for the “artsy” people out there, I can understand how this film is brilliant, but for the rest of us I

think this movie is hard work. When I finished it the second time and had a little more insight, I did

read up on some interpretations and it does seem like there might be different insights for different

people.

For me, after the second watch, I think this is a

5/10