Yo, there's no way for me to review this film without saying, take your *insert ethnicity + "ass" here* to see this film,like now. You have to see it in order to know what you're really messing with.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

While I am familiar with the myth or legend of Countess Bathory, then I sat down to watch this 2008 movie for entertainment only, not really putting anything more into it. So whether how much or not this movie was true to the actual Countess and the events that took place in her life, I do not know, nor do I really care; a movie is a media for entertainment.The story in "Bathory" is centered around Erzsébet Báthory, notorious Countess, in the mid-1500's Hungary. Married to a formidable warlord and conqueror, Bathory is at the seat of power in Hungary, caught in the game of power and influence. But rumor and dark stories circulate about her bathing in the blood of virgins, having consorted with the devil and having a witch as her right-hand maiden.Right, well, entertainment-wise then "Bathory" was adequate, albeit nothing extraordinary. However, it was a long, long movie, running at two hours and twenty-one minutes. So keep that in mind, especially because the movie is not a non-stop action-filled ride. There are ups and downs throughout the movie, of course. I was adequately entertained, although at times I found the movie to just be too slow-paced and too long.The acting in the movie was quite good, as they had some nicely talented actors and actresses on the cast list. Anna Friel (playing Erzsébet Báthory) and Karel Roden (playing Thurzo) carried the movie quite nicely.One thing that didn't really sit well with me, was the two Catholic monks, or spies as they actually were. They were just too much of a comical relief, and were sticking out like a sore thumb from the rest of the movie. And their array of out of place gadgets were just too much.There are better movies that deal with the Erzsébet Báthory character and story. This 2008 movie at the hands of director Juraj Jakubisko scores a lukewarm, mediocre five out of ten stars from me only.

The great thing about this film is it's unique style, which has great flair, very like the best of Ken Russell. It doesn't try to be blandly mainstream, the director is too talented for that, he has too much vision to fit in with the prosaic , boring and anodyne rot usually filling our screens. This film entertains with gusto, flair, beauty and horror. One may quibble with any film and look for faults, but this film is fascinating and compelling, suitable for anyone interested in the drama of the life of Erzsebet Bathory. One soon comes to see through the eyes of the lead characters, their brutal and beautiful world lives and breathes again, shockingly, before our eyes.Erzsabet's story is told in a such a colourful, dynamic and thoroughly gripping way, that certainly had me looking forward to seeing more, like asking for a second helping of a surprisingly delicious pudding, I relished what I found to be so enjoyable after having heard such bad reviews. Erzsabet's life and times were brutal and this is shown graphically but not too eye wateringly. The performances are highly entertaining and extremely powerful especially the characters of Erzsabet, Caravaggio and Thurzo. Some have quibbled about the English accents of the actors but actually I thought Ezsabet's Hungarian accent rather convincing, the chill of steel to the edge of her voice. It is a very accessible story, so who would be so daft as to require the actors to speak Hungarian and so lose half the audience, who are either too dense or lazy to read subtitles. Frankly a ridiculous quibble, one does not notice anything but how fine the performances truly are.Visually stunning and beautiful, the script gives us a thumpingly good story and altogether it is a mesmerising piece of cinema. It is so powerful that twenty four hours after watching, it still haunts me and I look forward to seeing more from this director and creative team. I feel I've discovered, at last, a piece of English language cinema that isn't formulaic, that isn't dull and predictable, that isn't the same old same old, that isn't like every other pleasant enough but unimaginative 'product,' here is something unique and artistically brave and exciting. Altogether I think one would have to be in a very sour and unforgiving mood to find fault. If you want to be entertained and why else watch, everyone should enjoy this unfairly maligned but unusually fascinating film.

I saw the film yesterday and it charmed me. It is a very attractive version of the life of countess Elizabeth Bathory, one in which she is not a murderer but a victim of a plot carried out in order to spoil her of her fortune in the medieval Hungary. Anna Friel made a great role. She a stunning beauty as the countess Bathory, in front of our eyes seems to be the real countess who somehow managed to come in the present times. The passionately love story with the painter Caravaggio is very catching. If I would have lived in the 16th century and I would have seen Anna Friel as the countess Bathory I had fallen in love with her for sure. The rest of the actors and the director did a good job. Apart of Anna Friel I liked Hans Matheson especially, who played Caravaggio.

I saw this movie in Czech. It was obvious that some of the dialog was dubbed. However, this was a minor issue. I am well acquainted with the story of Elizabeth Bathory, having read books and various write ups about her, including the exact testimonies given at the time by her contemporaries, 3 women and 1 man I believe. I expected a movie worthy of this true life story, and I was most definitely disappointed. While I started watching with a lot of interest, this movie was more a series of disjointed events than a cohesive story. Nothing made sense. If the viewer did not have some prior knowledge of the story, you would never figure it out from the movie. I was told that the movie presented a new view of this myth. This view being that the murders were completely invented by those who wanted to take possession of the countess's property. I did not find this in the movie myself. After about 30-45 minutes the movie became numbingly dull and I gave up completely on trying to make any sense of the nonsensical dialog and weird happenings. The movie was way too long, confusing, and there seemed to be no cohesive storyline. It was not even clear that large numbers of young girls were killed at the castle and if so, how or why. I fought to stay awake in the second half of the movie. I learned nothing about the political situation in that part of Europe at that time. All that was shown were wars, but it was unclear who was fighting whom and why. Some narrative would have gone a long way in helping the viewer understand all these issues, but obviously an historical perspective was not this movie's focus, but rather it was one of those "artsy" movies that perhaps only the makers understand. Overall, I would say this was one of the worst movies I have ever seen.