Nerdly » Frightfest 2023: ‘Minore’ Review

30th Aug2023

Frightfest 2023: ‘Minore’ Review

by Alain Elliott

Stars: Davide Tucci, Efi Papatheodorou, Daphne Alexander, Apollon Bollas, Igor Górewicz | Written by Konstantinos Koutsoliotas, Elizabeth E. Schuch | Directed by Konstantinos Koutsoliotas

I’m not sure I was quite prepared for how strange Minore is. That is definitely a good thing though. I will keep my review as spoiler-free as possible because it really is the best way to see the movie.

That said, it doesn’t give anything away to say that a mysterious sea creature is lurking in the sea of a nearby town ready to invade. Its unsuspecting occupants are an unusual group of tourists, musicians, body-builders and the elderly who must fight off this creature.

After about thirty minutes of Minore, I think it’s fair to say not a whole lot had happened and I didn’t realise at that point that it was a comedy. I’m not sure if this is because it didn’t have a whole lot of jokes to begin with or if they all went over my head but this was the case. This doesn’t sound like the best start to the movie but it clearly introduces its characters and the setting. And while it is a bit slow it’s good that it gives itself a bit of time to do this.

Once it does this, the movie does kick into gear. The comedy, the gore and the action all start happening and it becomes a lot of fun. I think the laughs probably won’t be for everyone but there’s a lot of visual comedy and I laughed plenty of times. In the best possible way, it is often a funny movie to look at. The characters are key to this. They’re such a weird and wonderful group of characters that you can’t help but smile when they are on screen.

For me, Minore has two stand-out scenes and they are the two most action-packed scenes. One of them features two groups of characters fighting against each other and the other features a group fighting against the weird sea monster. In both of these scenes, Minore turns into a really cool-looking and over-the-top B-movie. Unlike quite a lot of the rest of the movie I loved this jump in style and pace. They are shot a little like scenes from the big Avengers/Marvel movies but trust me, this is no bad thing. We move from one character to another in this brilliantly over-dramatic way while the chaos explodes across the screen.

But horror fans will be glad to know that this isn’t the only thing that explodes across the screen in Minore. There’s gore and there’s lots of it! More than you’d probably expect, especially after the first thirty minutes but you quickly understand one of the big reasons this movie features at Frightfest. The actors are clearly giving it their all and enjoying themselves, and this shows.

By the time the end credits roll, viewers will have had a lot of fun in the crazy world of Minore. It takes a while to get going but when it does you’ll be smiling from ear to ear at the madness on screen.