Director: Yernar Nurgaliyev

Starring: Daniar Alshinov, Yerkebulan Daiyrov, Asel Kaliyeva and Rustem Zhaniyamanov

Rating: ★★★★

If you take the sinister feeling of Deliverance and combine it with the comedy and silliness of Without a Paddle, you’ll get something close to Sweetie, You Won’t Believe It. It’s a mix of extreme gore, with some seriously great effects, and over the top comedy that works incredibly well.

Dastan (Daniar Alshinov) is struggling with his life. His wife wants him to step up and take responsibility now that they have a child on the way, he can’t choose a name for their child and debt collectors are calling him constantly. Instead of dealing with anything head on he goes off on a fishing trip with his two closest friends. While drifting down river, they witness a mob execution and try to run away. The mob chase them, and at the same time a complete psycho who lives in the middle of nowhere is chasing down the mob. It’s a story of survival and extreme violence.

This is a manic and funny film. It takes tropes from horror films that you’ve seen before and twists them into something really entertaining and funny. It’s not completely original, but it still works and you’ll have a laugh while watching.

The effects are fantastic. There is a moment, when the psycho chasing them, rips a man jaw. It’s incredible effects that look amazing. If there wasn’t such a light-hearted tone to everything, then it would be truly terrifying. People’s heads being shot off with shotguns, impaling, and heads being sliced off or in half. It’s all here and gives the goriest of horror films a run for its money. There isn’t any really scares here though, it’s a full on laugh out loud comedy.

The whole cast is great and really being out the comedy of the film. Dastan and his friends going down river, and the look on their face when they witness the execution is perfect. It’s so funny. One of the mobsters faints at the sight of gore and spends a lot of the film falling down. He is introduced carrying a boom-box and dancing on screen. It’s a funny moment that sets the scene for the rest of the film.

Like any self-respecting horror film that features going out into the middle of no where there is a scene towards the beginning that features a gas station that should tell the main characters to turn around and run. Obviously they don’t see this as a warning sign and continue their journey. It’s a very funny scene and sets up an even funnier one later in the film.

Full of laughs and seriously good effects, Sweetie, You Won’t Believe It is a fantastic film. The premise has been done before but the comedy works, and the film never feels boring. It’s well worth seeking out if you’re in the mood for gore and laughter.