Horsemen starts as forensic odontoligist detective Aiden Breslin (Dennis Quaid) is called to a crime scene, an old man walking his dog found a bunch of human teeth on a tray & Breslin is called in to identify who they belonged to. Breslin takes note of the message 'Come and See' written around the crime scene, while investigating the teeth the dead body of a woman is found with the same 'Come and See' message written at the scene. Breslin & his partner Stingray (Clifton Collins Jr.) find a dead woman suspended on hooks from a metal frame having been choked on her own blood. Breslin manages to deduct that whoever is committing the crimes are basing themselves on the biblical Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse & what they stand for in religion. Breslin is convinced more bodies will turn up & when they do the case gets even more complicated with all sorts of revelations, meanings & possible motives behind the killings...

Known elsewhere as Horsemen of the Apocalypse this dark horror thriller was directed by Jonas Åkerlund & had a troubled production with extensive re-shoots, one character had to be recast because the original actor was unavailable & a running time that ended up twenty minutes less than it originally was was reeks of massive changes but having said that & all things considered I quite liked Horsemen. I suppose the closest film I could compare Horsemen to is Se7en (1995) in that it's a thriller about detectives unravelling the mystery surrounding brutal & ritualistic serial killings, while not in the same league as Se7en (but what is?) I liked the story, I liked where the story went & I particularly like the motives behind the bizarre killings even though Horsemen does have it's share of problems & frustrations. There are obviously a few plot-holes that probably stemmed from those extensive re-shoots & some of the initially cool ideas from the script lose credibility if you think about them for a moment. How did the killers move those giant metal suspension frames abut without being seen? What happened to the surveillance camera at the hotel? What happened to the girl in the closet Breslin found? Are we supposed to believe that a teenager can puncture a lung with accuracy that a trained surgeon couldn't? Are we meant to believe that a father hasn't been inside his son's bedroom for over three years? There are other points which are maybe not as well defined or explained or as clear as perhaps they could have been, some of the how's & why's are missing to certain aspects. Having said that I liked the way Horsemen built up, I liked the story & even if the twist ending is a bit abrupt I liked the idea behind it even if I found it impossible to feel for the killer's plight, just because you are wronged in some way doesn't mean you can torture & brutally kill anyone you feel like, does it? At about 90 odd minutes long Horsemen starts off very well with a rich & suspenseful murder mystery but then it tends to focus on Breslin's family life which in the context of the twist ending is important but it slow's things down & I started to lose a bit of interest as the focus moved further & further from the killing's.

The film tries to have a relevant message about society, abuse & neglect in particular I suppose which does come across reasonably well. I did like the way Horsemen looked, it's a very slick & stylish looking film using snow covered locations to good effect. There's some gore here, people are seen hanging by fish hooks, a guy slices himself open with an electric saw, there are a few autopsy scenes & there's a dead unborn baby in one bit.

With a supposed $20,000,000 budget this had a very limited theatrical release before being dumped on home video, filmed in Canada originally while the significant re-shoots were filmed in Chicago. The acting is solid all round, Dennis Quiad is good although he does look a little like Harrison Ford.

Horsemen isn't a perfect film by any mans although I can live with the flaw's since there's also plenty of good aspects here too, at least it's not boring & at least it tries to be different even if it's not entirely successful. There's certain enough here to warrant a look, it's not the greatest serial killer thriller ever but there are a lot worse films out there.

What is happening to Dennis Quaid? Seriously now, he is playing the role of the distant father more and more and he plays in worse and worse movies. I like the guy! Cast him in something decent!

As for the movie, it kind of sucked. I mean, the mythos behind the killings was shabby, the police-work ridiculous and, worst of all, I could not relate to ANY of the characters except Dennis Quaid's one... part of the time. And the casting just reveals too much.

Bottom line: if you take Seven, you make it a lot less gruesome, you add cardboard policemen and even cardboard villains, you dumb it down considerably, then you get The Horsemen. Gave it a 6 only for Zhang's efforts on speaking English.

I loved the idea of Horsemen of the Apocalypse, and I thought the film looked decent with atmospheric lighting and camera angles. However, despite the great premise Horsemen of the Apocalypse never lives up to it.

The acting is unfortunately not very good, Dennis Quaid I do like and I thought he was ideal for the role, but he doesn't have much to work with and sadly with a disconnected performance he lets that fact show. It doesn't help with the characterisation either though, it is woefully underdeveloped quite often.

I wish there wasn't more but there is. The story had a great idea no doubt, however it is in structure disjointed and the sluggish pace and derivative direction further hamper it. What really sinks the film down is the script, which is really inane and cliché-ridden to the point it is barely bearable to listen to.

All in all, there was a good movie somewhere but this was a perfect example of a film that never lived up to the promise it had. 3/10 Bethany Cox