Nina Forever is a dark horror-comedy with lots of blood and awesome entertainment value!

Nina Forever 2015 posterWhen a movie like Nina Forever has the genres horror, comedy and romance attached to it, you know you’re in for something special. You also know that any romance will probably be laced with either horror or humor. And it most certainly delivers on this!

Granted, there are a few very pure and sweet romantic moments. But more than anything, this is a very bloody and dark comedy. In other words, we’re not really talking jump scares or anything.

Don’t worry, though, you won’t miss those. You’ll be completely mesmerized with all the blood and death that turns up at the most inconvenient times. This particular trait goes perfectly with my next positive comment on Nina Forever; It has some truly stunning erotic scenes. They do, however, have a tendency to turn into a bloody mess.

From deadbeat trio to a bloody threesome

Cian Barry (RPG: Real Playing Game) stars as Rob, who recently lost his girlfriend, Nina, in a car accident. He’s extremely unhappy and his boring job isn’t helping him out of his depression. Barry portrays Rob in the most honest and heartfelt way. You really do empathize with the guy, though you also find yourself thinking he needs to grow a pair. Not because he’s sad, but because he really doesn’t stand up for himself.




His new girlfriend, Holly, is portrayed by Abigail Hardingham (The Missing) and she is as intense as she is fascinating. Hardingham plays the role of a girl, who everybody sees as very “vanilla”. But really, she’s drawn to everything dark and different. Especially death is endlessly fascinating to Holly. That’s basically why she’s in training to become a paramedic; She wants to be close to death at every turn. And really, the fact that Rob has a girlfriend, who just died, is the thing she likes best about him.

Nina Forever 2015 review

In that particular sense, it’s pretty perfect that Nina has a tendency to show up whenever Rob and Holly get intimate. And she’s very much there in the bloody flesh! You have to hand it to Holly, though. She’s not easily scared off. In fact, she embraces it pretty quickly. She simply tries to include Nina, since she’s there anyway. Also, she makes it clear she won’t leave them alone.

And yes, of course, this is pretty damn grotesque, but you can’t fault the logic.

Nina is played by Fiona O’Shaughnessy (Alexander), and she’s naked throughout the entire movie. From start to finish, we never see her dressed. Then again, she is covered in blood. Also, it’s not exactly sexy when her body gives off very crunchy and slobbering sounds. Her death was very violent and she’s trapped in the afterlife with the body she died in.

Strong debut from two deliciously crazy brothers

Nina Forever was directed by Ben and Chris Blaine, who are brothers. And I was very surprised to learn that this is their feature film debut as directors. I mean, this is one Hell of a hardcore vision to start out with. They also wrote the script, so I guess this is their little monster baby.

I realize it may sound like this movie is all about sex, blood, and cheap laughs, but there is actually a lot more to it. The story itself is pretty sad and it’s a surprisingly dark and sad movie in many ways. I mean, the main protagonist is pretty depressed and trying to get his life back on track.




But I have to give it to the Blaine brothers… they somehow manage to pull it all together for a complete movie.

I do feel that it’s a bit too long. That’s my one real issue with it. It could’ve been a crisp short film with a 15 or 20 minute runtime. Of course, then we would’ve missed out on getting to know the characters and touch on the interesting layers of the story. That would absolutely have been a shame.

Maybe it should’ve just been cut down by 15 minutes or so. Not that I would’ve wanted to miss out on any of the storylines, so I’m not sure how to do it. I have faith that Ben and Chris Blaine will be able to deliver even better on this for their next movie, which I’ll definitely be watching.

Nina Forever premiered at SXSW back in 2015, but we just watched it at CPH PIX, so that’s why we’re doing this review now. While it is still playing at film festivals, it’s also been released on DVD and Blu-ray, so you should have plenty of ways to watch it.

Details

Director: Ben Blaine, Chris Blaine
Writer: Ben Blaine, Chris Blaine
Cast: Fiona O’Shaughnessy, Abigail Hardingham, Cian Barry

Plot

After his girlfriend Nina dies in a car crash, Rob unsuccessfully attempts suicide. As he begins to overcome his grief, he falls in love with a co-worker, Holly. Their relationship is complicated when Nina, unable to find rest in the afterlife, comes back to life to sarcastically torment them whenever they have sex.

I write reviews and recaps on Heaven of Horror. And yes, it does happen that I find myself screaming, when watching a good horror movie. I love psychological horror, survival horror and kick-ass women. Also, I have a huge soft spot for a good horror-comedy. Oh yeah, and I absolutely HATE when animals are harmed in movies, so I will immediately think less of any movie, where animals are harmed for entertainment (even if the animals are just really good actors). Fortunately, horror doesn't use this nearly as much as comedy. And people assume horror lovers are the messed up ones. Go figure!
Karina "ScreamQueen" Adelgaard
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