Directed by: Ben and Chris Blaine

Starring: Fiona O'Shaughnessy, Abigail Hardingham, Cian Barry

When Rob's girlfriend, Nina, dies in a car crash, he attempts to commit suicide but fails. His fragile state attracts the attention of his co-worker, Holly, and soon they hook up. However, as they start to make love, they are interrupted by the undead body of Nina, soaking the sheets with her blood and making snarky comments. Initially freaked out by this occurrence, Holly and Rob try to make the most of a bad situation and try toaccept Nina as a third person in their relationship. But Nina isn't interested in playing nice...

The darling of last year's Frightfest festival, Nina Forever arrives on dvd and is bound to split audiences opinions. First of all it should be noted that this is a very well shot film. The camera-work is great, it has a strong look to it. The acting is also very good, with both O'Shaughnessy and Hardingham putting in great performances. O'Shaughnessy's physical acting in particular is very good, moving in a disjointed, broken manner in keeping with her many injuries. However the way the subject matter is handled is going to turn off a lot of people. There is a moment in the film, where Holly in her naivety tries to make love to Nina's corpse. Its an incredibly awkward and uncomfortable scene to watch and seems to go on forever before Nina tells her that she's wasting her time. 

The humour is very British - subdued, reserved, straight-faced. There are times when you might not even realise that the comedy is there. One moment I did find actually funny was when Holly and Rob have a heated argument on a bus, and there's a large man having to sit uncomfortably between them.

The other issue with the film is the fact that the characters are just so unlikeable. Holly is probably the best of the bunch but she's obsessed with death and is very naïve. Nina is just a bitch - she's not actually interested in getting back with Rob, just intent on constantly reminding him that no one will ever compare to her. 

However, Rob is just the worst. He's completely self-centred, blind to other people's emotional state and makes the most awful decisions. There are two dinner scenes involving Nina's parents -   In the first, Rob takes Holly round to their house to meet them, and the second is when he tells them that he has a new job and is ready to move forward with his life - which are just incredibly, uncomfortably painful to watch.

Verdict:

While some will embrace this film as did the crowds at Frightfest, others will be scratching their heads and/or squirming at the copious amounts of blood and the difficult subject matter of sex and death being so fused together. It's definitely a unique and bold film, but approach with caution.

7 out of 10 (MikeOutWest)