If you like your movies heavy on slow burn buildup with the overall focus on mood, tension and a feeling of dread this one's for you. It definitely has its flaws and at least one gaping plot hole that kind of left me shaking my head but overall I definitely enjoyed this well directed flick. If you like big splodey things, lots of gore, Hollywood fake boobies, bombastic soundtracks and prefer energy drink adrenaline rush pacing you might want to pass.

Citadel centers on Tommy, a recently widowed father and his newborn daughter as he begins to cope with the loss of his wife after a brutal attack by local hoodlums. In trying to cope with the loss, Tommy begins to develop a fear of living life and soon he begins to be stalked by her attackers. Citadel is an impressive debut and serves an original idea up but relies heavily on a slow burn screenplay that doesn't always serve it justice. Despite some ultra elongated scenes, Citadel is creepy, violent and very atmospheric. Directed by Ciarian Foy, the film works as a psychological thriller done much in the vein of Them and The Strangers and ends up being a bit of a combo of both. Foy, who also wrote the film, knows how to deliver some hard hitting drama and gets very good performances out of Aneurin Barnard and James Cosmo but he spends entirely too much time creating a slow burn thriller that it tends to drift into some truly low key moments that just are not all that interesting. The first ten minutes are very straight forward and are delivered very well, then Foy decides to spend the next twenty five minutes analyzing agoraphobia. It is interesting for the first couple scenes but Foy seems to keep it frustratingly slow up until the third act. Still, nonetheless, when Citadel kicks off it, it really kicks. The final twenty minutes are very well crafted and, while a bit ridiculous, serves as a very satisfying end to the film. On a technical level, Citadel is on point. Most notably from behind the scenes would be the cinematography. The entire film is done hand held, and really submerses you into this frightening vision of Ireland. It is most certainly the highlight of the film. Overall, Citadel may satisfy some fans of films like House of the Devil, Them, and The Strangers but it doesn't have the spark it needs to be truly engrossing.

This is an above average suspense thriller that's worth spending your time watching. I read the reviews before watching and noticed that all the "bad" reviews were sparse, extreme in their negativity, often childishly rude and spent more time trying to sound clever than actually explaining why it wasn't a good movie. On the other hand the good reviews generally seemed honest, straight-forward and well-considered with people giving balanced and thoughtful commentary on how they felt. That's what tipped it in favour of me giving the movie a try and I'm glad I did. The lead actor was brilliant as the cringing, aggro-phobic new father. The fact that some viewers have whined about him being "irritating" and needing to "man-up" is actually a great testimony to the guys acting ability as well as a sad reflection on the truth of many people's complete inability to comprehend that particular disability. I sincerely hope none of you ever suffer an assault serious enough to afflict you with it. Anyway, back to the movie. The story was good with some great acting (esp the lead) and some okay acting (the priest, the blind kid). Very well filmed and the direction was excellent drawing you in emotionally as well as delivering a tense atmosphere of brooding suspense. There's a delightful nod to The Brood with the hooded characters but interestingly they are very grey in this movie - in stark contrast to Cronenberg's bright primary colours. That is a defining part of this flick - it's a lot of shades of grey in it's cinematography and very little colour, very much in keeping with the film's story & underlying themes of social decay. This is a clever aspect of the directing that I really appreciated. It does drag a couple of times but not enough to stop me watching and it has some genuinely heart-wrenching moments that draws you very much into the characters and makes you care about them. I realise it's a shoe- string budget affair and that's made me raise it's rating slightly because they managed to put together one of the better efforts of recent years without having the benefit of a big budget. My biggest beef is with the ending which seemed abrupt and left me thinking "um.... is that it?". More could have been done with it - even on a budget - a bit more payback, more fight-back from the two "heroes" and just a more OTT ending would have really elevated this movie. SPOILER HERE****Also, I felt like there was a sub-plot going on that got dropped but could have been used for a very nice open-ending to the movie ... (involving the baby girl - I wont say too much but for those who've seen it remember what the cause of death was for the first victim....and put that together with what the Priest said a few times about some kind of infection!)It felt like they meant to go somewhere with the "cause of death" thing but it never really surfaced again. All in all I recommend this movie to fans of thrillers and suspense movies as well as those interested in human drama. It might appeal to some horror fans too but doesn't have a lot of on-screen violence/gore. Well worth viewing.

An agoraphobic father teams up with a renegade priest to save his daughter from the clutches of a gang of twisted feral children who committed an act of violence against his family years earlier.Although I have to give my congrats to Ireland for making a widely-released horror film in 2012 (the Irish horror scene is not well-known in America)... and although this film seems to have resonated with various people... I just was not one of those people.Honestly, I had a hard time getting into the picture and just sort of felt bored by it all. I am keeping this review at a 5 until I see it a second time (which may never happen). Maybe I just was not in the right mood, though I saw other films today without problems...