In “Sweetie, You Won’t Believe It” a man’s trip turns into a pure nightmare. But not because of sex and drug escapades, but because of a killer who hunts violent gangsters. Now the brutal “Hangover” is coming to home cinema.
Three miserable losers, a truckload of rubber dolls and nagging women, a group of equally unkempt and belligerent hillbillies and a psychopathic serial killer: this is not exactly the stuff of holiday dreams. But it can be spun into extremely funny, wonderfully nasty film fun, as “Sweetie, You Won’t Believe It” proves with irrepressible energy.
The cynical mix of serial killer mania, splatter slapstick and pitch-black kidnapping comedy was one of the audience favourites at the 2021 Fantasy Film Festival and also caused uproarious laughter at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival. After a long wait, the violent chaos finds its way into German home cinema: “Sweetie, You Won’t Believe It” will be released on DVD, Blu-ray and in two limited media books on 23 September 2022.
Good to know: Although Kazakhstan’s quasi-answer to “Hangover” doesn’t skimp on excessive spikes of violence and transgressions of taste boundaries, the chaos trip has secured a 16+ FSK rating. Due to the additional material, however, the film sits on the shelf with an FSK-18 logo on the DVD and Blu-ray cover.
“SWEETIE, YOU WON’T BELIEVE IT”: A KILLER WEEKEND
Friends Dastan (Daniyar Alshinov), Arman (Azamat Marklenov) and Murat (Yerlan Primbetov) embark on a man’s trip to the remoteness of Kazakhstan. In doing so, Dastan overrides the wishes of his heavily pregnant wife Zhanna (Asel Kaliyeva), whose bossy ways are one of the reasons why the three friends want to go on a fishing trip again. It doesn’t take long, however, before Dastan has reason to wish himself back in Zhanna’s vicinity. Because what should be a relaxing bromance instead turns into the strangest, craziest and most violent weekend of their lives: they are pursued by a nefarious gang of criminals, who in turn are on the hit list of a psychopathic serial killer!
Director/writer Yernar Nurgaliyev and his writing partner Zhandos Aibassov have delivered a party smash in true style with “Sweetie, You Won’t Believe It”: When the bloody-bad comedy screened at the Fantasy Filmfest, there were several scenes of applause. The increasingly abstruse misfortunes into which Dastan and his friends stumble were exuberantly cheered, as were the pointedly drastic body exposures and kills. But the trio’s dry-as-dust, buddy-like dialogue jokes also earned resounding laughter.
And that’s why I can only recommend all film fans with a soft spot for tasteless, crude humour and smugly celebrated drasticness to watch “Sweetie, You Won’t Believe It” in their home cinema in a real festival mood. Because anyone who watches this (literal) murderous fun in a thinking pose in a quiet room is not doing themselves any favours. But if you’re prepared for a fast-paced, purposefully tasteless romp in which filthy backwoods horror collides with tumbleweeds in a “Hangover” party mood and wild splatter escalation, you’re in for an insider’s tip!
