The Price We Pay

Ryuhei Kitamura opens the year with an exploitation film that doesn't disgrace the subgenre, but it doesn't bring anything new, doesn't push boundaries, and doesn't dare as much as his previous films (Midnight Meat Train and No One Lives will probably never be surpassed). The Price We Pay is a straightforward genre film that takes all those familiar horror clichés, which ironically also made me happy because those genre films were made 10-15 years ago, so it's nice to be reminded of them. We have a bunch of thieves who rob a pawn shop and take an attractive hostage with them (a beautiful woman is a staple in these movies and they stick to it, even if they don’t show her tits), their car breaks down in classic fashion and the closest thing they get is a remote farm where they decide to settle down. There, however, is a perverted Grandpa and one monstrous lumberjack woman – a properly sleazy villain. The opening takes some 40 minutes before anything starts happening, but it doesn't get boring. As soon as the two clash, Kitamura's favourite torture scene comes on (I was kind of hoping the eye gouging would be on camera, but this time it's off). I was honestly expecting more gore, the visuals are just average and the actors are B-grade, so no miracles there. The best scene is the final fatality with the barbed wire, which was worth a full count, but it would take at least five such scenes to go for a higher rating. I'm glad that after a long time there is at least a watchable addition to the exploitation sub-genre, but it doesn't reach the quality of its predecessors (Frontier(s) is still 2 levels higher in terms of filth and gore for example). (19/01/2023)