Humane (2025)

Humane (2024)

Yet another complete flop!

I’m starting to hate saying ‘this film had everything going for it, but…’, because, in the end, I really get the impression they’re deliberately setting out to ruin everything. It’s either a trend or just the spirit of the times… which is obviously an excuse to say, ‘We’re doing whatever we like – it fits in perfectly with our society!’ But that doesn’t excuse anything: a bad film is still a bad film!

Which films sprang to mind whilst I was watching this rubbish? Let’s see…
It seems to me they were always better!

Anniversary (2025) and Festen (1998) for the dramatic family reunion angle, The Purge (2013) for the ultra-cruel and radical dystopian aspect.

Right, let’s go through it point by point! A Canadian horror film? Meh! That’s already a minus point as far as I’m concerned! I’m not exactly keen on them.

Directed by Caitlin Cronenberg? But who is she?? The daughter? The sister? The granddaughter? Well, yes, this photographer-turned-filmmaker is indeed David Cronenberg’s daughter and Brandon Cronenberg’s sister. She made a very interesting short film in 2021 about her father’s death (even though he’s still very much alive!). Incidentally, she also has a cousin who’s a screenwriter and director, Aaron Woodley.

For a long time, I hated Cronenberg the father! Then I gave him a few more chances after all, and now I have enormous respect for him. I used to think he only made gory, disgusting films. His children, on the other hand, I still don’t like! In any case, Brandon hasn’t done anything yet that’s really appealed to me.

There’s not much going right in this film! Yet I loved the first half. But the second half is enough to ruin the whole thing. If you fancy watching it, go ahead, but bear in mind that I can’t talk about it without giving away spoilers!

We often hear people saying that there are too many of us on Earth and that one day we’ll have to cull people if we’re to survive. This film takes these repugnant ideas a bit too seriously and will only fuel hatred by making the most despicable people believe that this is sensible and feasible.
In this film, people can volunteer to be part of the 20 per cent who are regularly eliminated, notably through euthanasia. This causes families to tear themselves apart depending on each person’s choices. But even though I myself have a completely dysfunctional family, at no point did I recognise myself in these characters, who are, for the most part, utter idiots. As hypocritical as they come, they’ve all got skeletons in their cupboards. Yet, whilst I started off liking them, I soon began to hate them – and that’s not a very pleasant feeling.

It’s hard to follow a film where nobody is likeable. And there are so many inconsistencies, so many things that aren’t realistic. There’s a massive escalation of violence, with people being seriously injured by very sharp and dangerous weapons. But then, we always see them alive again! So I started to wonder if it was a comedy! Is this yet another of those films that wavers between comedy and tragedy whilst getting itself all mixed up?

You can’t try to kill someone, tell them you’re sorry, then try to kill them again after betraying them… and end up going to the theatre together! No, really, this film is a proper waste of film, yet again.

The father of the family is played by the charismatic Peter Gallagher (who, as far as I’m concerned, is the only well-known actor in the film)! He certainly has a penchant for these very unusual roles. Among his few films, Peter starred in Sex, Lies, and Videotape (1989), my favourite Soderbergh film, and ten years later, he appeared in what is probably my all-time favourite film: American Beauty (1999). He was in Malice (1993) alongside the quartet of Nicole Kidman, Bill Pullman, Alec Baldwin and even Anne Bancroft. In Burlesque (2010), he stars alongside Cher, Alan Cumming, Christina Aguilera, Cam Gigandet, Stanley Tucci and Kristen Bell! He was the lead actor in a film also titled Titanic (1996), which went largely unnoticed and was completely overshadowed by James Cameron’s version, released the following year, in 1997. Peter also appears in the horror film House on Haunted Hill (1999), which is just as rubbish as this one, but boasts a cracking cast including, notably, the trio of Geoffrey Rush, Famke Janssen and Ali Larter. Anyway! Gallagher is a great actor.

Oh yes, I nearly forgot: there’s a bloke who’s had an accident and walks with a crutch, but on several occasions he drops his crutch and even manages to fight without it! That’s just to highlight yet another thing that’s wrong with this rubbish… but if I were to list everything, we’d still be here next week!